OVERVIEW
In the year 2004, Trokia Games, a studio comprised of lead designers of Fallout fame, released Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines. A classic RPG unlike anything before it and still unlike anything that has come after it. Like the Masquerade itself, VtM:B is a beautiful game hidden in plain sight.
2004 might have been the year of Half Life 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, but VtM:B was and still is being slowly discovered by ravenous fans such as myself who never miss an opportunity to let people know that this game has aged like fine blood red wine. This is wrongly considered a cult classic. It is an outright innovative masterpiece and its time we treat it like so. It's legend has grown over the years and it's novelty as a one-of-a-kind video game gets stronger with every year a sequel (or even a similar game) ceases to exist. Like a vampire, born of Cain, I am here to draw you in, suck your blood, and Sire you into the undead world of darkness — the Masquerade!
VtM:B is the kind of video game where there is a world before you played it, and a world after you played it. This masterpiece ticks so many boxes that you want more more meat on the bone in every subsequent game you play afterwards. It has the vibes of a classic Hollywood Noir — it is confidently sexy, dramatic, and alluring while simultaniously cool like a Tarantino film. The character dialogue is smooth, natural, and cool like a Reservoir Dogs anecdote about Madonna's Like A Virgin or something out of the mid-90s indie film renaissance. The world is completely novel in it's night time portrayal of modern Los Angeles, full of (hidden) vampires, criminals, mob syndicates, and average joes just milling about at clubs or diners. The plot rivals the best crime stories and mysteries while simultaniously being dynamic and adaptive. The vampires themselves have incredibly distinct clans, philosophical viewpoints, styles, dialect, appearance, and of course, skills and abilities. As an Immersive Sim, the gameplay differentiation between the clan you choose can substantially change how the game plays and functions wholesale. In VtM:B, your freedom to play how you want is in the league of other sim classics like Deus Ex or big RPGs like Divinity Original Sin.
This game is firing on so many cylinders that I wish every other game was on it's level. I wish the clubs in Mass Effect had thumping rave parties with Industrial Metal and New Wave music by Marilyn Manson and Ministry blasting so loud that the characters at the bar have to raise their voice to be heard. I wish Fallout 3 and 4 have meaningful choices in story outcomes. I wish Cyberpunk 2077 actually gave me the freedom to approach quests and combat however I want or react to who I am, how I look, and what I am doing.
CHARACTERS
Hidden in plain sight are the vampires of the masquerade. Depending on which clan you ask, the vampires of VtM:B are descendants of the biblical Cain, the first muderer. Although the vampires share a common ancestor, they draw distinctions of lineage in their clans (classes). Each clan has a distinct culture, sense of ethics, and appearance. These clans are unlike other common classes in RPGs.
Mirroring real life, VtM:B's characters thrive because they celebrate our differences, not our similarities. Each individual has their own fashion sense, way of speaking, and motivations. Above all, they are really really cool. They dress cool, they look cool, they talk cool. I've tried to show examples of this in these Polaroids[flic.kr] I've made. Even background NPCs have a lot of style and personality.
One of the best examples of this individualism is the extremely well written Malkavian character, Therese Voerman. Without spoiling anything, her madness plays a role in one of the most interesting quests in modern gaming. Like most characters in VtM:B, Therese is three dimensional with a sort of film-like star power that oozes through the screen. Her office looks like she means business. She acts like she's the boss in town, and she dresses with this sexy yet powerful stature. The characters in VtM:B are lifted further by excellent voice acting from some top tier voice talent such as: Phil Lamarr, Steve Blum, John Dimaggio. It is worth noting that the animation, especially the facial animation, was mind blowing in 2004 and still better than some RPG games today.
