Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

game really shows its age but with the unofficial patch it works perfectly fine zero issues, only problem is sometimes voicelines lose quality mid conversation and get fixed the next voice line

This and Hunter the Parenting got me into World of Darkness, despite the buggyness this game is well written and fun until the end...literally the last mission becomes a shooting gallery.

The game is awesome for its time. Just remember to put it in compatibility mode (Win 7 works for me) and install the unofficial patch.

unable to allocate 200mb is the replay it gets after it opens then closes its unplayable please fix this bug

Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines is a 2004 gothic horror RPG set in L.A. This game is oozing with atmosphere and has some of the best writing in a game and despite being more than 20 years old which is mindblowing. The gothic vibe which the game is drenched in, sinks you deep in a world with rich lore, engaging characters and feels more alive than alot of modern rpgs today. The writing really does help with that, certainly if you do a malkavian playthrough.
The main downside of this game is probably the combat which can feel dated a times especially the sewer section, it isnt the worst and is surprisingly okay for being 20 years old but likely won't be anything special for you.

Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines is amazing gothic horror with some of the best writing in the medium with truly memorable characters. And even though Im not a big vampire fan had me playing multpile playthroughs just to see all the options in the way the story can unfold. I really hope Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 is good despite the rough development.

Hands down the best RPG I've played, and the most engaging foray into the World of Darkness out there. Sure, it's Source jank, but it was made with genuine passion, and there is nothing quite like it out there. Just save yourself a headache and play with the Unofficial Patch.

And remember. Wherever we go, it is the blood of Caine which makes our fate.

Game doesn't work unless you install a fanmade patch for it, and even then it's still buggy. The endgame feels rushed, and is MUCH more combat heavy than the rest of the game.. and it's still peak. This game is SO peak!! The worldbuilding and characters are so incredibly written that even if the story itself is a little uninteresting, I was blown away every time I played. All the little things VTMB does to enhance the atmosphere are so amazing,, ugh I never want to leave this world! Will be re-playing for years and years!!

Imagine Deux Ex, but instead of a cyberpunk setting, you're in a grimy early 2000's Los Angeles where vampire clans run society from the shadows. The atmosphere, world-building and writing in this game are absolutely phenomenal, the voice acting is surprisingly good, and I desperately want to learn more about the World of Darkness IP now.

There are a few things holding this game back though. For starters, the combat is extremely janky, both melee and ranged. Luckily a lot of it can be avoided either through dialog or stealth (which becomes Skyrim levels of broken if you max it out). Most of the level design is fine, but a few parts are just godawful (whoever designed the sewers underneath Hollywood is a sadist). The final thing to note is that you WILL need to install the unofficial patch to get the game running. It was built with a beta version of the Source engine, rushed by Activision, and ultimately unfinished. The good news is that the patch is super simple to install and it fixes most everything. I had a weird persistent issue where taking a screenshot would crash the game, but that was it.

Do yourself a favor and play this game. Then go watch The Crow and listen to The Birthday Massacre, because this will definitely put you in the mood for that.

- great atmosphere
- great story
- great characters
- great lore
- great roleplay options

- abysmal performance (even with the modded patch)
- bad combat
- glitches, bugs, and crashes galore, even with the modded patch
- the final two missions are the among the worst things I've played through in any video game, just enemy spam and uninspired, samey corridors

It really shows that the devs didn't have enough time to finish this game. Otherwise, it could've been a masterpiece.

First 10 hours it's a 10/10 for me, the vampire fantasy is great.

If we take the whole game into account, it's a 7/10 or even 6/10 for me. The last two missions are so awful I just never want to replay this game honestly.

A very buggy game with less than stellar combat and a last third that's kinda rough due to being rushed, but a very good RPG nonetheless. I chose a Malkavian for my first playthrough and enjoyed it a lot. While it's a lot of fun to figure out how to set up your stats and how to tackle enemies with your diverse vampiric Disciplines and arsenal of weapons, the real highlight of Bloodlines is the world and its writing. It's oozing with soul. It's pretty edgy and sexual, which is often played for laughs, but it's dark for a reason. The way the writing explores the darkness and sadness of the city underworld is so engrossing. Every character has an interesting perspective to offer, and I love how who you can trust is something that's always up for debate. The first half of the game is incredibly solid, and although the combat sections in the latter half might be a little absurd, I think it's still worth seeing the story through to the end.

