T
he year of 2004 was
an auspicious one for
videogames. In fact, it
was perhaps, a bit too
auspicious for Troika,
a small CRPG development house
headed by ex-Black Isle veterans.
Troika had to release an embattled,
over budget, and unfinished game of
a niche genre right smack dab in the
middle of a legendary autumn, which
also boasted Halo 2, Half-Life 2, and
Metal Gear Solid 3. Vampire: the
Masquerade – Bloodlines never stood
a chance really, and ended up selling
only 72,000 copies in its initial
release. Afterwards, Troika struggled
to find backing for subsequent
projects, and were forced to close
their doors in 2005.
The tapes never stopped
circulating though, so to speak.
Strong word of mouth helped its
reputation flourish on RPG forums,
and VtMB found a second life
through digital distribution. This
game was not on my radar at the timeof its initial release, and even if it was,
I was nine years old, and my dad
would have immediately put the
kibosh on any attempt on my part to
play this M-rated game with a
scantily-clad, blood-spattered, Harley
Quinn-looking lady on the cover. No,
like most of its fans, I came to
Bloodlines years later, drawn by that
strong hearsay. A lot of its design
choices frustrated me my first time
around, and I put off finishing that
first playthrough for almost half a
year. Despite that, it’s a game I simply
could not get out of my head, and I
found myself diving in for another go.UNFINISHED, UNBROKEN
Bloodlines was released in a rather
rough state, on account of its
disastrous development, but these
days it’s pretty polished as far as
capital-h Huge overly ambitious
RPGs go. The fan-made Unofficial
Patch, spearheaded by the heroic
Werner Spahl or Wesp5 on Reddit
and ModDB really cleans up VtMB’sVAMPIRE: THE
MASQUERADE –
BLOODLINES
Troika’s last hurrah has aged like fine wine. By Ted Litchfield
NEED TO KNOW
RELEASE
November 16, 2004
PUBLISHER
ActivisionDEVELOPER
Troika
LINK
bit.ly/3p3jqFAOLD GAMES, NEW PERSPECTIVES
REINSTALL