While I get the criticism - no manual saves, no inventory, few RPG elements, simplistic side quests, basically the same ending in all six scenarios which are largely determined by a marginal choice in the middle of the game and sometimes you get stuck in the environment (3-4x in my playthrough) - there is a lot to appreciate about this game. Gamestar gave 75% and even that seems conservative to me - I don't think a lower rating would be justified and would even consider low 80s a fair rating - here is why: Seattle is a very atmospheric environment - it captures the feeling of winter in a major US city quite well and the main locations all resonate very well with me as do the interesting characters. The immersive setting immediately pulled me in. Mixing the old vampire setting with modern cyberpunk elements and combinging that with film noir elements including a cool, likable detective is exceptional. The main story levels are passionately designed - getting into the forgotten underground city, for instance, was a great experience and beautiful from a visual design perspective. The movement mechanics work equally well - being able to ascend to the rooftops in seconds and jumping from roof to roof nicely conveys that you are a powerful vampire. And that the detective chooses to walk instead with running becoming a time shift is a fitting and charming detail. Furthermore, he is an interesting manifestation of a Malkavian who investigates objects by talking to them and who can impersonate others, read thoughts etc. which is such a compelling way to combine insanity with investigation (and imho superior to how the predecessor expressed it which was more on the nose and less fittingly embedded into the character). Leveling my character from useless to powerful yet again as in 1000 other games would have been an option, but you are supposed to be a powerful elder and soon max out your clan abilities after which you can also get abilities from the other clans and mix it up - to me, that's a fair choice. And not having an inventory with weapons to upgrade puts emphasis on your superior vampiric abilities. You can use them via telekinesis but ultimately they are just human toys you toss away without regard after use - you can make enemies explode into blood fountains after all or pull them into oblivion. What use is a gun to you? And why would you level up armor as an immortal? I anticipated the developers would catch flak for both design choices, but I respect them. In summary, I agree that this game feels a bit like the rescue mission it was, but overall it was a successful rescue mission - at least I had a compelling, immersive game experience and would love to return to the world and the great film noir vampire setting anytime. It is not the 90%+ game we would have loved to have, but it was a competent game that provided a lot. I enjoyed it more than 90% of the games with higher reviews I have recently played - it still has all the World of Darkness background to offer, the atmosphere and a solid main quest. Now that the heavy lifting of getting the game rescued and published is done, I am very much looking forward to what the developers can achieve in the DLC. The original Bloodlines and other titles like Cyberpunk also needed some time to mature - I think we should cut them some slack and focus on what the game is rather than talking it down because it differs from what we expected it to be. I'd even go as far as saying that this was a highlight for me this year - I genuinely had a great time with it.