I didn't understand this game until I got to the part where the suave vampire stripper sends you love letters through email each time you assassinate someone for her

The single best Vampire game ever made. Accept no substitudes. There is really nothing quite like it. A masterpiece and at the same time a dumpster fire. Released in a broken state and modding is mandatory to play it.

Nah, Still worth the full price
get it, mod it to make it work, play 20 hours in a row and weep at how far backwards modern games have gone
This game is so far ahead of its time, I've had to reset my expectations for the sequel to be higher
It's no wonder it didn't do well, the audience wasn't ready for a game that is 10 steps ahead of you and ready to get as dark as possible on the drop of a dime yet.
This game should be the gold standard for the RPG genre
Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, I'm sorry 2004 did you dirty. I hope you get a remake someday

... oh there are also a few game breaking and soft locking bugs in the game so remember: SESO - Save Early Save Often

This game looks like crap and runs even worse on modern hardware, but man, if you can get into it, you're in for a ride.

This game is a cult classic for a reason, and you'd be remiss to pass up an opportunity to play it for the first time.

Have you ever wanted to play a game where sucking off every man you see is not only possible, but necessary for your survival?

After beating this game last night for the 2nd time I can't stop thinking about it and wish I could experience it all over again. I'm already thinking about going again but seriously the first and second play through were such unique and amazing experiences it's deeply saddening there isn't more. This game is easily up there with the greatest of the great RPGs. Morrowind, KOTOR, Oblivion, Pokemon, Baldurs Gate, NWN, Fallout, Dark Souls, Borderlands, have all shifted a little bit to the left so that VTMB can fit in my heart. Get the Unofficial Patch, try the Plus version, I've played with and without and I really like the extra content.

i have way more than 81 hours in this game don't be fooled, its just steam doesnt count clan quest mod or plus patch. im pretty sure i've played every clan every sect and gotten every ending. all time classic

Genuinely under rated and appreciated game. The story is captivating and personal, you will feel overwhelmed and stumped at times. And that is what makes this game not only unique, but special. It understands what makes Vampire: The Masquerade, and its identity, by not only honoring the source material, but “embracing” it. (See what I did there?)
Hopefully the sequel will be just as good, if not better than this, by including a newly turned vampire and not some Elderly vampire, because that would totally suck and miss the point of Vampire: The Masquerade.

Great game. It's a really impressive RPG game.

Cool questlines and dialogs, interesting and memorable characters, nice moral dilemmas, deep lore, dark atmosphere, good music and a really thrilling world of vampires. There is also a dark humor here and there. The game world is pretty big and very interesting to explore. In many cases you need to investigate the things, do some detective-like work and all this stuff, it's really cool. I like it.

Requires an "unofficial patch" to be playable. If you want to launch it via Steam you need to add "-game Unofficial_Patch" line in Steam launch options after patch installation.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is one of the best RPGs I've played. Set in the World of Darkness universe, the game is based on White Wolf's role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade. Starting as a fledgling vampire, the story takes you through four areas of 21st-century Los Angeles: Santa Monica, Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles, and Chinatown.

The writing and characters are excellent, keeping you invested through the 30-40 hours it takes to complete (depending on how many side quests you take on). There are choices to be made about who you side with, leading to different story arcs and side quests. The choice of vampire clan for your character gives you unique powers that often come in very handy in completing your missions. I played as a member of the Tremere clan, which gives you some very cool blood magic.

There are some difficult bosses towards the end of the game, which will really punish you if you haven't got your build just right, so spend your experience points wisely! The world is also not as fleshed out in the later levels, probably a consequence of the game being released before it was really ready. Playing with the Unofficial Patch is mandatory to avoid the bugs.

10/10 for the godspeed you! black emperor reference alone, but the game is also really good

This is the best vampire game I have played and due to the lack of vampire games to play I highly recommend this as it is well worth the price as it is not that expensive.

2025 the game is still holding on. It's making me miss the 90's, though. 8.3/10 solid buy.

