Vampire®: The Masquerade - Bloodlines™

With the huge caveat that at its launch it was in a terribly buggy state with the studio who made it falling apart. Over a decade later and I believe my title is correct, thanks to a mountain of work by Wesp5, a legend in the Bloodlines community whose unofficial patch kept the game alive and then some. The basic version of the unofficial patch is included in the GOG release, which fixes bugs & makes it playable on modern machines. I would still suggest seeking out the "plus" version of the unofficial patch for restored content and extras though, it's very well done. The game itself is vampires done right with an incredible atmosphere, a mind blowing soundtrack and art direction that impresses to this day. Even if the graphics don't. The games biggest strength is immersing you into this horrible, dark, terrifying world that on one hand makes you feel like an all-powerful creature of the night; but on the other makes you feel like a pawn trapped in a political game you don't understand. Another of the games strengths is its use of city hubs for you explore and quest in, similar to the Deus Ex series. The combat is fun but not great. It's no where near as dated and awkward as the previous title in the series, but it still isn't why you play the game. You play this game for the story, the dialogue and the vast amount of choices you get to make, as well as the overall atmosphere, As an 18 rated game starring vampires, it doesn't pull any punches either. It's completely different from other popular vampire media like Twilight, True Blood, Buffy and even Dracula. The world this game uses to tell its story is to me, the definitive interpretation of vampires as supernatural predators who are "born" into a centuries old power struggle. These vampires are humanized not because they're whining about their lost souls or brooding in shadowy rooms, but by the fact that everyone around them is trying to screw them over. You can't get much more human than that can you?

Still worth every cent even at 20USD. Seriously, one of the best RPG ever created and people complain about the price equivalent of a cinema ticket with Popcorn? Just the Malkavian Play-through alone is worth that much money. And yes, you should play different runs with different clans. Best not Malkavian first though, so you can actually appreciate how brilliant a Malkavian play through is. Clans in Vampire: The Masquerade are more then mere "races" or "classes" like in other RPGs. They are different in dialogue and choices as well, more then in any other RPG in recent memory. Nothing comes close as far as I know. They gave each a very distinct character while still allowing you to actually influence it through choices. Quiet the opposite of recent games like Fallout4. Vampire is a milestone of the RPG genre that needs to be cherished and preserved. I am just sad that the studio never got a chance to create a sequel. Note that the released version already contains the fan patch that gets rid of many of the bugs that plagued the release. There is also an unofficial patch around that does restore additional content to the game.

This flawed gem of a masterpiece, is one of the most coveted games ever! Being a revolutionary title, one of the first games to use the Source engine, it was a pioneer of the genre of action RPGs, in that it allowed you to have many gameplay choices, many ways to solve a quest, many types of weapons, even the option to avoid combat altogether! SEVEN clans to choose from (something like classes), each one with their own unique characteristics and lore, in a fantasy game setting full of detailed mythos, the "World of Darkness", in a very upsetting and discomfortable environment which resembles our own world and its ugliness even, but with the impending doom of the apocalypse hanging heavy above both mortals and immortals... Warring factions, tricky leaders, secret societies (of undead, keep in mind), your need to hide your presence and roleplay a vampire trying to survive into a high technology era, where and when no fuck-ups or gore is going to be tolerated, especially by your own kin. You go to have sex with a person and it bites you, turning you into a vampire! Best beginning i have ever seen in any videogame ever! Some clans have unique havens as a special reward and certainly, gameplay PLUS roleplay demands; for example, don't you dare walk next to humans as a Nosferatu and never, i mean ever, try to make sense with the rantings of your Malkavian "prophet", while using dialogue to communicate with other species. Troika games close down soon after game's release, making it barely in time to release the one and only official patch, mostly to fix a game-ending bug/crash. It has many bugs, even more issues, but it is a trully IMMORTAL game, forever to occupy the TOP ranks of pc-game classics, an all-time classic. Buy it NOW, it fully deserves its price and even MORE!

This game is so good that it's good even despite it's flawed, buggy and unfinished state. Just don't forget to install the latest Unofficial Patch. In essence this is a linear pseudo-open world RPG in World Of Darkness setting. Great characters, fantastic atmosphere, great soundtrack. and it's by Troika. Must try for any RPG fan. And don't forget the Unofficial patch!