Vampire: The Masquerade® - Bloodlines™ 2

I'll preface this with the obvious. This isn't a review bomb, but I do not believe a studio or company, especially not as large as those that were involved in developing this, should be able to skirt accountability. This project was DEEPLY mishandled from the start. So regardless of anything else said after this, this is going to inherently be a negative review, no matter what. Even if I absolutely adored this game, it would get a negative review because of how it was handled. Having said that... This is not a Bloodlines sequel. It is 100% a vampire game. It skirts by in my opinion as a V:TM game. But it is not, and never will be, a Bloodlines sequel. If this is what Paradox wanted, and White Wolf signed off on, they should be ashamed, and they should rename it, and pull it out of the Bloodlines IP, and move it into its own. Maybe V:TM: Elders. And start a new series, where you play action FPS focused games feeding the power fantasy of being an elder freshly awoken in a new world, or maybe even following Phyre (what a stupid alias choice) as their story progresses. Doing that, you'd probably lose a good portion of the contention this has generated. But, that would require suits who stare at pie charts and spreadsheets to have half the common sense of a brain-dead seal, and to not view their own opinions and thoughts on subjects they have little to no exposure to as if they are gods latest messiah to mankind and their genius should be worshipped rather than wrapped in a pillow case and clubbed until it stops twitching. From my experience, this game has... Maybe 1 single reference to what occured in Bloodlines, some vague mention about some stupid letter sent once a month to the cities prince about what happened to LA's prince. It's the most low effort token gesture possible. Simply to justify that this is set in the same world, and isn't its own thing. Thats it. Otherwise, there may as well have never been a Bloodlines 1 to justify making this. That is how poorly connected they are. Again, this is not Bloodlines 2. I will beat that dead horse until my non-existent cows come home. As a V:TM game, and as an "RPG"... I've said this in the discussions somewhere, but the RPG elements and attachment to the TTRPG, depth of skills and choices you can make for your character and how those choices effect the world around you (you know, the quintessential requirements for what makes something an RPG) are as authentic as Sam Riegel's teeth, and as shallow as Leonardo Dicaprio's taste in women. No inventory. No gear. Just cliche cosmetic junk you can't customise. Hell, effectively no weapons (more on that later, including the gun fail). You don't really get a consious choice in who you align with, as the game is about as linear as the first Medal of Honor game. Your clan choice is effectively irrelevant, since you have access to basically everything. Your skill choice is irrelevent and straight up simply about how you enjoy fighting. Your choices in conversations and the apparent impact you have on how people feel about you is... irrelevent. My understanding of the 'endings' is that they're irrelevent and boil down to a couple ♥♥♥♥♥♥ slides at the end before the self back patting of credits roll. Don't get me started on the Nosferatu... I don't care how it's justified, I don't care how it's explained away, I have zero time for anyones excuses or opinions on it. Nosferatu are inspired by and derived from Count Orlok. Their clan bane, therefore, makes them look like that. With variation. The inherent repulsion and fear people feel for Nosferatu is less about their actual looks, though whilst genuinely hideous (as Count Orlok was and was meant to be) is more an effect of their presence, so even Nosferatu who can sorta vaguely pass (as some were shown to be able to do so in Bloodlines 1) were problematic and repulsive. Here? They're just extreme birth defect monstrosities. They're genuinely WORSE looking, and MORE monsterous the way they're portrayed here, but people keep arguing that it's somehow more passable. Good god no it's not. Tolly, MAYBE is somehow more passable, but 100% drawing FAR more attention than a traditional Nosferatu would. Someone made some really stupid design choices here. And someone else actually approved these groteque cancer balls as less monsterous 'nosferatu'. Insanity. Okay. So, that's enough of my gripes... probably... hopefully... I promise I'm not trying to be negative, and am trying to give this a genuine reveiw. Okay, maybe one or two more gripes, actually, then onto the game itself, stepping away from all of this here. The guns having JUST been added to even be holdable? What the actual ♥♥♥♥? Not only was I just on the last mission when the update was released, but... it's pretty low effort frankly. It should have been a functional core part of the game. It's a core part of the world and game in general that guns are actively and consciously used in combat. Period. It's not a question, it's not a choice, it's not an option. It shouldn't have been relegated to the fisticuffs bs that it was. And now that they're added, they're still a joke. This guy went into forced Torpor in the 1920's. Not the 1600's. He'd have an idea of how to reload a weapon rather than just throw it at people when its empty. He'd know how pockets work and be able to have a functional inventory. He's 400+ years old, he'd 100% know how to put some damn stakes in his pockets and use them against vampire opponents. He LITERALLY says, whilst still in torpor, that there is not a single thing in this city that can stand against him he's supposed to be THAT powerful. Yet he doesn't know how to reload a pistol? Come on. Get real. Having said that, even playing on hard my first play through, despite some peoples claims that as an elder he feels weak, I honestly felt too little resistance to justify calling it 'hard' difficulty. The only moments I struggled with were just when there was VOLUME to fight at once. Numerous enemies in small spaces... Well, things are naturally going to go wrong. But even the final boss... first attempt, just like the rest of them except the Sabbat with the Blood Dolls (intentionally being vague so as not to spoil). That was frustrating, but that was because it was a very unfamiliar way I needed to fight to win it, and my reactions are not PvP sweat gamer level... and combat tends to be pretty fast paced. Still, I was surprised at what was considered 'hard', and I don't like making games hard just for the sake of it. Ultimately, the Elder tears through everything if and when they want to. So despite ALLLLLL of that... How is it as a game, independent of the sequal and IP etc? As a stand alone, linear, ACTION FPS, not an RPG, honestly man, I had a blast. It crashed plenty for me, which got frustrating, and had some audio hiccups, sadly that's the life of gaming these days as no developer seems to have any real integrity or pride in their work, or respect for their own reputation anymore. Because of how I tend to go about combat, it did get a little repetative, as did traipsing back and forth across the city for meaningless shallow side quests. Still, standalone, the story is quite compelling. The characters draw you in, and if you're anything like me, you'll find yourself able to connect with them and have your preferances. If it's your kinda thing, if you make the contacts like you enough you can even sleep with them. Every day. Over and over. lol. Combat is crunchy, despite it being fisticuffs obsessed which I don't personally like. The voice acting is pretty great, honestly. Fairly, if this wasn't mishandled how it was, and wasn't co-opting the Bloodlines IP in the fail-way it is, it would probably have been a pretty damn successful game. But, corpo suits gotta always shoot themselves in the foot these days, since they're half vegetable from all that snow they snort to convince themselves they're gods gift to humanity, right?

