first time playing with third person mode, realizing that this game is actually not that great. only stuck with it until i finished house beneviento. i was fully in the hype cycle when this game released, and casually speedran it a whole lot, but now that im going thru after forgetting all the tricks and just playing it again, it sure is underwhelming. the story is just kind of lame and a bit nonsensical, and even the high point, the aforementioned house beneviento still feels rushed and underbaked. the first part is good as a proof of concept but the second is a boring game of hide and seek. castle dimitrescu and heisenburgs factory are still decent sections, but moreaus is bland and forgettable. overall disappointed with my revisit to this entry.

spooky asf, but after a long build up. the beginning was hard to get invested in due to the painfully slow movement speeds and holding off on the enemies until you make some progress, probably to ease players in, but for me did almost the opposite. I am definitely glad i stuck with it though, because the creature design was phenomenal, even if the hide and seek gameplay felt a little clunky at times. Coming from VtM:J probably set my expectations in the wrong place, but this still was an amazing horror experience, even if it left me frustrated at points from either difficulty or just me being a bit pants at it.

Incredible game, any game with a Russells-esque pick-up mechanic is immediately amazing in my book, and its clear the devs felt the same with the liquid filled bottles seen in alyx appearing in this game as well (and running on quest 2!!! blew my mind). As awesome as this game is, I had a few issues with it, hopefully to be patched out, or may be just because I played on the lowest system this is available on. On a few occasions I had to reload checkpoints or the entire level due to key items not appearing or glitching in some way. Also, the "Nice vs Aggressive" dialogue options were a nice touch, but serve absolutely no storytelling purpose, with all dialogue trees ending the same way between the two, and the only useful dialogue choices are the intimidate ones, actually allowing for extra information or collectables to be unlocked.
LIGHT SETPIECE SPOILERS
In one instance, I thought a glitch was keeping me from unlocking the cell for a person to obtain a collectable, but after trial, error, and finally just watching a playthrough, it seems like only the aggressive choice let me unlock the door, even though i had obtained the key when using the nice option. This was definitely a low point for the game, as I replayed this section a few times trying to get it to work. The second low point were the boss fights, as the first felt like dumb luck, and the second one used a mechanic of deflecting attacks I had no idea existed in the game, as it wasn't used until the very end.
SPOILER OVER
Overall, I definitely recommend this game, and will definitely continue playing in the following days in order to collect everything and fully upgrade my character. The ending seemed to hint at a sequel and I will definitely be looking forward to it if it ever comes out.

its a masterpiece and all but still clunky asf, i kept struggling with the controls and doing the wrong thing (my fault), and smaller things that i just think were designed poorly/should have had some settings to adjust (sensitivity of the sniper, swimming controls, the entire solidus fight) okay maybe the last one isnt entirely the games fault but its strange that the story and message have aged so incredibly well for the modern day, while the gameplay itself is starting to feel its age. if i ever replay this game ill probably use third person mod on pc, probably alongside others