Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is definitely a RPG worth its salt albeit forever marred by the unfortunate development history of this game and numerous bugs and jank that still plagues this game almost 17 years later.
If I could describe this game's mood and atmosphere in a way, it would be Deus Ex but you're in an eternal early 2000's halloween party. The different creatures of the night and their lore are really fleshed out here. I would also say the soundtrack here is overall great here with some of the later districts theme being very atmospheric in selling you the fantasy that you yourself are a creature of the night. Character building here is unique with sub skills that build towards the overall skills that your character use in the game (Ex. You would need points in the Dexterity sub skill and the Security sub skill to enhance your Lockpicking skill). Probably one of the main praise for the game is the difference when you replay it since each clan plays almost completely different (especially 2 of the clans which aren't recommended for a first playthrough) which really gives the game a lot of value and wondering what you can do in another cycle.
I would say what stops me from really praising the game more though is the overall jank and bugs that plagued my playthrough. It is really easy to get stuck on something or crash even with the unofficial patch I played on. I also won't say too much about the last fifth of the game but it was too much combat-oriented for what players might have specialized in. Combat overall was okay and the gunplay here is something you might expect in Deus Ex so I was mostly alright with it.
In conclusion, I really do recommend giving this game a try and I feel like I might have enjoyed this game better if I played it during halloween or something, I'm not huge into Vampires but I can safely say this is the best Vampire game I've played yet.
If I could describe this game's mood and atmosphere in a way, it would be Deus Ex but you're in an eternal early 2000's halloween party. The different creatures of the night and their lore are really fleshed out here. I would also say the soundtrack here is overall great here with some of the later districts theme being very atmospheric in selling you the fantasy that you yourself are a creature of the night. Character building here is unique with sub skills that build towards the overall skills that your character use in the game (Ex. You would need points in the Dexterity sub skill and the Security sub skill to enhance your Lockpicking skill). Probably one of the main praise for the game is the difference when you replay it since each clan plays almost completely different (especially 2 of the clans which aren't recommended for a first playthrough) which really gives the game a lot of value and wondering what you can do in another cycle.
I would say what stops me from really praising the game more though is the overall jank and bugs that plagued my playthrough. It is really easy to get stuck on something or crash even with the unofficial patch I played on. I also won't say too much about the last fifth of the game but it was too much combat-oriented for what players might have specialized in. Combat overall was okay and the gunplay here is something you might expect in Deus Ex so I was mostly alright with it.
In conclusion, I really do recommend giving this game a try and I feel like I might have enjoyed this game better if I played it during halloween or something, I'm not huge into Vampires but I can safely say this is the best Vampire game I've played yet.