Back in 2004, the remarkable company Troika Games, whose developers participated in the creation of Fallout, introduced the world its third creation. It was a computer game based on the popular setting of the board game World Of Darkness. It was made on the Source engine, which played a cruel joke, because it was the last project of “Troika”, which did not pay off well. Therefore, the studio was forced to close.
Using the Source engine has imposed certain obligations on the developers of "Vampires." Valve even banned them from announcing the development before the release of Half-Life 2. Activision, in pursuit of profit, rushed developers. Initially, the release was planned for spring 2005 to avoid possible competition with Valve, but in the end (at the insistence of the publisher), Troika was forced to release it in November 2004.
The developers themselves admitted that this was the worst option. The game was incomplete, with a bunch of bugs, and the whole world took up the second Half-Life, released simultaneously with the Vampires. Later, developers released a lot of patches, but it was too late. In February 2005, the studio closed, with no funds for further activities.
Grades
About Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines spoke later. The game was highly appreciated by all the media in this segment. Despite bugs and imperfections, she was rated average 8 out of 10. She was praised for her excellent storyline, elaborate non-linear dialogs, incredible replayability due to the abundance of both additional quests and a lot of passing options. The main thing is that she liked her atmosphere. The development company closed, but the game soon became a cult, one of the best action-RPGs.
Gameplay
The game is an action-RPG from the first or third person, diluted with dashing skirmishes, stealth missions, thoughtful quests and dialogs. The world is conditionally open, that is, the storyline gradually opens up new parts of the city for the player. Each has a lot of side quests. The action takes place in America of the nineties. In addition to ordinary people, there is a secret world of vampires, werewolves, demons, each with its own rulers, laws and customs.
All vampire clans are united in an organization - Camarilla, which honor Masquerade (the main vampire law). They are opposed by the Sabbat, whose members believe that hiding from the eyes of people is low and unworthy. They prefer to unleash their demonic essence. There are Anarchists (Anarch), formally listed in the Camarilla, but do not like her and all politicians from there.
In Vampires: The Masquerade Bloodlines, there are seven vampire clans to play with:
- Brujah
- Toreador.
- Malkavian
- Ventrue
- Nosferatu (Nosferatu).
- Tremere (Tremere).
- Gangrel (Gangrel).
The beauty of the game is that the gameplay will be very different depending on which clan the player chooses at the very beginning.
Malkavians (clan of madmen) constantly experience hallucinations, meet with strange events inaccessible to other clans. Game dialogues with NPCs are riddled with absurdity and irrationality.
Gangrels (animalists) can communicate with animals, have many additional abilities, for example, they can grow deadly claws during a battle.
Nosferatu (sewer rats) are disfigured for life. Cain, the father of all vampires, put an ugly mark on their patriarch. Now unfortunate creatures cannot exist in the world of people, they are forced to hide in catacombs and dungeons. However, they are extremely balanced personalities and pleasant interlocutors. The gameplay will be different at times if the player decides to complete the game for this clan.
In Vampires: The Masquerade Bloodlines, clans are an essential element of gameplay. Moreover, the game has five endings. Depending on which side the player will choose in the course of action, this will be the denouement. And you can choose no one and end up as a single wolf. By the way, the player should think carefully before deciding on the side. At the end, the player leads a long dialogue with a charismatic taxi driver, whose services the protagonist uses all the time. This conversation provides food for thought.
It is also worth noting the Clan Mod in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, which gives more than thirty new NPCs, thousands of additional lines of text in the dialogs, several unexpected endings, the ability to play for the Sabbath and much more.
Beginning of the game
At the beginning of the game you need to select the gender of the character, clan and distribute points. They are scattered between Attributes, Abilities, and Disciplines. You can also take the test, and automatically get the clan and distribution of points. All this will affect the further gameplay of the game: how exactly the player will own a katana, shoot with a shotgun, convince NPCs in dialogs, or crack passwords on personal computers. In Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, clans and abilities are a moment that you need to pay attention to right away.
Leveling
For the destruction of enemies (unlike most RPGs) experience points are not given. They can be obtained for completing quests, discovering secret locations, finding special items. This is a great solution for game designers - the game itself pushes a person to non-standard passage. Here you don’t have to rush down the corridor with a shotgun in the best traditions of Serious Sam. You can invent more elegant ways to pass the location and get more experience.
