VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE – BLOODLINES is a 2004 action role-playing video game developed by Troika Games and published by Activision for Microsoft Windows. Set in White Wolf Publishing’s World of Darkness, the game is based on White Wolf’s role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade and follows a human who is killed and revived as a fledgling vampire. The game depicts the fledgling’s journey through early 21st-century Los Angeles to uncover the truth behind a recently discovered relic that heralds the end of all vampires.
VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE – BLOODLINES is presented from first-person and third-person perspectives. The player assigns their character to one of several vampire clans—each with unique powers— customizes their combat and dialog abilities, and progresses through Bloodlines using violent and nonviolent methods. The selection of clan affects how the player is perceived in the game world and which powers and abilities they possess; this opens up different avenues of exploration and methods of interacting with or manipulating other characters. The player can complete side missions away from the primary storyline by moving freely between the available hubs: Santa Monica, Hollywood, downtown Los Angeles, and Chinatown.
A code binds the vampires to maintain their secrecy (forbidding the use of vampiric abilities in front of humans) and avoid unnecessary killing (to preserve the vampire’s last shreds of humanity). The vampires are divided into seven clans of the Camarilla, the vampire government, with distinctive traits and abilities. The Toreadors are the closest to humanity, with a passion for culture; the Ventrue are noble, powerful leaders; the Brujah are idealists who excel at fighting; the Malkavians are cursed with insanity or blessed with insight; the Gangrel are loners, in sync with their animalistic nature; the secretive, untrustworthy Tremere wield blood magic; and the monstrous Nosferatu are condemned to a life in the shadows to avoid humanity. The clans are loosely united by their belief in the Camarilla’s goals and opposition to the Sabbat: vampires who revel in their nature, embracing the beast within. The Anarch Movement is a faction of idealistic vampires opposed to the Camarilla’s political structure, believing that all vampires should share power.
The main character of VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE – BLOODLINES, whom the player controls, is an unnamed fledgling vampire who is transformed at the start of the game and belongs to one of the clans. The fledgling is employed by Sebastian LaCroix (voiced by Andy Milder aka Ensign Bolobar from The Orville and Ratso from The Brave Little Toaster), prince of Los Angeles’ vampires. The fledgling’s travels through the vampire world bring them into contact with other undead creatures such as the deformed information broker Bertram Tung, the anarch Smiling Jack (John DiMaggio, aka Bender from Futurama and Jake The Dog from Adventure Time), and the dissociative Voerman sisters, Jeanette and Therese. Chinatown is controlled by the Kuei-Jin, Asian vampires led by Ming-Xiao, who do not require blood and consider themselves superior to other vampires.
I have been wanting to play and stream this game for years and now I finally get a chance. Right off the bat, I want to correct something I said in session 1. I thought this game was originally released for Playstation or Playstation 2. It was released for PC. This game is PEAK early 2000’s gaming. Everyone was getting into the whole 3D animation for gaming and this game took full advantage of that bandwagon. Personally, outside of the cheesy character design and animation, it still holds up pretty well as a solid game.
If you are interested in purchasing VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE – BLOODLINES, you can get it on STEAM for $19.99
I am using several Nexus Mods for this game to improve the visuals. You can download thousand of mods for this game any many others at NEXUS MODS
