1. Dusk (PC)(FPS)2. Project: Snowblind (PC)(FPS)3. Soldier of Fortune: Platinum Edition (PC)(FPS)4. Ziggurat (PC)(FPS)5. Wolfenstein 3D: Ultimate Challenge (PC)(FPS)6. Destiny 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
7. Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris (PC)(FPS/RPG)
8. Destiny 2: Warmind (PC)(FPS/RPG)9. Destiny 2: Forsaken (PC)(FPS/RPG)
10. Star Wars: Rebel Assault (PC)(Rail Shooter)11. Castle Werewolf (PC)(FPS)12. Project Warlock (PC)(FPS)13. Castle Crashers (PC)(Hack and Slash)14. This Strange Realm of Mine (PC)(FPS)15. BioShock Remastered (PC)(FPS)
16. BioShock 2 (PC)(FPS)
17. BioShock 2: Minerva's Den (PC)(FPS)18. Blood (PC)(FPS)19. Blood: Cryptic Passage (PC)(FPS)
20. Blood: Post Mortem (PC)(FPS)21. Shadow Warrior (PC)(FPS)22. Shadow Warrior: Twin Dragon (PC)(FPS)
23. Shadow Warrior: Wanton Destruction (PC)(FPS)24. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (PC)(FPS)
25. F.E.A.R. 2: Reborn (PC)(FPS)26. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (PC)(RPG)I've been wanting to play this game since it came out back in 2004. It's a buggy title that drained the developer and killed them off. The company that produced the original source material, White Wolf, also went defunct and exists in name only, though that was due to self-inflicted stupidity in 2018. I enjoyed White Wolf stuff from nearly 20 years ago, but after looking at how they ended with a whimper and why, I'm pretty happy I got out of that scene entirely.
But onto the game. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is an RPG with a mouthful of a name. The game is Bloodlines, and it's based on the Vampire: The Masquerade role playing game. In particular, I believe it's second edition, though I could be off about this. Either way, it's from the era I prefer, where the Nosferatu were ugly bastards and the Malkavians were playable, because yes, this changed. Why do you think I quit playing? Anyway, in the world of V:TM, the supernatural exists, vampires are organized into clans with differing powers, and they're all political nightmares vying to constantly one-up each other for some kind of dominance that will inevitably get them to all kill each other, because when you're practically immortal, guess who has nothing better to do than bicker?
The game starts with you getting the option of choosing your clan or taking a test. I took the test and ended up a Nosferatu, which was my first choice anyway. I know what I like. Nosferatu are hideous but stealthy, capable of physical prowess to help them survive, and the masters of secrets. Basically, if you can know it, a Nosferatu does, and he might be sharing it on his secret section of the Internet with his buddies and laughing at you. For some reason, many of them dress like gimps in V:TM-B, but then again the game always did think it was too edgy for its own good. I'd rather have been given a Hawaiian shirt.
Well, you create your character, find out you've just been sired against orders in Camarilla law (vampire government), but a different government group, the Anarchs, protest, so you get spared. Then the third political group, the Sabbat, show up, and everyone bugs out. You get stuck working for the local prince in LA, and he's from a clan known for pumping out political pricks. Great. As the game progresses, you'll come across other supernatural elements, including ghosts, werewolves, Chinese vampires, and a variety of clans, but safe to say, the only person who is ever on your side in V:TM is you, so try to watch your ass.
To play, you get quests. How you resolve them is up to you. Some clans are better at talking, others at sneaking, others at fighting. As a Nosferatu, you have to sneak, which some people don't like. Those people don't understand the joys of crawling through a sewer, feeding on rats, and freaking everyone else out because your face looks like the inside of a moldy barf bag. As you wrap up quests, you then get experience points, which are spent in growing amounts to upgrade various stats, skills, and powers. Want to get better at hacking computers? Either boost the skill related to hacking or the stat that governs it and something else. Focus on the stats for how you want to play, though I always recommend some survivability because words only get you so far, and it ain't much. Nosferatus don't have this as a viable option because you get no Appearance score since you're butt ugly, so hey, we can power game. It's a win-win.
At the start of the game, I could handle myself well enough, though a shotgun still hurts. By the end, I could walk around and lockpick doors while completely invisible, punch a gargoyle to death, hack any system, and slaughter pretty much anything with a spray of gunfire. You better believe I played the way I wanted to, and I got my sneak so high, I was literally walking around openly in the streets without a problem by the time I was halfway through.
As you progress, you'll have to face an overarching plot about a possible ancient vampire in a sarcophagus that may bring about the end of the world. The three political factions fight about it, and you end up ultimately having to choose based on your actions which side you'll go for. Of course I went for myself, so the game ended with me murdering the heads of two factions and giving the third the finger. Good times. Also, I'm boning a psychotic Malkavian club owner (Malkies are crazy), and I got a nice pad in the sewer, so I guess victory really is mine. However, I could have also made different decisions that would have led to considerably different results, such as getting a ghoul, saving both of the Malkie club owner's personalities, or even helping oust the douchebag prince of the local Camarilla in favor of a different guy...a guy who is far more dangerous than the dominating political punching bag with perfect hair who was in charge. Yeah, that option could be cool. Or terrifying. I'm not sure which.
Since there are options, some folks feel it necessary to play the game a few times as different clans, since clans like the Nosferatu, Malkavian, and magic-using Tremere have very different experiences from the other clans. You know what, I'm good. I did things how I wanted, and I don't see myself wanting to change how I handled it at all.
Good times.