Masquerade
The basis of order in the Camarilla is Masquerade. This is a set of laws of vampire behavior. In order not to be discovered by the human race, the Camarilla strictly controls the behavior of its members. They categorically must not demonstrate their vampire abilities in front of mortals. This prohibition applies to casting spells, drinking blood from witnesses, and other magical features of vampires. If one of them loses five Masquerade points, Camarilla destroys the ward. You can restore Masquerade points. They are given as a reward for some quests.
Humanity
Another parameter that any decent vampire should monitor is humanity (if it is, of course, not from Shabbat). Its meaning is that the essence of any creation of the night is demonic. This demon can break out, creating all sorts of indecency. The lower humanity - the more cruel the character becomes, the dialogs and, accordingly, the choice change. Humanity can be lost in the process of completing quests, making a more cruel choice or drinking blood to a critical level from mortals in the process of “feeding”. In Vampires: The Masquerade Bloodlines, clans have the same characteristics of humanity and Masquerade. It does not depend on who the player chooses at the beginning of the game.
Vampire clans
There are seven of them. In Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, clans and abilities are interrelated concepts that affect passage. The player is free to choose any. Further gameplay and distribution of points will depend on this.
Bruja
Rebels, terrorists - these are approximate characteristics of the members of this clan. They are considered the best fighters in the setting of Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines. Which clan should you choose if the player wants to complete the game for a character who has excellent command of melee and firearms? Definitely worth a look at Bruch. However, such an approach to the passage of this multifaceted universe can be bored at some point.
Disciplines: Power, Swiftness, Presence.
Well-known representative in the game: Smiling Jack.
Gangrel
Nomads, animalists, savages. These guys can turn into animals. They are also great fighters. An interesting feature of this clan is that its members coexist quite well with their bestial demonic insides. Entering the state of Madness, they have plus five points to Strength, Stamina and Acumen. In close combat, a Gangrel attacking with bare hands can be much more dangerous than Bruch with a katana.
Disciplines: Animalism, Persistence, Transformations.
Famous representative in the game: Beckett.
Malkavian
Madmen, psychos, wise men. The true creatures of chaos are insane a little more than completely. The story of the emergence of the clan says that its founder Malkav was cursed by the father of all vampires Cain and went crazy, rewarding the madness of all his descendants. It is interesting to note that for passing beyond Malkavian, the developers rewrote 90% of the dialogue texts. If the player wants to feel the atmosphere of paranoia and irrationality of what is happening, then you need to choose Malkavian.
Moreover, there are amateur game mods that enhance the hallucinations that the Malkavian character experiences during the gameplay: whispers in the head are made louder, and occasional visual hallucinations are added. In Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, vampire clans will be wary of a Malkavian member.
Disciplines: Divination, Madness, Blackout.
Well-known representative in the game: Jeannette and Teresa Voerman.
Nosferatu
Damned, disgusting, sewer rats. They say that the founding father of the Nosferatu clan was just as handsome as a hot-tempered one, which brought Cain's wrath on himself. By the way, the mutilated body contrasts remarkably with the calm and reasonable behavior of these guys. They learned a lesson.
They are the most humane of all clans in Bloodlines: they try to convert in themselves like only severely crippled mortals () mentally or physically, to give them a second chance in life. They do not touch the full members of human society, because they consider the treatment too terrible procedure. In Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, the best clan for passing is Nosferatu. The player will discover a completely new gameplay: you will have to move around the sewers so that mortals do not see the body mutilated by the curse.
Disciplines: Animalism, Power, Blackout.
Famous representative in the game: Bertram Tang.
Bullfighter
Artists, hedonists. Arrogant, love art and all that is beautiful. The swiftness in the Disciplines also allows them to be pretty good at using knives and firearms.
Disciplines: Divination, Swiftness, Presence.
Well-known representative in the game: Isaac Abrams.
Tremere
Sorcerers, alchemists, magicians. This clan is not liked by the rest of the vampires, because the Tremere are secretive, disciplined and possess the skill of witchcraft much better than others. They have a rather high position in the Camarilla, because they helped in the fight against the Inquisition, they fully support and protect the Masquerade.
