I am happy this game was made at all. As someone who has played through the original Bloodlines at least 20 times, and has played the tabletop version since First Edition, I am fascinated by the lore of the world and this game delivers on that: You've got the intrigue of the primogen court, a new Prince of the city, and old mysteries of the Elders. The characters are great and you get to unravel their deep secrets. This game is a directed story (with some simple sidequests seemingly just to boost your experience points if you want to mix and match Disciplines), whereas the original was a series of mini-stories spread over 4 different cities. I don't think one way of storytelling is better than the other, this game has a much bigger main story and leads you along it, whereas in the original you had to explore to find all the little stories and you could easily miss them. Bloodlines 2 looks amazing, the detail in the world and the purposeful clutter of the streets all adds up to a great setting and atmosphere, it makes you feel like you're really there. The combat system is impressive, hand-to-hand combat is always difficult in first-person view, especially for people prone to motion sickness, but they've managed to make it work really well. Playing as an Elder is very satisfying, this is the sort of chronicle my friends and I always enjoyed the most: make some powerful 7th generation vampires and go tear up the city. The original Bloodlines is still a classic, and I would absolutely trust these people to do a remaster *HINT HINT!*
I enjoy these kinds of puzzle metroidvania type games with stylised animations and good stories. This reminds me of Death's Door, Tunic, Bastion, etc. But I like the exploration and collection parts more than combat. I don't like the frustration of having to play the same part over and over because the enemies are too strong. I bought this game because Kyle posted a comment on Steam saying it had variable difficulty settings and accessibility options. Due to these I had a great time playing this game and hunting down all the collectibles. I hadn't expected the story to tug so hard at my heartstrings just from collecting the pictures of each character, but it is a beautiful and emotional story till the end, on top of being a great game.
This is a fabulous game. It's a sort of a retelling of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, using some of the same archetypes of characters, but with an original story. The music is great, it is well worth getting the soundtrack for this, I've been listening to it for days now, and I do have a soft spot for mystery jazz. Graphics are in the style of Day of the Tentacle and Sam & Max Hit The Road, with similar occasional fullscreen detailed scenes, which was peak Lucasarts arts. Contrary to many other modern adventure games, the writers here have understood that brevity is the soul of wit. The dialogue is so well written; they find the humour in each situation and then hand back control to the player, unlike other games where characters just keep talking and talking, hoping that something funny will eventually be said. The humour is spot on, and none of the scenes, characters, or dialogue outstay their welcome. The characters are the backbone of the game, as in any good story, and they are all fantastic. I adore the chefs and the society; every encounter lets you immerse yourself in the mystery story, and you can feel the world-building and effort put into every character. They all have a place and purpose. I especially enjoyed the way that the game lets you experience the same events multiple times. My only criticisms is that the game is a bit too eager to give you unsolicited hints. Several times when you pick up objects, the dialogue will plainly tell you what to do with it, where I would have liked to figure it out on my own and feel cleverer. The puzzles are also quite linear. Most of the game you are only working on one objective at a time, so if you get stuck you can't just do something else for a while and come back to it. But such parallel puzzle design takes a lot more effort, so I won't hold that against it. I just hope the sequel will be more complex. I loved this game, and I want to see more like this from the same studio!
Between this, Darkside Detective, Thimbleweed Park, Jenny LeClue, and Gibbous, the mystery adventure games with puns and humour are doing well lately. If you liked any of these, you will enjoy this game also. What I enjoyed most was the world-building: it's not just a detective story where the characters happen to be cats and dogs; the whole world and the case are centered around this. I loved every moment of learning more about the world, it sucked me in, and eventually makes you realise that the story wouldn't work without this setting. I have to also mention the great music, and I recommend buying the soundtrack as well. The mix of noir jazz with more upbeat rhythms makes for great background work music. The protagonist is the 'usual' noir-type detective with a tragic background, but his story arc is satisfying. Somewhere from act two and towards the end, the dialog may seem a bit sappy to some, but it actually made me realise that I could barely remember the last time I played a game (adventure or otherwise) in which characters were actually polite and nice to each other. I found it a very welcome change. A very high recommendation, and I hope to see more from this studio in the future.
