A game that I'm glad I played, but that has too many problems. I can't raccomand to everyone but vtm fans or gloomy atmosphere enjoyers. Stylish and immersive but too frustrating in the second half.
PROS
- Immersive gloomy atmosphere that keeps you engaged
- Really well made ambient that stands out artistically
- Interesting story and characters
CONS
- Quests are too little explained with no pointers along with half information (like "speak to the dealer" but you don't know where the dealer is, until you find out you need to speak to a cashier in a supermarket, like wtf) so you don't know where the ♥♥♥♥ do you need to go if you didn't listen well to every dialogue of the npcs, because lots of times they don't update the quest log with sometimes the quest not showing up at all.
- Dungeons are too little explained and counterintuitive, beacause the way to progress is too often where you wouldn't look and not highlighted (like you need to interact with some very little circles in a wall that share the same color of it and are not highlighted in any way that you would consider to interact with; way to progress being a small vent closed when they are almost always opened, with a model and texture similar to other that couldn't be opened and blend well with the ambient, not highlighted but also hidden by a little not attention capturing waterfall after a never ending fall jump in a room full of other things and pathes, with the way to reach it being an inch large overhang from the wall that doesn't make you question if you can walk on it, if you even notice it; a vent (this time opened) up from some sort of saws that kill you if you get near by and you have to think that you need throw a barrel, an object that has never been suggested that you can even throw and useless to throw until then, to the saw to make them stop, a way to progress that has never been done or suggested; a path hidden by a casual barrel, not highlighted, in a wall full of other useless barrel that blend well with the ambient, but you need to know that that specific object, instead of all the others, can be moved to reveal where the ♥♥♥♥ you need to go.
- Unbalanced encounters from the half onwards, with rooms full of armed enemies with the firearmed ones lasering you when you shoot at them and dealing tons of hp, so it's anavoidable being damage and if you're not full hp you're ♥♥♥♥♥♥; gorilla likes ghoul that attacks you in pack of ten with each one five shotting you and jumping at you at each strike, dealing aggravated damage that need extra time to heal and no ways to heal beacause they're in the sewers, so you need to take a break while the game is running to fight the next encounter; dungeons too long and repetitive; bosses with too much HP and dealing too much damage so you need to run in circle hoping to avoid their hits and save spumming at each hit dealt, a mission in a cemetery where you need to protect two gates from the zombies but are too distants and the zombies are too many, so even if you do your best killing those who are damaging a gate and immidieatly run to the other one you eventually loose and there's little you can do, even with advices from the internet.
- Full of bug and glitches even with the unoffical patch, like quests that don't update, npcs that don't show up so you can't continue your quests (like fat larry in downtown, or should I say NOT in downtown), scripts in dungeons that don't start so you need to noclip to progress, a mission where it's scripted you have to shoot at boxes but the area is glitched and it's considered protected, meaning you can't shoot or even draw your weapon so you need to cheat to change that and do what is supposed to do.
- Gameplay not bad but it can easily turn into an heavy armed shooter with handguns, shotgun,
machine gun, swat rifle and sniping rifle, where more than a vampire seems like playing Rambo.
- Crashes every now and then, specially after you change neighbourhood in a hour long session.
- Ending that seems taken from a looney tunes cartoon. (SPOILER ALERT) From the half of the game there is this old sarcophagus that obsesses the characters, sealed and needing a special key to be open, so you arrive at the end curious to finally know what is inside only to find out that, for an unexplained reason, it's full of dynamites, a timer and a note with written on it "By Jack", a random NPC, so everything goes kaboom, you character dies and trasiition to Jack and the sarcophagus'mummy sit on camping chairs watching calmly the city's skyline. That's it. End of the game. End credits starts and you wander WTF in a definitely delusional way.
I left suggested only beacause of the year it camed out and the passion that covers much of the game that can make you enjoy the complex experience.
