Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 626:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆☆ (7/10)
In [i]Vampire: The Masquerade — Out for Blood[/i] (“OfB”), the protagonist returns home expecting to settle their grandfather’s affairs, only to slowly uncover his connection to the local supernatural scene. It’s much smaller-scaled and more grounded than Night Road, but it gives the story a more grounded horror vibe that works well for the setting.
I’m really glad OfB has 173 Steam reviews at this time of writing. I’ve quickly glanced through all of them, and each review dismantles the game pretty well, so you should do your research and know what you’re getting into. I broadly agree with all the reviews, good and bad, making me settle on giving the game a 7/10. Dattilo’s strengths clearly lie in mechanical flexibility, atmosphere, and immersive detail, especially when depicting vampirism, violence, and the more intimate horror elements of the setting. At the same time, many of the criticisms are completely fair. The tone can feel uneven and unintentionally goofy, the cast often lacks strong personalities, several mechanics feel underutilized, and the ending feels noticeably rushed. [b]As always, thank you to the staff for a free copy![/b]
[b][h2]Pros:[/h2][/b]
✅ [b]Broad choices.[/b] Dattilo’s biggest strength is probably mechanical design and player freedom. OfB gives you a surprising amount of flexibility in how you approach situations and relationships. You can agree, disagree, betray people, delay important decisions, or commit fully to a course of action without the game constantly forcing you into a binary morality system. Conversations often feel more natural because your character can hesitate, deflect, or partially cooperate instead of instantly picking a “good” or “evil” route. You also have to pick choices carefully; you have a wide variety of leads to investigate, but you can’t choose all of them. It’s neat!
✅ [b]Long, thorough descriptions.[/b] Not a lot of writers put this much detail into the setting, with paragraphs being devoted to the actual place you are in. There’s also a lot of description about getting bit by a vampire, some nasty scenes of violence, and the allure of being a vampire’s plaything.
✅ [b]Depiction of faith.[/b] It’s a small choice, mostly flavor text, but I really like how choosing to play as a Christian affected my playthrough. Quite often, Dattilo mentions completing morning or afternoon prayers. When encountering a dead body, you pray that they will find peace in the afterlife. Faith touches on romance briefly: an RO jumps your bones pretty quickly, and there’s a line about how your faith doesn’t allow premarital sex. I liked these thoughtful touches!
✅ [b]“Big bad.”[/b] Listen, all vampire writers will write the same archetype[spoiler]—evil villain MILF ooga booga[/spoiler]—and I will eat it up every single time <3
[b][h2]Mixed:[/h2][/b]
🟨 [b]Tone. [/b]This is my biggest “hey, wait a minute!” moment. The tone is much more lighthearted, almost camp, and it’s quite a stark difference from V:tM works. At some points, the relaxed tone works, creating a more intimate, focused horror vibe. But some comedic moments fall really flat for me. For example, [spoiler]your adult friend group is being led by a child into believing in and killing vampires. And the MC is also quite stupid! A vampire trying to use their power on you? Huh, must be tired. Multiple people saying spooky things? Eh. A vampire going through a glass door? Must be your imagination. Someone BREAKING into your home?[/spoiler] Must be the wind.
[b][h2]Cons:[/h2][/b]
🟥[b] Underutilized “store management” aspect. [/b]I was bummed that there wasn’t a bigger focus on running your grandfather’s shop. In the initial chapter, you’re promised an opportunity to stock the shelves, market the place, advertise, remodel, etc. However, I only chose a couple options, so my store was under-stocked and poorly-advertised throughout the rest of the game. I felt like I didn’t interact with the store until at the very end.
🟥 [b]Flat prose and characters.[/b] Might just be a me issue, as I haven’t vibed with Dattilo’s writing in the past. The game introduces a fairly large cast and clearly wants you to feel attached to this little vampire-hunting community, yet I never really got the “found family” vibe the narrative seemed to be aiming for. Most of the cast simply exists around you rather than feeling like fully realized people with distinct voices, motivations, or dynamics. They show up when the plot needs them, contribute information or support, and then fade back into the background without leaving much of an impression. Honestly, outside of the two female romance options and a couple of central figures like Lam and Chastain, I struggled to remember much about anyone by the end.
🟥 [b]Rushed ending. [/b]For a beautiful eleven out of twelve chapters, the build up is delicious. Each chapter adds a new mystery, a new lead, and the pacing was a slow and steady march toward your inevitable death. But the critics were right, I discovered, after playing through Chapter 12. All this exhilarating buildup just … ends in a really deflating way with a couple deus ex machinas. I don’t want to get into too much detail, but the reveal of [spoiler] Damien and Uncle Allen was incredibly rushed to me. That part came out of nowhere and felt like “okay, we need to give the player a good ending if they fail.” And I didn’t love the villain’s sudden emotional softening near the end.[/spoiler] The emotional transition happens so quickly that it never really landed for me.
➡️ What really hurt the finale, though, was how little room the story gives itself to breathe. Huge confrontations, character resolutions, deaths, revelations, and epilogue material are all compressed into one chapter. The villain can die in an almost bizarrely unceremonious way, considering how much buildup surrounds her. Then the game jumps into ending slides so quickly that I was left wondering what emotionally happened between half the cast. There’s barely any time for fallout, awkward conversations, grief, reflection, or even processing what the protagonist just survived. After such a slow-burn buildup, the finale needed more space to emotionally land.
🟥 [b]Seems like Contacts, Influence, Resources were not relevant. [/b]I had high Influence, and it seemed like people liked me? But honestly, it seems better to spend your XP on skills or attributes.
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If you enjoyed this review, please check out my curator page to find more: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45814768-Verdict-Play-or-Pass/]Verdict: Play or Pass. [/url] Also, please leave a like and visit [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Indie_Gems]IndieGems[/url] and our [url=https://www.youtube.com/@IndieGems2]YouTube channel[/url] for more reviews like this one.
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