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Troika was one of the greatest RPG making studios ever. They were people who worked on first fallout, and then later, made their own company. First game published by Troika label was Arcanum, and it is one of the best rpg games ever, if you have the will to scratch under the surface. But today I write of their second game, Bloodlines.

Game starts with a strange story plot - you are with a vampire, and he or she embraces you into a kindred world, but just a moment after - you are both paralysed, and brought to vampire court, and your sire is put to death. You however are let to live, but need to prove your self worthy to Camarilla prince. Who is friend, and who's a foe, what side are you on... It's up to you... Jack is waiting for you outside, and he wants to help... Listen to him! After tutorial, you end up in Santa Monica, and the game starts...

This game was severely criticised for its bugs and lack of optimisation, but it was Troika's first and last 3D game, a completely new engine, and Activision was at their heels... But now, 3 years later - there are no bugs, thanks to community patches. You need to get official 1.2 patch, and then True_VTMB_504AT patch, that will solve all the rest, but will not change gameplay. Next good news is that you can play this baby in 1680x1050 with just a little bit of magic (April 2008 - Update: Link added!).

I finished this game for the first time in 2004. I played as male Malkavian then, using melee weapons. Now, for the second time, I wanted some change, so I selected female character, and used questions and answers, so game would give me character based upon them. And guess what, I ended up with malk again! Yey! You see, there is two ways of playing this game - as malk, or as anyone else. Because, Malk can see trough, Malk can get in a fight with a traffic sign, or argue with TV for a long time. And all of that is possible because Malkavians are totally crazy. Not that other clans are bad, but Malks are the best.

Also, its important to notice details - tribute to many TV shows, movies, games... IE, copper that say he met Shipowitz, Ocean House mission that is replica of Shining, Kevin Mitnick a hacker, ... It's like Discworld - you need to know things outside the game to find them funny in game :)


And faces are done perfectly. Even now, 3 years later, there is no game like this one. You can see who is lying by the look of their face. Amazing! And this cutie on the picture has a sister, too!


Every clan has their own skills, but all have some that are the same - melee, dodge, firearms, seduction... A lot to choose when applying new skill points... And to live, you need to feed on blood. You can get it from rats, human, bloodpacks, ... even vampires... and it has flavors and different value, too...

What freedom do you have? Well, game is pretty linear, from beginning to end, but there are choices. Which sister do you like best - it is not just a trick, it does make change. Do you play for Camarilla or Anarchs... Who do you report to and what do you say to them... What side quests do you take... Best way is to take them all... Then, do you preserve Masquerade and humanity, or do you act as a beast... Everything counts...


Also, World of darkness is so powerful, it will suck you in and you will not sleep until you finish the game... And it is an oldie, so it's cheaper now ;)
And one more thing - ingame music is so fine...

Graphics: 10/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Freedom: 7/10
Overall: 8.6/10