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.
The original still holds up in many ways, but it’s less mind blowing now than it was back then - although now it’s actually possible to finish thanks to the Unofficial Patch.
When it came out, it was a breath of fresh air with its writing and voice acting (at least the major roles) and the combination of a cartoony art direction with being an early Source game meant the characters faces were unbelievably expressive.
It’s also a game that absolutely shows the importance of “vibes”. The soundtrack, environment design and general atmosphere is just stellar and probably the single part of the game that truly holds up. From the run-down sadness of Hollywood to watching the rain outside the windows of your Santa Monica apartment and listening to the Deb of Night.
I think the choices-matter part is a little less prominent than some may lead you to believe - it’s a fairly linear game with missable sidequests, not a branching story - but the roleplaying is excellent and pretty much every single clan has unique dialogue and moments that play out differently. Particularly Nosferatu and Malkavian have a lot of unique stuff, enough so that there is probably grounds for 3 playthroughs (normal clan, then Malkavian and Nosferatu) which is fairly impressive.
The Malkavian playthrough in general is one of the best second playthroughs of any game, as your own dialogue choices are littered with spoilers about the story that your character knows before the player thanks to the clan’s madness/insight. There are also unique versions of many TV shows specifically for Malkavian - and more.