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Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines | Retrospective Review

Mortismal Gaming

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Taking a look back at 2004's cult classic VtM: Bloodlines as the release of the sequel is finally drawing near after a very tumultuous development cycle that seems par for the course for the series.

Timestamps
00:00:00 Intro
00:00:52 Release
00:03:18 Unofficial Patch (Basic vs Plus)
00:06:23 Other Mods
00:06:59 Second Life
00:07:22 Character Creation Start
00:07:54 CC Basics
00:09:20 Clans
00:15:20 Disciplines
00:18:54 Progression & Skills
00:23:58 Story & Thoughts
00:55:07 Endings
01:03:49 Gameplay & World
01:17:09 Combat
01:21:51 Steam Deck
01:22:30 Positives/Negatives
01:25:29 Conclusion
01:27:01 Wrap Up

Intro Music By Juan Andrés Matos, http://www.juanmatosmusic.com/

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#gaming #gaming #bloodlines #vampirethemasquerade #vtmb #vtmbloodlines

20 Comments

@CainOnGames 1 year ago Pinned

That was a comprehensive and well-balanced review. You obviously like the game, but you don’t whitewash the problems either.

Nice work.

@Se7enBeatleofDoom 1 year ago

If it weren’t for White Wolf's mismanagement, Vampire: The Masquerade would be a pop culture juggernaut. Vampire: The Masquerade was the second-best-selling RPG after AD&D 2E in the 90s. Activision's handling of Bloodlines is one of the worst things the publisher has ever done.

@FluffyRelic 1 year ago

Fun fact: the modern version of Harley Quinn was partially inspired by Jeanette. The Arkham Asylum concept art straight-up has a picture of her.

@IHavGivenUp 1 year ago

1 hour 30? That's how you know it's good.

@SpikeSCII 11 months ago

Thanks for the review. After playing bloodlines 2, I watched your review for Bloodlines 1. It is crazy to me how a game from 2004 feels more "complete" than the game we got in 2025.

@OscarGiudici 1 year ago

21 Years later and it's still a masterpieces, thanks to the fan.

A Remake, but even a remastered, mostly a console port would be awesome.

@Koggelxander 1 year ago

Whenever I see a Vamprire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines review on any channel, I'm there for it!

@BelbozUnderhill 1 year ago

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, the answer to the eternal question ‘What is a role-playing game’?

@Magos404 1 year ago

Great... Now I have to reinstall it again.

@blue5peed 1 year ago (edited)

There is something about this game, when you play it you feel it. The mood they created is perfect.

@freshhands9461 11 months ago

To this day, playing as a Malkavian is one of my most memorable Gaming experiences ever. The love, dedication and beautiful craziness needed to pull this off...can't praise them enough!

@xs10shul 1 year ago

This was the BG3 of its day. The voice acting, the writing, the choices, the world... it's funny, intriguing, and even a little spooky. You MUST play this if you haven't.

@markuswithak5084 1 year ago

Bloodlines is this kind of game I could honestly play forever.
7 clans in the game itself and then there's mods that add like 10 more,it's just insane. Even adding new hub areas and quests and stuff.
I don't need Bloodlines 2 as much honestly because there is still so much in the first game I haven't even done,but I am intrigued to see how Bloodlines 2 will fare.

@_GntlStone_ 1 year ago

It's a rare game that somehow gets better as I get older, not the combat mind you, but the story.
It's timeless, as all good vampire tales are.

@EastyyBlogspot 1 year ago (edited)

I loved the game so much, the hotel was one of my fav areas in any game, tbh i know there were fan made patches but i would love this game to be remastered in a way that keeps it the same but just expands and fixes bugs

@ParadoxGrael 1 year ago

The Tremere appreciate this.

@emptytent 1 year ago

The Voorman Twins and that one Sabbath goon breaking the 4th wall could be seen as part of Malkavian nature. Doesn't work for Velvet though.

@xiuoso4699 1 year ago

BRING THE FLAMETHROWER TO THE MING XIAO BOSSFIGHT

@imALazyPanda 1 year ago

The malkavian spoiler when meeting Jeanette honestly blew my mind when I replayed the game when I was older and actually understood what they were saying. The actual reveal also was a great twist the first time, but the fact the malkavian will just tell you this, if you understand is awesome to me.

This is such a great game, I think i originally played it in like 2008? And played it i think 3 times back to back to experience other clans. Then replayed quite a few times over the years, most recently about a year ago as bloodlines 2 news started ramping up.

The game shines the most in the first sections, ive never looked too deep into it but I presume it was probably budget/time stuff that made the latter parts less open ended.

It is a cult classic for good reason, and also did poorly on release for good reason. With the unofficial patches it is one of the greatest rpgs ever made, probably the greatest rpg in a modern setting.

@EroTheGreat 1 year ago

A little fun fact: the most lore canon ending is the lone wolf ending. Largely because L.A. is an Anarch city by V5 times and in the Choice of Game interactive novel Night Road, the local Prince is all but stated to be friends with the player character of Bloodlines, which implies that they left the city in the wake of the ending (which makes sense if you aren’t allied with anyone).