Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption

aka: Vampire: Die Maskerade - Redemption, Vampire: La Mascarade - Rédemption
Moby ID: 1709

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Critic Reviews add missing review

Average score: 76% (based on 52 ratings)

Player Reviews

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 88 ratings with 7 reviews)

Brujahs and Malkavians of all countries, unite!

The Good
I've heard different opinions about this game; one of the most popular definitions was "Diablo with a better story and clumsy combat".

Indeed, Redemption has similarities to that famous title, being combat-heavy and pretty straightforward. However, it's a bit more sophisticated, integrating rules from a complex role-playing universe it tries to recreate in a computerized form. The core mechanics are simple: you have a party of up to four characters, and you can switch between the active characters at any time. You can also go into solo mode and navigate each of the characters separately, which opens new possibilities for battle tactics. You can spend the experience points you earn to upgrade your characters' basic statistics, or to teach them disciplines, the magic spells of the game. The main attributes all make a difference, including not only obvious ones such as strength or stamina, but also more refined manipulation or appearance. They affect certain disciplines, and if you want to specialize in some of them, you must raise the corresponding attribute before you can actually handle the spells. There are vampire-exclusive things here you won't find in your usual RPG. For example, the source of magic spells is your own blood, and one of the ways to replenish it is to feed on your enemies, which in its turn requires a special discipline in five different levels that determine its efficiency.

There is a wide variety of disciplines to learn. From the standard healing and buff spells to summoning wolves to fight for you and making enemies admire your beauty, there is quite a bit of stuff to experiment with. Although characters have different basic attributes (for example, Eric is not really well-suited to be a mage because of his raw strength and low wits and intelligence), you are unrestricted as to how you want to develop them further. Different vampires have different disciplines (like Gangrels having Animalism, which allows all kinds of communications and summoning animals), but you can also find tomes of magic in the game which will teach the appropriate discipline anyone you use it on. In short, there are many possibilities, and you'll definitely want to replay the game to exploit them all. It's a RPG that makes you think before finally deciding how you want to spend your hard-earned experience points, and that's just what I love in RPGs: choice.

Speaking of choice, there is also moral role-playing in the game, something I appreciate very much. In this game, vampires are not just cruel, soulless beasts. Various vampire clans have their own morality codes. There is a humanity attribute for all party members, which influences a variety of things, from weapons and armors the character can equip to their ethical views. Everything you do is recorded by the game, affecting your humanity level. Kill innocent people while feeding on them and you'll lose humanity. Bravely stand up against a vampire prince and defend your ethical principles, and your humanity will raise. You will influence the plot and achieve different endings depending on how much humanity you have left. You'll have to make decisions during the course of the game, which include some really interesting moral choices. For example, a person wants to die and asks you to kill him - what do you think is the more humane thing to do, to satisfy his wish or to refuse? The choice is yours.

There is a lot of other RPG-related goodness in the game. The hardcore dungeon crawling, the scope of regular battles, the challenging bosses. There is an insane amount of items scattered around, so every dungeon crawl is also a treasure hunt. You'll open enough treasure chests and break enough barrels to satisfy your collector's instinct. There are tons of weapons, armor, accessories, and magic scrolls in the game you can find in dungeons or buy. Melee and ranged weapons (bows in medieval times, guns in modern times), two-handed weapons, different kind of damage to deal and to protect from (bashing, lethal, aggravated), and so on. Once again, you'll have to think when visiting a shop and looking at the long list of wares.

The battle system was heavily criticized by many people, but I don't think the criticisms were justified. I think it was judged as an action game, which it is not. It is an RPG, and a challenging one at that. In RPGs the outcome of battles depends more on preparation, good strategy, and character building than on finger dexterity. You won't achieve anything by madly rushing through the dungeons, hacking away at enemies. You'll be outnumbered, surrounded, and killed. That's why it is unfair to say that the combat in Redemption is bad because it takes time to kill the enemies. There is a lot of variety in character building and plenty of little tricks that will help you survive. You can send a character solo, luring away enemies one-by-one and then attacking with the entire party. You can use long-ranged weapons to trigger the attention of enemies, then run away, or charge with melee weapons. There are many disciplines that will make battles easier - different kinds of magic and supporting spells, various ways of replenishing your health and blood, and other stuff to try out. Enemy AI is anything but brain-dead; for example, enemies would run away when low on health, and heal themselves, forcing you to chase and to corner them. The combat has much more depth than your usual action-based system, but there is still a good feeling of addictive hack-and-slash in the fast-paced battles.

Redemption has a highly original and attractive setting. Instead of your typical fantasy realm or sci-fi with robots and spaceships, the game is set in the real world. The unique twist is the separation of the game into two parts: Middle Ages and modern times. The first part of the game is set in the medieval Prague and Vienna, while the second will take you to modern-day London and New York. While the historical Middle Ages setting alone is already quite unusual and refreshing, the inclusion of modern times brings a new dimension to it. This is decidedly one of the coolest settings I have ever seen in a game. It is simply a blast to spend half of the game running through the narrow streets of Vienna, equipped with bows and swords, and the other half visiting bars and clubs in New York, wielding pistols and rifles. Everything changes drastically, you have plasma bags instead of blood potions, and computer hackers in your party instead of axe-wielding barbarians. The contrast between "ye olde medieval" era and the modern time with its pop culture is just too cool to pass. It's also quite funny to see Christof adapting himself to our epoch with contemporary attire, or the Brujah vampires turning from wise guardians of occult lore into punks.

