The Unofficial Patch has beeen almost indelable part of Bloodlines. It is almost a requirement in order to play the game. The base game on GOG comes with the Basic version of the patch. Just fixes to make the game work. This here is the Plus version - it restores content like dialogue, areas, and items. It will also change the position of some items from the base game. Overall, I have always loved Plus. The extra content just always feels like it belongs. And the changes do not make for a different game - you still get the same Bloodlines experience. Just a bit more of it. Which is always welcome. If this is your first time playing the game, I still advise playing without Plus. If only, so you can see the differences on a second playthrough.
Unlike the first game, you spend only a grand total of few minutes in your haven. For there is nothing to do there, other than sleep and you only sleep when the plot tells you to. The picture of the Voerman sisters is something you can just look up at any point. Save it to your computer and open it. The Sarcophagus is barely visible. The jukebox doesn't even play music from the first game. Finally, the clan symbols - who cares? At best, you can play a couple of clans. You can unlock any skillset you really wish in any playthrough, so there is not much need to play every clan. The price is just a daylight robbery. If you really must, get it for 1-2 Euro.
This game takes after XCOM Chimera Squad. The premise being dystopian future TV show where as a contestant you have to fight condemned criminals to survive. Between the fights, you get to wander around the level and solve puzzles and dodge traps. Your team consists of one main character (Scarlett) who is closest to assaults in XCOM - she uses a rifle and has abilities that enhance her mobility and melee damage. She starts with a Run & Gun ability. Other contestants/teammates are also available as you progress in the game each with unique skills. Characters can get all skills in their trees if you invest enough points. You might want to specialise at the start into some branch(es), though, and later grab the rest. The combat plays fast and deadly. Characters have a lot of health (by XCOM standards) lower HP enemies have 20-ish, higher one 70-ish. But your squad will usually go down in 2-3 hits from the enemy and vice versa. Combat is more of a positioning and skill utilisation puzzle. There are no critical hits but flanking almost always ends up with 100% hit shots. So, movement and outmanuevring the enemies is key. There are usually objectives in each combat that motivate you to pick up the pace. But if you've played XCOM 2, it is milder than that. On Hard, I found there was usually plenty of time to get the objectives. The arenas are Chimera Squad-sized, rather than XCOM sized. Items are not infinite. Use a grenade and it's gone for good. You can buy more consumables using the money you get from fights. Each level also has not-quite-hidden-but-you-have-to-find-them lootboxes (yes, literally called that in-game) which can give you more consumables and equitpment. In the beginning, you might need to watch your consumables a bit. Grenades are great but are also going to eat your money if used liberally. However, after a couple of stages, you should both have the raw power to not rely on consumables much and also have more money to spend.
