They just released the sequel, (sadly not up to its predecessor from what I gathered), and it’s Halloween, so what better time to talk about this special vampire game?
It was the last game by Troika and they were creating a mix of RPG and Acton and an early version of open world with a lot of incredible side content. And it is precisely this optional content that fleshed out the world so much and made it feel more real. The action part was not exactly stellar, although it was kind of funny as a Nosferatu in the late game to simply be invisible for ever and just stealth takedown all the enemies. Boss fights did not go so easily in contrast… I would even say the main story is nothing to write home about, although with a fun twist. The side content is what I enjoyed immensely however. Because it didn’t feel like the game was telling me: oh, go down that alley, it looks like there could be something with a big arrow. Instead I was simply put into the world and was free to explore it. And if I stumbled on something, that made the enjoyment that much higher, because I felt that exploration was rewarded.
It’s great strength is also that it takes role playing serious and let’s you commit to a certain character. Depending what vampire clan you belong to, your game experience can be very different. I chose the butt ugly Nosferatu, which meant I couldn’t even be seen on the street by humans without them calling me a monster and attacking me. So i was forced to move in the sewer or go invisible. That made certain interactions much harder. But other Nosferatu NPCs were cool with me but aren’t so friendly to normal pretty face vampires in contrast to how they treated me.
This game is set in the Vampire: the Masquerade setting of World of Darkness, which is normally a tabletop RPG. You do not need to know anything to enjoy the game. It contains a lot of explanation for new players to understand the world. For me it was also the entry point without any other knowledge before.
If you want to try it out: use the fan patch, it fixes bugs and adds some cut content.
So to those who played it: tell us some of your stories and what you liked about this game, to wake the interest of new players.
I agree about the clans, you had so many options out the gate. Like 4-5 as I recall. I always heard, do not start with Machiavellian or however you say it, but I really did want to earn that playthrough. Got a couple hours into the game and glitched, I can’t quite recall where.
I think the game had the same charm as the first Deus Ex. Butt-ugly graphics but amazing story and great gameplay. A real treat for those who could look past its dated graphics. I never thought the graphics of either one was bad.
I don’t recommend it now because AFAIK it requires Windows and I no longer run that. If it did run on my platform (Mac), I doubt it would run on the new ones. But I remember it being good for what kind of game it was.
From what I found, it’s possible to play it on Linux through Wine, so not totally windows exclusive. How well it works depends probably on how willing you are to tinker, as always in such cases.
I can confirm, I played the GoG version on Linux some years ago.