The soundtrack sends chills down my spine whenever I listen to it, this is the only game which made me feel so involved and immersed in a video game, the atmosphere is incredible, I cannot define the word for it because it's just so incredible.
Bloodlines is the best western RPG I’ve played. It's replay value is awesome, the different clans make the playthrough vary every time. The choices the game gives you are actual choices with consequences. You're put in a world where you don't understand a single thing, and everyone around you is at each other’s throat, staying neutral is only a temporary option.
You can learn about the city, and its people in Downtown's pub, which is an incredibly simple, yet amazing way to make the player understand things. Never saw a game handle story-telling through this kind of way, and it's reoccurring, you can talk to a lot of npcs at any time of the game, and they'll give updated dialogue wherever you are in the story.
The different clans you can choose make the game really interesting. A few of them result in the same gameplay, with different abilities, but some actually change dialogue, making the game INCREDIBLY different. (I wouldn't recommend Malkavian for a first time playthrough) I played through the game as a Ventrue, using melee weapons. Gameplay is quite simple, stats really matter so investing in combat skills is important, though you have the option to skip it with social skills, though not every encounter.
The game made me so immersed. At the end of the game, you can see the downtown area of the game, and with the music, it made me just sit in my chair, enjoy the view and think about things, gazing off into the city's nightlife, the cars moving in the background as dim, tiny lights. It's as if I got suck in the game suddenly, making me be there physically. There are tons of areas in the game where you can see other locations from afar.
The only negativity I can really mention, is the fact that you have to mod the game, in-order to properly play it. The content that the mod adds is mostly QoL, and crash prevention. There are graphical mods that fix the mushy pixelated textures, but I think it's more immersive to play with just the regular mods that fix issues.
If an alien had come to earth, this would be the game that I would show it. I cannot fathom how much I love this game, and how replayable it is.
