"Vampire: the Masquerade--Shadows of New York" Review

Publisher:  Draw Distance

Genre:  Visual Novel

Summary:  A year after becoming a vampire and the designated clan Lasombra representative of New York, Julia is ordered to investigate a vampire political figure's death--a task that holds great peril...or promise.

Gameplay:  There are occasional choices in what to do each night, and not everything can be done in one playthrough.  Dialogue options define Julia's traits and therefore the story's ending.

Style:  The style mimics the previous game, "Coteries of New York"--stylized figures and colorful backgrounds with occasional movements.  The sounds and music enhance without distracting.

Story:  Julia is an engaging protagonist, and much of the game is her (usually) interesting philosophizing dialogue with herself and other characters.

However, after a reaching a melancholy but satisfying end, I was disturbed by the achievement that popped up proclaiming it was the "Good Ending."  I'll decide that for myself, thank you.  The other ending (correspondingly labeled the Bad Ending) might also be considered good, by some lights (or shadows.)  It's possible the labels were meant to be ironic or wry, but after a game of ambiguous musing, it just came across as tone-deaf.  More topical names for the endings would have been better.

It's also disappointing that after all the little choices in task and dialogue, there are only two endings.  Granted, it's still an improvement over the previous game's one.

"Vampire: the Masquerade--Coteries of New York" Review

Publisher:   Draw Distance

Genre:  Visual Novel

Summary:  A new vampire tries to learn to survive and find allies amid the politics of the vampires of New York City.

Gameplay:  You have options in what quests to pursue when, what actions to take, and in dialogue choices.  There are three characters for the player to choose from, which influences a few story options and some of the vampire power use opportunities.

Style:  The art has a nice painterly look, with occasional movements in the backgrounds and characters to add interest.  The sound and music are good.

Story:  The characters and the various quests are interesting, with being able to choose your pace and mix it up for different games adding some nice variation, since you can't do all the quests in one game.

However, it is ruined by one of the more spectacularly horrible endings I've seen.  It might even make the list.  (Skip the next paragraph if you wish to avoid any chance of spoilers.)

A minor character with whom you may have had little interaction rambles incoherently (but is treated as amazing by the game) and takes over.  Your character is offered no closure against any of the enemies they have made.  I don't expect a glorious triumph in the World of Darkness, mind, but I do expect a more satisfying conclusion than a forced ending that's the same every game after having so many options in the game itself.

Summary:  Coteries of New York is an enjoyable, varied exploration of the vampires of New York, and a good introduction to the World of Darkness if needed.  That is, until the horrible ending rather sours the experience.

"Vampire: The Masquerade--Bloodlines" Review

Publisher:  Troika Games

Genre:  RPG

Summary:  After being turned into a vampire, you must navigate the bloody politics of the Los Angeles World of Darkness.

Gameplay:  Vampire:  the Masquerade was the first tabletop roleplaying game I ever played, and this game brought back lots of fond memories.  Character creation is similar enough that I was (again) able to dig up old character sheets and adapt them to create game characters.

Abilities are split between traits (innate abilities like strength or intelligence), feats (learned skills like firearms or sneaking), and disciplines (magical vampire powers, which vary depending upon which type of vampire you choose to be.)  Experience can go towards increasing anything, but costs vary depending upon the ability and how much it's increasing.

The game often does a good job at offering various paths to complete a quest, but there's usually combat involved somewhere.  Combat itself is somewhat awkward, as it's difficult to switch quickly between all the melee, ranged, and magical abilities.  There are only ten hotkeys, and those have to accommodate healing items as well.

Sometimes combat can be avoided via sneaking (and you can instakill when unnoticed behind someone, something I wish I'd learned before nearly the end of my first playthrough.)  Hacking and lockpicking may be needed too.  There are also sometimes persuasion options.

As a vampire, you of course will occasionally need to drink blood.  It's another bar like health and is especially used up by disciplines.  There are a variety of ways to get blood, again adding options.

Style:  This game is atmospheric as all get out.  Through excellent music and design, the settings can ooze creepiness or despair.  The late night streets of L.A. are sleazy and depressing, while skyscrapers loom above in gothic splendor.  People dance in clubs while mysterious whispers murmur through the sewers.

Story:  The story suffers somewhat from the false urgency of the main quest distracting from the sidequests.  At one point, the chain of favors for the main quest was so long I lost track of who I was supposed to be finding to help who do what.  And one particular quest--the sewers--was spectacularly long and underwhelming.  Then the end is a lot of dungeons and lots of things to kill.

Still, the game does excel at offering options and adventures in a dark and interesting world.  You can be a heroic vampire rescuing strangers and only killing when attacked, or an evil seducer who drains without a care.  You can wander off to discover all sorts of supernatural hijinks.  You can solve quests subtly or just murder everybody.

Truly, choices abound, unless you'd like to romance a guy.  I can think of exactly one opportunity to sleep with a guy, and it wasn't exactly a flirting situation.  And it's not like there weren't possibilities!  Why does every other woman hit on my character, but I can't hit on LaCroix or Nines or Reyes?

For that matter, why can I pick up girls in bars but not guys?  There are literally guys there, and I can't talk to them!  It really speaks to a spectacular failure of imagination on somebody's part.  It's pretty clear it never occurred to the developers that someone interested in romancing men would ever play the game.

Conclusion:  It wasn't intentional at first, but when I realized I was only playing the game at night, I continued to do so, it was so fitting.  Despite over-reliance on combat (especially towards the end) and its failure to account for male romance, Vampire the Masquerade--Bloodlines offers an impressive amount of roleplaying options in both gameplay and characterization and takes place in an interesting and different setting.