They are mediocre melee fighters, their physical characteristics cannot rise above 4, but they possess Thaumaturgy - powerful black magic, very useful in battle. Also in the arsenal of a large number of spells, including paralysis, as well as the Blood Shield (becomes available after a certain level), allowing you to become less vulnerable to enemy attacks. In general, a great choice for a player accustomed to playing combat magicians in an RPG.
Disciplines: Divination, Domination, Thaumaturgy.
Famous representative in the game: Maximilian Strauss.
Ventrue
Aristocrats ruling, blue blood. The clan, which is the core of the Camarilla, born princes, lovers of luxury and good manners. Representatives of the wealthy estates — businessmen and politicians — are turning to Ventra to be able to influence events in the mortal world as well.
Bad fighters, especially without Strength upgrade, at the high levels of Domination, some useful abilities, such as Mass Suicide, open up. But they have a great advantage in campaigning skills. Ventrue solves many issues through negotiation. In V ampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, the Ventrue clan will not give special advantages in battle or magic, but by pumping the appropriate skills, the player will receive many useful answer options in dialogs.
Disciplines: Domination, Persistence, Presence.
Famous representative in the game: Prince Lacroix.
Choosing a clan, the player determines for himself the style of the whole game in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines. Which clan is better? The question is individual for everyone, because this game, despite the powerful action component. It will make the player literally get used to the life style of the selected clan.
Non-game clans and associations
Among them are the following:
- Giovanni. Necromancers, black magicians. Destroyed in the past a whole vampire clan, started a war with the Camarilla. At the time of the game, Camarilla and Giovanni have peace, but they are mistrustful and wary of them, remembering their sins and mysterious experiments with death.
Representatives: World.
- Sabbat (Tzimitsi). Sadists who find pleasure in the perverted tortures of their victims. Most of all they hate the Tremere, because only the sorcerers managed to shake the former power of the Sabbat. Like all Sabbat clans, they reject Masquerade, humanity and the need to hide from mortals. They consider people only as food or a way to satisfy their sadistic desires.
Representatives: Andrey.
- Anarchists. There are representatives of different clans in the game Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines - Bruja, Caitifs, weak-blooded (clanless) vampires. They reject the dictates of the Camarilla, but do not lose their humanity, like the Sabbath. It is believed that clans should be self-governing without the directive policies of Camarilla and Ventrue.
By the way, in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines, new clans were added later by the fan community. Now, for example, you can play for the Sabbath. It is also worth mentioning the numerous re-textures, new locations, and much more, because enthusiasts are now creating additions to their favorite game Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines. Clan clothes can also be changed.
Plot
After spending the night with a vampire, the main character himself becomes a vampire. Appeal of a new member of the community without the approval of the Camarilla is punishable by death, therefore, by order of Lacroix, the creator is executed. Anarchist leader Nines Rodriguez stands up for the vampire convert. The game character remains alive, going to the service of Lacroix.
The first gaming location is Santa Monica, a Los Angeles area. Here the player is expected to visit the warehouse controlled by the Sabbat, study the Ocean House hotel (the level is made in the best traditions of survival-horror), a mission on the Elizabeth Dane ship, where it is necessary to explore the ancient sarcophagus. Also in each location there are many side quests, traders, secret spaces.
Next, on the hero’s path, there will be dungeons where Nosferatu, Chinatown with Chinese vampires feeding on Qi live, and much more. Five different endings are directly dependent on the actions of the player.
Vampires: The Masquerade Bloodlines Summary
Clans are designed in strict accordance with the setting of World of Darkness. In addition, gamers are waiting for carefully crafted characters, lovingly written dialogue, atmospheric soundtrack, good graphics. All this is Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines. Passing the game is a great pleasure, but, unfortunately, it was appreciated very late. Of course, the guys from Troika know that they made a masterpiece. Everyone who worked on “Vampires” now works in well-known companies.
"Vampires" are required for both hardcore gamers and beginners in the world of video games, because this game can be put on the level of such undoubted pillars of the industry as the Half-Life and The Elder Scrolls settings in terms of atmosphericity and thoughtfulness of the world.
In 2015, the Paradox development company bought the rights to use the intellectual property of the World of Darkness setting. The head of the company said that they were going to release the next game based on the setting. She, most likely, will not be a continuation of the story of Bloodlines, but will become an alternative story.
At the moment, the game is sold in GOG and Stream stores with all the patches that have been released for it since 2004, including the Mod clan in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines.