Vampire: The Masquerade - Reckoning of New York

I really liked both of the previous games in this series but this one was disappointing. Kali is really unlikeable. She’s not very bright and I don’t agree with many of her actions. The idea of Ravnos is that they’re tricksters but she is the one getting tricked at every opportunity. The plot also goes nowhere for ¾ of the run time. You’re searching for something that you never manage to find on your own. Then the final quarter is slightly better but just sort of ends abruptly. The ideas introduced in the ending are good but they don’t do anything with them. They should have made a whole game around the things introduced in the ending, that would have made a much more interesting Ravnos story. The mechanics are very barebones but that's not unusual, the first two games were like that too so I can't fault that. But the story I can fault as it's a significant downgrade. The thing that was good about the first two games was the machinations of the Camarilla. But this gave has very little of that. If I didn’t know who all the characters in the Camarilla were from the first two games I would be even more lost with their very one-dimensional characters in this game. You can play through again as the male character but at that point I was just happy to see credits and consider this one done.

It's a fine story and works in characters from the series fairly well. The graphics and music are less engaging than the prior entries, so I'd definitely start with them first, but if you liked them, I'd get this on sale.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Reckoning of New York is a weak visual novel in almost every regard. Flat, lifeless artwork and an uninteresting main plot are chief among its problems, but its design as a sequel that ignores the plot and purpose of the first two entries is almost equally as disappointing. Read the full review here: https://www.jetsonplaysgames.com/post/vampire-the-masquerade-reckoning-of-new-york-review

In the old era of buttons on the phones, landline calls and vhs glory, people used to role-play face to face, with gatherings, especially when it comes to Vampire: The Masquerade, which is even one year older than me myself. Game, that required tons of books, dices and mindset creativity, has evolved through passages of time, technology changes and audience, to the point - where we are welcomed by more digital variations, the "modern" way of role playing, hidden behind the facade of what visual novel is about. Vampire: The Masquerade - Reckoning of New York, is one of the few games in the online games from an entire series, that explores the dark corners of the famous Big Apple. Through necrotic eyes. By actions and their consequences. With a lot of blood spillage guaranteed. Yet, it is also quite of a refreshment for any connoisseur of the entire franchise itself, thanks to the reassured exploration of wampires world, their hierarchy, society, families, abilities, and only the developers knows what else could possibly be there. This episode, was a little bit of a slow journey. The one, that allow us to learn more about deception. To get properly introduced to how certain class is looking like from the practical point of a view. To sense "how would it be" if we choose one or another character, in order to understand better their perspective of "unliving". It is not a title, that you should expect fireworks from and tons of rapid changes. This is an episode, that explores communication, secrets, lies, political frictions as well as how much one decision leads to one another, in terms of faliure or sarcastic win of the certain boundaries. Both characters in the game, show us two new clans in further "light" so we can re-experience old fashioned RPG. So we may understand more this world, by receiving another one bit of it. People who complained, truly miss the whole point of the franchise, where each one new game release, gives us something different, yet centered around certain society and area. While more titles are yet to come, we will move on within time from one location to another, while finally understanding better each one fraction bit by a bit, by simply having that chance via various storytelling. Not every legend has to have an end which is good or bad. Padraic and Kali are a proof for that. Are we certain that they will end up one day in passionate romance, starting from enemies and going from it to lovers? Can we be sure that they will not be more like nemezis to themselves and they not gonna end up sabotaging their clans? What about the vial? Voices? Other secrets that are yet to come or be burried? This uncertainty gained through ending variations, is another one lesson for us players: To appreciate the moment, change, with the expectation of what is about to come yet. Maybe Padraic survives and evolve? Maybe Kali will forgive him? Maybe they both will loose an ancient blood, ending up in good or bad hands? Only time will tell [ehkhm, ehkhm or devs kindly please] what is going to happen, and if we will see these two in the future episodes, just like we had a chance to see the Julia again.

The first game, although not very good, had a great atmosphere and cohesive writing, and most of the vampire clans were represented fairly faithfully. The second game was genuinely great. Julia was a perfect protagonist, and the story was phenomenal. But Reckoning has almost none of that. The art style is different. It's not bad by any means, but I definitely prefer the old style. The soundtrack also seems to have taken a downgrade, but for me, the worst part was the writing. I found myself losing interest in the plot several times. Both protagonists were good, and I really wanted to see where their journeys would take them. Julia returning was also a great addition, but I found myself dragging myself to the end just for the 100% completion. I also played the other games in my native language, and this is the only one that is only available in English, which made the experience even worse for me. Totally not worth it. It's sad to have played this trilogy and end up being given this.

Первые две игры понравились больше. Эта часть несколько душновата, ощущается немного затянуто. Наиграно 22 часа, а пройдено всего две главы. В первых двух играх за это время всё уже было пройдено. Думаю, что на русском языке будет интереснее, подожду. Дизлайк не буду ставить - окажу поддержку, потому что эта трилогия познакомила меня с VtM. Арты нормальные, кстати, не знаю что там говорят про нейросети и прочее. Выглядит хорошо. Откровенной нейроблевотины не вижу.

I loved the game and its story, but I wouldn’t really call it a game. It’s more like a book that you don’t get much say in, and if you go into it with that mindset, you’ll have a better time like reading a novel. If you’re expecting a lot of choices that significantly impact the story, you’ll probably be disappointed. I do like these game/books, but I just wish we got more of the characters by the end. I would kill for actual books focused on Julia and Kali they’re such great main characters for the World of Darkness. I honestly think the World of Darkness universe as a whole would be better off if it had something more like the Warhammer 40K Black Library approach, with a larger range of stories and authors expanding the setting while focusing on key characters that can give a face to the universe.