Vampire: The Masquerade® - Bloodlines™ 2

The Combat really ruined this game for me it's pretty sh!t. the story is kinda slow and it doesn't really make me care about the main character the way it should. I also did really care for the fact that alot of the character design from top to bottom felt very flamboyant to the point of feeling like the LGBTQ is forced down the players throat a bit.

Not an RPG

This is an auto thumbs down simply for Paradox thinking this is a Bloodlines 2 sequel. It isn't. Its not a bad game. I hover around 6.5/10. The graphics are pretty good. The action combat isn't bad. The other reviews are pretty correct. They should have called this something else. The map is small. The detective ♥♥♥♥ is kinda boring and ruins the pacing. It plays more like a Dishonored game than an RPG. You can probably have fun with some bits of it.

Оптимизация никакая.

I just finished my first playthrough - as a Tremere - and I found the game very enjoyable. The main story was well-crafted with plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing. The main host characters were interesting and multilayered, and the discipline usage felt nice. Now, be aware that this is not a fully open world game - it is a narrative-driven progression with very little in the way of side quests (aside the repeatable ones from clan representatives). For the lore purists: like in Bloodlines, various accomodations and compromises have been made to the rulebook and the game is slightly less varied (though graphically better, of course); it only has one location map (downtown Seattle) and none of the other members of the WOD tenants (Mages, Werewolves, Ghosts) make it in game outside the occasional reference in conversation. Given all the negative reviews I thought this game was a lot less than it turned out to be, but - fair is fair - I did wait for a sizable discount to purchase it. The pull price (at time of writing) is indeed too much for a game this size.

50% of the game should have been cut. No one wants to play city walking simulator as a detective. The ending choices are worded oddly so I couldn't ensure the ending I wanted.

这不是bloodlines这是步行模拟器

At the time of posting this review, I've just finished the game. I have not yet played the DLC, but I may update this review when I do so. Perhaps they will fare better. This review will also be spoiler free. [I've now updated the review to discuss the DLC at the end. Judging by my change in playtime between the two reviews (only about three hours), you might be able to tell how the review will go.] Let me begin by talking about the good things in the game. The location is good (but this is not to be confused with the actual map boundries that the game takes place in). Seattle is a cool city, and is an interesting spot to have a VTM game. Secondly, the story is good. Not amazing, and predictable at points, but still good. The combat is also decent, albeit with less variety than in the first game. It is your more traditional first person action combat, and is works well. Now, the negatives. The map is small, or, at least feels quite small. Even if physically bigger than the map of VTMB1, it does not feel like it. There is no hub, nor are there other parts of the city (or other cities) to explore. You are locked into this one part of Seattle, and that is it. If the game's measurement system for quest markers is at least somewhat accurate, the whole area is less than a kilometer accross. Expanding upon this, the game does not feel much like Seattle. It feels like it could maybe be Seattle, or some other Pacific North-West city, but nothing really makes it feel like Seattle. This game is also not an RPG, however marketed as such. VTMB1 is a true RPG, maybe too much so that it is hard for new players to begin, but it has all the RPG characteristics of levelling, upgrading skills, and then using those skills in game, in missions, in combat, and to access secrets or side missions across the city. This game has none of that. At best, it has a system where you can learn new combat powers, but this is not what makes an RPG. I also found this system quite useless, and basically just gave up on it after a few hours of gameplay. There's no character creation, aside from a couple different outfits, hairstyles, and eye-colours to choose from, and you get a choice of only five clans when you start. You can't even name your charater, and, while a small gripe, the name 'Phyre' is pretty dumb, even if I get why the developers likely chose it. Lastly, I will say, this game is very short. VTMB1 might be considered a short game, but even then, sinking twenty-five hours into it on a first playthrough is not uncommon. I likely did more doddling around than I needed to in this game, and still beat the game in a little less than sixteen hours. A twelve hour start-to-completion time in this game seems accurate, and wouldn't surprise me. There's just not that much in the way of content here. A main story, a couple of side missions, if you can even call them that, and that is it. Now, do I reccomend this game. Ehhhh. Maybe. If you like the aestheic of the VTM series, it might be worth a play, but only if you pick it up on sale. I paid about $60 CAD for the deluxe edition of this game durring the summer sale, which includes both DLC. I feel like I probably overpaid, but by maybe $20. The DLC may make me feel like I've made up the rest of my cost, but we'll have to see. Overall, buy it if you like VTM, but only by it for very cheap. This game is not worth its sticker price. Perhaps the biggest shame to come from this game is that it has likely all but completely ruined our chance at a 'third' game, a true successor to what was a wonderful, but wonderfully underdeveloped first game, VTMB1. ------DLC------ I've now played through both DLC. They're not good. Certainly not approaching anything near their worth at full price, or even half price. You get four new missions per DLC. That's it. Four. If you think they're new missions as part of the main game, your're also wrong. They essentially each tell (some) of the backstory of one character before you become aquainted with them in the main game. The first one, focusing on Benny, is not good. It doesn't even come close to approaching some of the best moments with Fabien in the main game. It's nothing like it at all. If this had been more of the Fabien style detective work, it would be interesting, even possibly fun. But it is not. It is four missions that are boring and forgettable. If you're debating getting only one of the DLC, don't get this one. The second one is more interesting, and less linear and boring. It's still a quick playthrough, but better than the first DLC. There's some new things here, and less of a shared focus on 'work through a dungeon, then kill a boss' which you find in the first DLC and the main game. It's still not great, and again, is only four more missions, but there is a bit more to do here, and it took me about an hour and a half to an hour and fourty-five minutes to complete this DLC, which is 1.5x to 2x longer than the first, but it didn't feel like any more of a slog. If you're only going to get one DLC, get this one, but again, don't pay anything close to full price. For $5, maybe, but that's more than I can say about the first, which I can't really reccomend at any price. In short, they're both short, and not very good, but if you're only going to get one, get the second.

