gugeifer Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 Review

This game is getting reviewbombed and sure it deserves some of the critisism. The technical issues are here (both because of UE and because of optimisation it seems) but they will be fixed in patches/hotfixes etc. As will any issues with game logic and all other glitchy stuff (we going Cyberpunk 2077 route here, folks). But, overall it's a pretty engaging throwback to way the games were in 2010-2015, reminded me in part of Arkham City, and in part of Dishonored and of course original VtM:B. The atmosphere is here and is nice, the story is engaging and fun (if you're into detective stuff), the characters are mostly there but there are a few standouts. Action and traverse were fun for me but ymmv. Voice acting is great, music is fine, visuals (when UE works correctly) are good. This is not an RPG, your choices matter but not much (you'll see a different short CG movie at the end depending on your choices) and there's a lot of flavor text to make you feel as if you're playing RPG, but alas. There are no levels, you receive ability points that you can spend on skills of different clans (that are unlocked and available in the game, so you can finish it once and still check out mostly everything it has to offer except for characters' reactions to your clan of choice). I understand that it may be a disappointment for many, but I think that this game is way better than it could be and still can be an intriguing gateway to VtM and World of Darkness for newcomers (as was the original game for me).