The world building of the vampire clans feeds into the individual character writing, appearances, and aesthetics which creates such strong characters who feel so original not only towards one another, but original when compared to other more generic fantasy characters in other games. Some people look like trench coat assassins out of The Matrix while others have this 2000s punk rock raver vibe. Some people like Fat Larry are just cool dudes from the streets. In the end, these characters aren't defined by their clan, but by their backstories and motivations. One motivation in particular is central to everything in VtM:B's plot — the Ankaran Sarcophagus!
STORY, QUESTS AND GAMEPLAY
The Ankaran Sarcophagus is a film-style priceless "MacGuffin" that the player and almost every vampire kindred NPC is after. Think about the money (or rug) in The Big Lebowski, the diamonds in Pulp Fiction, or the Ark in Indiana Jones. Everyone wants it and it's up to you about how you get it. Which leads to one of the best qualities of VtM:B — the freedom of choice in gameplay.
Having the MacGuffin through line with everyone's twists, turns, betrayals and motivations is really fun and cinematic, but in the end, it is a good plot-based storytelling device. Where VtM:B shines is in it's RPG-Immersive Sim gameplay and quest design. The game pulls it's stat sheet directly from the TTRPG the series is based upon. In the stat sheet alone, you have an immense amount of choice in your build. But like any good TTRPG, everything in this game is simulated around your choices: your clan, your discipline, your skills talents, etc. Without getting into the nitty gritty, the gameplay is dynamic and deep without bogging you down staring at a stat sheet for hours on end.
Quests are the meat and potatoes of any great RPG game. VtM:B has the best combination of main and side quests in any RPG I've ever played. The main quests follow everyone's pursuit of the priceless Ankaran Sarcophagus taking you through haunted hotels that reveal intimate life events of characters in your travels, nights at spooky musems, or Scarface-like mafia strongholds. The side quests are really something different. This is where the game gets to shine in its modern setting. These quests have the player character rubbing elbows with Hollywood producers trying to recover a snuff film, convincing hobos they didn't see a gruesome vampire murder, or clearing out business loans from predatory sharks. Every side quest is etched in the dark nasty realities that is the underbelly of LA crime.
9.5/10
In the year 2004, Trokia Games, a studio comprised of lead designers of Fallout fame, released Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines. A classic RPG unlike anything before it and still unlike anything that has come after it. Like the Masquerade itself, VtM:B is a beautiful game hidden in plain sight.
2004 might have been the year of Half Life 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3, but VtM:B was and still is being slowly discovered by ravenous fans such as myself who never miss an opportunity to let people know that this game has aged like fine blood red wine. This is wrongly considered a cult classic. It is an outright innovative masterpiece and its time we treat it like so. It's legend has grown over the years and it's novelty as a one-of-a-kind video game gets stronger with every year a sequel (or even a similar game) ceases to exist. Like a vampire, born of Cain, I am here to draw you in, suck your blood, and Sire you into the undead world of darkness — the Masquerade!
VtM:B is the kind of video game where there is a world before you played it, and a world after you played it. This masterpiece ticks so many boxes that you want more more meat on the bone in every subsequent game you play afterwards. It has the vibes of a classic Hollywood Noir — it is confidently sexy, dramatic, and alluring while simultaniously cool like a Tarantino film. The character dialogue is smooth, natural, and cool like a Reservoir Dogs anecdote about Madonna's Like A Virgin or something out of the mid-90s indie film renaissance. The world is completely novel in it's night time portrayal of modern Los Angeles, full of (hidden) vampires, criminals, mob syndicates, and average joes just milling about at clubs or diners. The plot rivals the best crime stories and mysteries while simultaniously being dynamic and adaptive. The vampires themselves have incredibly distinct clans, philosophical viewpoints, styles, dialect, appearance, and of course, skills and abilities. As an Immersive Sim, the gameplay differentiation between the clan you choose can substantially change how the game plays and functions wholesale. In VtM:B, your freedom to play how you want is in the league of other sim classics like Deus Ex or big RPGs like Divinity Original Sin.