This game is so much fun. I enjoy the mechanics, the characters, learning about the clans through the stories, etc. I hope one day we can get a remake of this with modern graphics and systems (or just graphics, honestly).

great game GREAT story bad gameplay and BOOBIES 10/10

Waow. Amazing as hell. For an old ass game it's incredibly fun and complex. The atmosphere, the dialogue, the lore, the music??? Oh it's just too elite. I can't remember the last time I've been sucked into a game like this. And the best part is, I only did one run with one clan, I still have so much more to play. I recommend this game to anyone who loves vampires because this is for sure THE vampire game until further notice.

(A brief and mighty thank you to Ogre Poppenang for recommending everyone in Wisconsin this game) Bloodlines skillfully gives you the feeling of being ripped from your old life and being placed above it and everyone who you used to live alongside, while your new world rushes you to do it's dark bidding. It has an amazing soundtrack and chilling vibes that fit perfectly with the game. My favorite area so far was the haunted mansion. I sincerely hope that it's sequel brings about a tithe of Wod Mania to the mortal world.

A triple victim of its developer, the owners of the engine and the publisher. And yet, a good game came out. A game worthy of being replayed every few years. Extra points for mods like the Clan Quest Mod.

Incredible RPG with really great music and just a really intriguing story. It's aged really badly though, and requires the Unofficial Patch just to open the game. But it's a lot of fun, only issue I have with it is just some kind of poor boss fights and just the combat in general being not a lot of fun, especially since you can't really avoid combat at the end of the game so charisma builds seem quite pointless in retrospect. Characters and the city of Los Angeles at night is just so cool. Love the music too. Overall solid game.

After playing this, you'll be chasing an experience like it for months. One of my favorite games of all time. The vibe is incredible, and the gameplay is great especially if you like retro games (except for one boss fight, you'll figure out which one). Its buggy as fuck though so get the unofficial patch. 10/10, a fucking masterpiece.

this game is much good, the vampires are tcholas sometimes, but is a good game. And dance forever in The Asylum.

A relic of a time where games were good. Now we are cursed just like vampires: damned to feed on slop for the rest of our lives.

Usem o unofficial patch. Vai por mim, vai ser bem melhor.

the best vampire game that has and will ever be made, the only downside is the game ends too soon, if only there had been more to play
the malkavian dialogue has to be one of my favorites in all video games

This game has great storytelling, great voiceactor's, and had everything to be one of the greatest rpg's of all time. The problem is, after two third's of the game, the gameplay starts to feel uninspired and repetitive, dialogues lose space to bad combat mechanics and boring enemies in a somewhat unbalaced combat system. On other aspect's, has very inspired and memorable missions and dialogues and has good replayability for specific classes scenes. I would rate it 7 out of 10.

A flawed masterpiece. Although pretty much requiring modding in order to achieve a playable state (the unofficial patch). Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines provides one of the best role-playing experiences a player could ask for. This game basically begs the player to replay as everything concerning the stats you choose to invest in, your race, and clan you side with will greatly affect your experience. For example if you chose to be a Nosferatu NPC’s will treat the player completely different as well as how you traverse the world will be completely different. (NPC’s will comment on the players appearance with disgust and the player will be left to traverse the world out of sight through the sewers feeding on rats to survive) Player choice is heavily emphasized meaning, experiment with your approach, seduce, intimidate, and persuade to get the result you want. Amazing quests, setting, lore, music, atmosphere, and by far the strongest point of the game are the characters. I couldn’t believe how expressive the character models were for a game that runs on the Source engine released in 2004. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is a game you could only dream of releasing in this generation of games. What this game provides that others that have since released do not is soul. The world is palatable with the amount of care and detail painstakingly put in every line of code and dialogue. For a game this size, I couldn’t believe how consistently good the voice acting was. I couldn’t even list all of my favorite characters if I tried, as the list would be too long. Games I've played that have been released in recent years have NPCs that feel like floating talking heads with no individuality. The gothic, edgy, vampire underworld of Los Angeles is something I've never experienced, and I'm convinced Troika Games couldn't have made it more interesting. Each character you encounter reinforces the politics, factions, races, and history of this world. The story gripped me in a way that kept me up late seeing what would happen next. The plot twists had my jaw on the floor, the humor had me in stitches, and the drama floored me. Now this is a game that can be unbearably frustrating at times. At some points of my playthrough, I had to enable god mode/noclip to progress. There are bugs and glitches, and the combat is serviceable at its very best. This could be a deal breaker for many, but if you take a step back to experience the kind of game that this is, it’s like no other. This was the high I’ve been chasing that Fallout and The Elder Scrolls gave me. I'm skeptical for the sequel as a different developer has the responsibility of making it, and the constant delays are not a good sign. Regardless, I'm ready to experience more of what this world can offer. For as rushed as the game was, the hardware limitations, and the year it was released it completely makes sense the kind of cult following and support it has garnered. The game also features a hacking mechanic that is crazy addicting and satisfying. Like a fine wine, this game only appreciates in value as more and more commercial games fail to emulate a tenth of the kind of experience this game provides.

