Background information
I played "South of Midnight" in advance - and immediately fell in love with it
by Domagoj Belancic
Remember? "Vampire: Masquerade - Bloodlines"
9.7.2018
Translation: machine translated
Long before 'Vampyr' reawakened the bloodsucker genre, 'Vampire: Masquerade - Bloodlines' allowed you to glide through the streets of Los Angeles as one of the notorious lucifugal creatures.
14 years later, the thought of 'Vampire: Masquerade - Bloodlines' still excites me. The mix of cool scenery, complex role-playing and exciting storyline fascinated me. The most recent game, 'Vampyr', quenched my thirst for blood, but it can't compete with the PC game 'Vampire: Masquerade - Bloodlines'.
The game is set in the heart of the world.
The game is set around the year 2000: you get bitten during a fiery relationship and wake up as a vampire. Now you have to choose one of seven clans, each with different strengths and weaknesses, and your choice has an important effect on the course of the game. For example, as a Nosferatu, you cannot walk quietly in the streets, as your monstrous appearance does not go unnoticed. So you live in the shadows of alleys and sewers, but no one would survive your claws. Or you choose the Malkavians, crazy as hell. This makes for very funny dialogues and monologues. I can also recommend the Tremere, a mysterious clan based on blood magic. I remember starting over dozens of times because I was always changing my mind about clans.
Various quests and bizarre characters
While your creator is executed for breaking the rules, you find yourself in the middle of the intrigue of rival vampire clans. Besides the main quests, you can also expect voluminous side quests. Thus, you roam the nightlife districts of Los Angeles. Missions can be solved in different ways; some solutions only open up if you pay attention and listen carefully to the dialogue - not my strength. The various tasks take you to hospitals, which act as secret blood banks, to sewers on the hunt for monsters, or make you a private investigator for a brutal murder case.
The figures you encounter during your adventures make it all the more exciting. You may meet a vampire, who in his previous life was an actor, who asks you to find an old horror film. Your reward will include erotic posters of vampire women. Or you help a former supermodel discredit her old rival. Her frustration leads her to this because, like Nosferatu, she has to spend her existence underground: the rotten climate is a real treat for the soul.
The success of that mission will result in the following newspaper article.
Your actions have some impact on your level of humanity. This varies from vampire to vampire: the deeper you sink into darkness, the less you can keep your inner beast under control. However, this saved me several times during difficult fights. Indeed, in Beast mode you can deliver more powerful blows, but a low humanity value also means fewer options in dialogues.
I also enjoyed visiting many unusual places, secretly listening in on all the conversations or simply making use of my many vampire skills. Each class makes use of different skills: while some use classic firearms, others prefer melee. Still others make use of magic, summon wolves and manipulate enemies into attacking each other.
Bugs are the real bloodsuckers
While I was fascinated by the beginning of the game, the world and its characters even without magic tricks, annoying bugs kept unpleasantly awakening me from hypnosis. Unfortunately, official support ended already with patch 1.2. But, fortunately, tireless fans provided the longest unofficial patch support of all time. In April 2018, the version 10.0 was released. The fan updates not only ironed out bugs, but also supplemented the game with brand new content.
"Vampire: Masquerade - Bloodlines" uses the Source Engine graphics engine and seems to have been in a mossy coffin for too long. Unfortunately, unlike 'Half-Life', the game has not yet received a general optical overhaul. If you can overlook this glitch, you will have a fascinating action-role-playing game that will keep you entertained for around 30 hours.
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Philipp Rüegg
Senior Editor
Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.chBeing the game and gadget geek that I am, working at digitec and Galaxus makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop – but it does take its toll on my wallet. I enjoy tinkering with my PC in Tim Taylor fashion and talking about games on my podcast http://www.onemorelevel.ch. To satisfy my need for speed, I get on my full suspension mountain bike and set out to find some nice trails. My thirst for culture is quenched by deep conversations over a couple of cold ones at the mostly frustrating games of FC Winterthur.
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