Way too much consolitis. You've got no inventory, you can't save when you want to, and it's completely linear. I'd rather play Pac Man, at least it's not pretending to be a grown-up RPG.

Second playthrough since my first the week of release, this time actually buying the game. The story still isn't great. The game still feels under baked. There is quite literally only 11 hours of content. At the very least the combat is fun. Don't buy at full price

This is a generic vampire-themed action game with elements of the RPG source material's rules. I think a common mistake made by larger creative studios is to design their productions for as broad an audience as possible while milking nostalgia toward existing work. This results in bland utterly soulless garbage regardless of how technically proficient it is (or isn't), which is bad enough on its own, but the IP-milking on top of that is really a rub for a lot of people. Who is this for? Even the positive reviews for this game have heavy caveats about how it's not really a sequel, it isn't what they were hoping for, it feels empty, and so on and so forth, on top of additional criticism about the performance and pacing and replayability and mechanics. So why design it this way? I don't really get it. I tried to divorce this game from my love of the Troika VtM RPG, and of the TTRPG, and to treat it like its own standalone action game instead. I gave up on it in under an hour and felt disgusted for having made the attempt. Slop slop slop slop.

Честно говоря, идя в Bloodlines 2, я готовился к катастрофе - негатива вокруг много. Но по факту игра не так плоха, как малюют. Да, это не первый Bloodlines, и атмосфера местами другая, но свои сильные стороны у проекта есть. Что порадовало: Боёвка - реально огонь. Наконец-то ты чувствуешь себя древним, опасным вампиром, а не трясущейся крысой с пистолетом. Как разрывать врагов способностями - кайф. В наши дни мало игр, где дают поиграть за по-настоящему могущественного вампира, и тут это удалось. Плюс какой-никакой, а сюжет есть, совсем уж плошкой его не назовешь. Что бесит: Вставки про детектива. Серьёзно, зачем они? Каждый раз, когда начинается эта мышиная возня с «расследованием», темп игры падает в тартарары. Мне дали клыки и суперскорость, а я должен ходить по следам и допрашивать свидетелей? Сбивает весь настрой. Если вы фанат темы и хотите именно power fantasy про вампира (а не ходилку-симулятор скуки) - берите. Игра не заслужила тонны хейта. Просто делайте скип на диалогах про улики, и будет отлично. 7/10, но с натягом.

If this game was called "Vampire: The Masquerade - Nomad" It would be considered overwhelmingly positive on steam.

Vampire: The Masquarade - Bloodlines 2 It is NOT By all means i is nothing like Vampire: The Masquarade - Bloodlines Hardly even Vampire: The Masquarade Worth full price? Not at all either. But on its own, the game is actually good. Fine pacing, very fine combat, good vampire feel, has strong oomph. Get it at half price or less, totally worth it

I am having fun. It's a pretty good action adventure slash walking simulator. The vibe is nice and dark, de visuals are amazing. But I bought an RPG and this is not an RPG. For that alone, I really cannot recommend it, not at full price at least. Wait for a discount, and buy it as a walking simulator with bits and pieces of (admittedly fun) combat section. And the ugliest gay man you have ever seen in videogames.

*Do Not Waste Your Time or Money* I have over 1100 games on my pc. This has been one of the most basic and boring ones of them all. Especially for this time and age. Especially for the price tag... It feels like you have given this title to a bunch of highschoolers with basic understanding of the gaming world. Told them to crack out this slop and they were all so happy with it. As it was there first real attempt as a highschooler to make a game. This could have been something good. Instead its a bunch of boring dialogue options. Walking around and super basic combat combos with a real life nerf on your dopamine receptors. Gaming has become a rug pull on the consumer. Sell an idea and deliver a bare minimal product. Another Boring game to the pile of waste *Activated Via CD KEY*

It feels less like the original brought back to life and more like a shaky act of necromancy. There is blood here, though it never runs very deep. Even so, its moody vampire-noir drama made for a longer and more enjoyable night than I expected.