P.S. DON’T OPEN IT

We are born by the blood, made men by the blood, undone by the blood. Fear the old blood.

Wait... Wrong game.

Although in 2025 running this game is a bit arduous, it still holds up as an immersive and in depth vampire RPG. From the gritty world-building to excellently written dialogue and storytelling, not to mention the kick-ass soundtrack, the vibes of this game are immaculate (for lack of a better descriptor lol).

Install the unofficial patch. Playing without it is impossible. It's free, less than 1GB and pretty much installs itself so there's no fuss.

My favourite part about this game is that the quickload button is also Steam's screenshot button, so I have a lovely gallery of me fucking up along my playthrough. You can manually change it but it's very innovative.

It does atmosphere quite well. You really feel like this newborn vampire belonging to this secret society where fuck-ups are NOT tolerated. You have to follow people into alleyways to feed, you can covertly use your vampiric traits to guide conversations your way, among other really neat features that I can't think of right now.

I really wish characters were expanded upon more. Jeanette (cover girl) shows up for the first few hours, then never comes up again. Same thing with multiple other characters throughout the game. I like these characters and want to interact with them more but the game just doesn't let me.

Combat is average early game, and steadily gets worse as the game goes on. Knocking enemies over with melee weapons gives them i-frames while they stand up, pretty much negating your advantage and making this whole knock down system pointless. Melee also forces you to engage at close-range (obviously), which become a MAJOR disadvantage late-game as more and more enemies become ranged. Stealth also becomes worse as time goes on, as enemies just start being able to see through invisibility for some reason. So just walking up to enemies guarantees a fuckton of damage. Ranged is just as bad though. There is forced weapon spread, so you have to stand still and crouch to get a half-decent shot on target. Automatic weapons have too much recoil to use (both for the player's aim, and the weapon spread mechanic). Last but not least is your own health regen. It slowly goes up over time, but regens faster if you munch on somebody. But some enemies are completely immune to this (making some section of the game a slog as you have to frequently go afk to wait for health regen), and the hit detection is beyond broken while in combat. This makes it very inconsistent and a struggle to use.

Maps are small, but somehow still too big in certain areas. Santa Monica and Chinatown were decent, but Hollywood and Downtown had far too much walking distance between objectives.

Some dungeon segments are fucking horrible. The Nosferatu Sewer section in Hollywood, and the late-game Hotel section especially. Just wave after wave after wave of enemies copy-pasted everywhere. If I have to hear those Geodude-looking losers lunge at me one more time I'll cry. Also a lot of extremely tedious puzzles, like trial-and-error maze areas and that stupid vent room in the sewers.

I have a lot of bad things to say, but it's a 9/10. Loved the world and characters. Level-design was usually fine. The story was just ok. The combat was meh.

It's become clear from many reviews that this game will not function without the unofficial community patch, that being said, this is one of my all time favourite video games.

This game is as of the time I am writing this, just over 20 years old. Keeping that in mind, when you play this game you can expect to enter a time capsule of very early 2000's nostalgia.

Like most people who have made this trite observation at this point, this game deserves praise because of it's writing. The story that unfolds is great, the choices you make in your playthrough are impactful and have consequences to them, and the classes are unique and interesting.

Many people however share the opinion that this game is a flawed masterpiece, (that which I must unfortunately agree with.) And for that reason it is truly a shame that it didn't get the polishing it needed. But that's okay, because this game is still fantastic, and you won't regret picking it up and playing it if you see it on sale.

Furthermore, this game may appeal to a niche subject audience, but I feel like anyone who enjoys RPG's would get a kick out of this game. So yeah, give it a thought.