This game is firing on so many cylinders that I wish every other game was on it's level. I wish the clubs in Mass Effect had thumping rave parties with Industrial Metal and New Wave music by Marilyn Manson and Ministry blasting so loud that the characters at the bar have to raise their voice to be heard. I wish Fallout 3 and 4 have meaningful choices in story outcomes. I wish Cyberpunk 2077 actually gave me the freedom to approach quests and combat however I want or react to who I am, how I look, and what I am doing.
CHARACTERS
Hidden in plain sight are the vampires of the masquerade. Depending on which clan you ask, the vampires of VtM:B are descendants of the biblical Cain, the first muderer. Although the vampires share a common ancestor, they draw distinctions of lineage in their clans (classes). Each clan has a distinct culture, sense of ethics, and appearance. These clans are unlike other common classes in RPGs.
Mirroring real life, VtM:B's characters thrive because they celebrate our differences, not our similarities. Each individual has their own fashion sense, way of speaking, and motivations. Above all, they are really really cool. They dress cool, they look cool, they talk cool. I've tried to show examples of this in these Polaroids[flic.kr] I've made. Even background NPCs have a lot of style and personality.
One of the best examples of this individualism is the extremely well written Malkavian character, Therese Voerman. Without spoiling anything, her madness plays a role in one of the most interesting quests in modern gaming. Like most characters in VtM:B, Therese is three dimensional with a sort of film-like star power that oozes through the screen. Her office looks like she means business. She acts like she's the boss in town, and she dresses with this sexy yet powerful stature. The characters in VtM:B are lifted further by excellent voice acting from some top tier voice talent such as: Phil Lamarr, Steve Blum, John Dimaggio. It is worth noting that the animation, especially the facial animation, was mind blowing in 2004 and still better than some RPG games today.
The world building of the vampire clans feeds into the individual character writing, appearances, and aesthetics which creates such strong characters who feel so original not only towards one another, but original when compared to other more generic fantasy characters in other games. Some people look like trench coat assassins out of The Matrix while others have this 2000s punk rock raver vibe. Some people like Fat Larry are just cool dudes from the streets. In the end, these characters aren't defined by their clan, but by their backstories and motivations. One motivation in particular is central to everything in VtM:B's plot — the Ankaran Sarcophagus!
STORY, QUESTS AND GAMEPLAY
The Ankaran Sarcophagus is a film-style priceless "MacGuffin" that the player and almost every vampire kindred NPC is after. Think about the money (or rug) in The Big Lebowski, the diamonds in Pulp Fiction, or the Ark in Indiana Jones. Everyone wants it and it's up to you about how you get it. Which leads to one of the best qualities of VtM:B — the freedom of choice in gameplay.
Having the MacGuffin through line with everyone's twists, turns, betrayals and motivations is really fun and cinematic, but in the end, it is a good plot-based storytelling device. Where VtM:B shines is in it's RPG-Immersive Sim gameplay and quest design. The game pulls it's stat sheet directly from the TTRPG the series is based upon. In the stat sheet alone, you have an immense amount of choice in your build. But like any good TTRPG, everything in this game is simulated around your choices: your clan, your discipline, your skills talents, etc. Without getting into the nitty gritty, the gameplay is dynamic and deep without bogging you down staring at a stat sheet for hours on end.
Quests are the meat and potatoes of any great RPG game. VtM:B has the best combination of main and side quests in any RPG I've ever played. The main quests follow everyone's pursuit of the priceless Ankaran Sarcophagus taking you through haunted hotels that reveal intimate life events of characters in your travels, nights at spooky musems, or Scarface-like mafia strongholds. The side quests are really something different. This is where the game gets to shine in its modern setting. These quests have the player character rubbing elbows with Hollywood producers trying to recover a snuff film, convincing hobos they didn't see a gruesome vampire murder, or clearing out business loans from predatory sharks. Every side quest is etched in the dark nasty realities that is the underbelly of LA crime.
9.5/10