Oh what could have been! This game is under-baked and soulless. The combat was initially fun but very repetitive with very little enemy variety. Story was passible but completely linear and some of Fabians tasks in particular were rather disrespectful of your time. The side-quests are removing graffiti or carrying packages. The characters were dull and one-note. The atmosphere is utterly non-existent. I think there's a reason why so many screen shots just Phyre in different outfits because there's precious little else to show.

AAaaaaah...what can I say? Been playing Vampire The Masquerade since the 90s. Love the universe. Really loved Bloodlines 1, back in the days. Wanted to like this one...even if it is not really a followup. But everything is wrong. Technically, it is not optimized and the performances are horrendous. I could say the same for lots of PC games getting out these days. I remember when Atari 2600 was getting out games that actually ran on small cartridges with couple of KB of memories. It is still possible today to get a game out that runs smoothly, even on an old rig. Just a question of investing a minimum of time in QUALITY! Now, I understand that the development of this game was cahotic to say the least. And the pubisher wanted this out on the market as soon as possible to stop the money bleed. Still, a little respect to your customers, would go a long way to ensure that they are RETURNING customers. Again, these days, happy returning customers, does not seem to be a priority. So you can imagine a game that relies principally on combat, that offers horrible performances, that's not gonna be pretty! The experience is horrible. If we could resolve the story without violence, that would be a little bit better. All these skills that exist in VtM that could allow that are just useless in that setting. Forget about obfuscate, dominate, presence, etc. No matter which clan you'll choose, it will feel like a Brujah. Nothing against that, but a little variety would help! About the story. Clearly written by a 12 years old that plays with action figures in his basement. The characters suck (not even blood, mind you)! Their dialogs are stupid. And what you can choose as dialog options...oh boy...that is infuriating. So you are an elder that comes back from torpor after 100 years sleep. Everybody knows you by reputation. They are all younger than you. And they constantly treat you as a piece of garbage! Frankly, I would expect the Prince to just bow down to the player's character. But no, you get treated like ♥♥♥♥ all the time. And whenever you try to put back in place the idiots talking to you, you get in trouble. I mean, where to start... This does not make sense in VtM, at all! Especially in the Camarilla!!!! It's all about that freaking respect for your elders, all the time! The intrigue : you got to figure out who got you back from torpor and carved symbols in your skin. You have a Malkavian stuck in your head that thinks that he is Humphrey Boggart. Well, that part is pretty much the only thing interesting in all that. Anyway, to resolve that, you will have to get bent in front of other younger vampires that do not respect you. You will have to fight all the time for no reason other than, the game design is pretty much a "beat em up" with horrible performances. Did I mention the bad performances? Bad, horrible, terrible, horrendeous performances. Anyway, do not buy that. I tried to get a refund, but since I waited more than 2 weeks to even try the game, Steam refused. What can I say? Next time, do not buy games during sales thinking "I'll try it later"... Cannot believe this game. What were they thinking?! Why couldn't they hire good writers and game designers?! And why did I wasted time on that?! Oh yeah, I love the VtM universe...