(Playing this through steam is broken (for the most part as I can tell), I have however finished it multiple times on the unofficial patch launcher, so ignore my total playtime as of writing.)

Despite the dated nature of this game, it all holds up fantastically well thanks to its incredible writing and voice acting work. Truly, I don't think any game that has come out recently has come even remotely close to the level of writing this game has to offer.

It is good for the programming of the mind to accept the Shadow of the Self more intuitively.

Wonderful game. Don't forget to install the unofficial patch.

This game starts fantastic, setting up so much so quickly, while leaving you open to roleplaying how much you knew about vampires, however the middle does drag on a bit, especially the Hollywood quests before you actually get to the end of one of them (That's spoilers :) ) but once you're in Chinatown the story picks right back up!

Buy on GOG or download the unofficial patch. Bought the game and played the opening cutscene and then drank blood. Game worked, stopped playing as I focused on others. A month later, won't start up, no error message either. I ask Steam for a refund, low hope of success. They said no and I have the patch downloaded and the game is working so far, but I literally played less than 15 minutes before the start up issue and I don't think a refund was unreasonable. Makes me concerned about buying old games on steam now.

Gave this try on a whim since it was on sale and I'm really enjoying it so far! Well, that was after I was forced to download an unofficial patch just to make the game launch. That wasn't fun. And I did a quiz to see what type of vampire I was and they gave me one of the hardest classes right off the bat, but since I'm playing blind I didn't realise until I finished the tutorial. Saved myself the hassle and restarted with an easier class to begin with.

I've mostly just been exploring the first hub area and talking to everyone the game lets me talk to. Combat is awful however, but I expected that from a game that came out more than 20 years ago, thankfully there are ways to avoid combat in certain situations. More than anything I'm just enjoying the role-playing aspect and I'm very happy!

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is a difficult game to review in 2025. The game is very, very dated. It absolutely needs the Unofficial Patch to even be playable. Usually that's enough for me to apply the thumbs down for any game.

But I'll make an exception here because where this game doesn't suck, it's incredible. Taking a leaf from contemporaries like Deus Ex, this action RPG grabs you with the excellent recreation of the tabletop vampire abilities you'll be used to if you played the pen and paper RPG, with the fan favourite clans from Ventrue to Brujah available for players. As well as all the crazy abilities, like domination and mind control all the way to making people's blood boil until they explode.

It's also let down by the combat which comes across as unpolished, although in 2004, there wasn't a lot to compare to. TTK ranges from way too long to instakill and it's balanced rather poorly.

However what drives this game is world class narrative combined with meaningful choices that impact all the way through the game, just like with Deus Ex, you get that whole vibe... what you do in this game and the way you do it has consequences, and it makes it all the more immersive and enjoyable. It's also something developers rarely manage to grasp... I can't think of many examples beyond Baldur's Gate 3 where such excellent game design philosophy has been so successfully applied.

If you can pick this up for $5 or less, and you like retro gaming, and can handle the dated, rough edges, this is worth a play-through.

Unable to play this anymore on new hardware. Don't bother buying it here, buy it G somewhere O else G.

good game but there are some game braking bugs. an i had an issue where the game would boot me out on the first screen.

Once I've played through all the clans, I'll post a full review. For right now, I'll go with something simple.

Due to me using a separate patch launcher for most of my playtime, the "44 Hours" is inaccurate.

This game is jank as hell, and unplayable without the Unofficial Patch. But with that patch, you will find one of the greatest RPGs of all time. The combat is not what you're here for, but it can be enjoyable to test out your ridiculous vampiric abilities. I will say that, although it is important to have at least one dialogue skill, there are mandatory combat sections. Stealth is also a challenge, unless you roll a Nosferatu or Malkavian, and then it becomes a resources game. If vampires aren't really your thing, they aren't mine either. But I still love this game.

Watch Sseth's review if you want to know more about the game, as I still want to gather more gameplay information before writing a full review.

And if you do decide to get this gem, PLEASE don't play a Malkavian first. You'll get way more enjoyment out of them on a second playthrough due to a certain... feature. Same for Nosferatu, as you are the average Redditor, and people react violently to seeing you in public, making the whole game a stealth section, except for the sewers. The noise of sewer water has almost given me tinnitus, each low quality splash making me slip deeper and deeper into insanity.

It's really good, 8/10.