Whatever way you imagine it, Vampire the Masquerade Bloodline is a really interesting game to think about. I'm drawn to messy transitional games that are polysemic in nature and Bloodlines fits that to a tee. A game that is all at once a CRPG adaptation of a complex and unorthodox tabletop rpg, a source engine FPS and an immersive sim lite. A game that marked the death of a continuous tradition of mainstream non-indie choice and consequence heavy rpgs while also highlighting how it might have continued to evolve. Its a game that is impossible to break down into any one thing and its for that reason I believe it has endured past its launch as a cult classic among so many different audiences.

I only wish it was as interesting to experience. I say 'experience' rather than 'play' because I'm well used to a lot of my favorite rpgs having less than stellar individual systems, my favorite rpgs offer a holistic experience that surpasses their many shortcomings. I think even Bloodlines biggest fans would say the same thing about this game. I was prepared to accept the wonky gunplay, stealth and melee but the overall experience never came together the way it has for my friend and many others.

I'll talk a bit first on what did come together. I think Bloodline's execution of character building comes together brilliantly well and offers a genre high creation screen with its (seven!!!) playable races each moulding the player's journey in big and small ways. I got Malkavian during the intro quiz and got a lot of mileage out of the dementation skill unique to them, whether that be spamming veil of madness to suck people to death or using the voice of Bedlam to cause chaos among crowds. And outside of combat I had just as much fun trying to determine what my character was trying to say and chatting with stop signs and a monitor bound news anchorman. I played this as part of a monthly gaming club me and my friends do and it was thrilling to hear how differently other peoples playthroughs were. If I ever play this game again, seeing how the other clans play will be my primary motivation.

I also adore the setting and all the early noughties grunge that comes with it. I could never get enough of the sights and sounds of Santa Monica, Downtown and Hollywood. The Piers alone took me back to a place of deep nostalgia. Bloodlines often fixates on the minutiae of mundane urban spaces and more broadly a melancholy and even ominous sense of aimlessness and alienation. It is felt most keenly in the many one-off mission spaces. Oceanview Hotel is often praised as the best of these but honestly I loved nearly all of them. Whether it be continually descending through a parking lot or traipsing through a near empty apartment block, I wish the game had emphasizes these smaller spaces more at the expense of the hubs. They are more distinctly themed and paced, functioning as bespoke little challenges in which the game's systemic opportunities and more immersive sim qualities shine the brightest.

As for everything else the operative term would be 'unfinished'. Virtually every other facet of Bloodlines' design feels either unfinished or unrealized to a substantial degree. I enjoy the theming and atmosphere of the hubs but beyond that they are static and bare in contrast to the more dynamic and denser mission spaces. Past the first visit there are no new encounters or changes that make them anything more than avenues for backtracking. And though I enjoyed most of the mission spaces, the Nosferatu sewer is easily the worst dungeon I've played in a game this year and the endgame dungeons are of a similar unfinished quality. The main narrative for the most part railroads the Fledgling into working for LaCroix and thus there is little actual politicking in a game that emphasize the inter-clan intrigue and conflict. LaCroix himself isn't a particularly nuanced figure and while I came to appreciate his punchable nature, the slack isn't really picked up anywhere outside of the Voerman sisters and Nines. Characters like Ming Xiao feel more like sketches than complicated people with their own agendas. And it all unravels in the last third of the game into a series of heavily telegraphed betrayals and double-crossings that make the protagonist seem like the most inept vampire in existence while also perpetuating a very ugly Yellow Peril message that I hope was done out of unintentional ignorance. I generally enjoyed a lot of the side quests and individual characters but by the end they weren't quite able to make up for a narrative that is half-sketched at best and kind of misanthropic and outright racist at worst.

I enjoyed Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. I get why people love this game so much, I'm glad my friend got to recommend it to me. I certainly vibe with how it looks, sounds and even feels. It makes me want to go the West Coast. It also never really rose above 'disjointed' and 'incoherent' for me. Deeply compelling and disjointed in equal parts.