It is possible to see that this game is set in a well-crafted, detailed universe. The different vampire clans are very interesting, and each has its own personality. Noble Brujah and insane Malkavians; arrogant, treacherous Ventrue and cowardly magic-using Tremere - you'll meet all kinds of people in the world of darkness. Everything here has its own history, "parallel" to the history of our real world, so the whole imaginary setting becomes really convincing. Legends, rituals, traditions, ethical codes, mythology and literature - everything is here to make the world more credible. When you fight against a certain vampire clan, you never fight just against some "bad guys". You are given information about them, reasons to why they behave as they do, their culture and traditions. This is noticeable in many details. For example, as you fight your way through hordes of ghouls faithful to the Lasombra clan, one of the characters will note that Lasombra are obsessed with painting and portraits because they cannot see their reflection in mirrors. Just a small detail, but one that gives you some insight on the enemy.

Redemption boasts an epic plot that attracts the player with its scope and emotionality. Essentially a darkly romantic love story, it can become quite fascinating to follow thanks to the captivating initial predicament and the way it unfolds through several centuries in one powerful arc. Most of the characters who join your party or appear as supportive or opposing figures are interesting, or colorful and exotic at the very least. By the way, the quality of the game's dialogues is surprisingly high. The English language of the game is rich and sometimes complex. Every person speaks in their own manner. Most of the conversations are cleverly structured and are a pleasure to read. Colorful expressions, irony, anger, compassion, and humor are clearly manifested in those dialogues. The modern times conversations are particularly amusing and well-written. I was literally laughing out loud during the conversation with Dev/Null, the Malkavian computer geek. The voice acting, often the weakest link in many games of that time, is totally acceptable here - while some lines sound over-acted or too bland, most of the dialogue is delivered with appropriate emotion.

Some people would argue that the strongest aspect of this game is its atmosphere. Indeed, Redemption has exceptional atmosphere that will draw you into the game world the moment you look at the title screen. I played this game usually during the day, but I was genuinely immersed into its world and felt as if I were there. The world is crafted in such a way that you'll have no doubts concerning its reality. Having good graphics alone would not be enough to create such an ambiance. That said, the technical quality of the graphics is outstanding; Redemption is easily one of the best-looking games of its generation. But what really makes those graphics stand out is their artistic quality. The locations of the game come to life because they were created with inspiration and aesthetic guidance. Every dungeon is unique. Even though most of the locations in the game are dark and macabre, there is a great variety within this color palette. This is not achieved by throwing in buckets of blood and scary monsters. Just look carefully at the detailed design of the locations, the architecture, materials, objects, everything that makes a location real, and you'll see that the power of this game's atmosphere comes from the creativity of its artists.

On top of that, the music in the game is fantastic. Once again, it is mostly of the same kind - dark, depressing, and threatening - but there is so much subtle beauty in it that you'll find yourself stopping and just listening to the music. It fits the game perfectly and is another important factor in creating its marvelous atmosphere. The sound effects are also great. You'll just have to listen to the characters' moaning when they feed on enemies, the creepy noise of ghosts' attacks, the sound of steps in a seemingly empty corridor, anticipating enemies that await you around the corner...

The Bad
My beef with this promising - and mostly satisfying - game is that it could have clearly been more. With its rich lore and gameplay system, it could have become the role-playing giant of its generation. Instead, it turned out to be a great experience without necessarily being a truly great RPG.

You spend most of your time in the game in the dungeons. The friendly areas seem reasonably large until you realize you'll be returning to the same hubs to sell loot and go on another mission. There is no choice involved in traveling: you go somewhere simply because the game sends you there. There is a lot of fun to be had in the dungeons, and the game's plot-driven nature makes the linearity somewhat more bearable; but it's a pity that the role-playing rules, tailor-made for rich exploration and interaction, were not better realized in this game.

Lack of NPC contact is another serious issue. Many people wander the city streets, yet the only way you can interact with them is by attacking or feeding on them. You can only have conversations with important characters. This doesn't make the cities of Redemption any less atmospheric, but certainly detracts from its depth as an RPG. You'd think that this flaw can really destroy the game, but surprisingly, you'll want to spend time in this world even though you can't talk to most of its inhabitants. I just can't help thinking what this game could have become if it had player-driven dialogues with unimportant NPCs.

The battle system has its problems. The pathfinding is not always optimal. Sometimes party members get stuck or circle around mindlessly while the enemy hacks away at me. Party AI could have been better - your party members would waste valuable spells on easy enemies, run to attack when they are low on health, etc. The biggest downside of the battles is the lack of damage feedback. Sure, you can feel that you're killing enemies quicker when you have more strength or a better weapon, but how big is the difference exactly? You can see that the enemy is bleeding under your attacks, but how much health did he really lose? As in some other conversions from pen-and-paper RPG systems, luck plays an important role in the combat of Redemption, and therefore the battles are not always well balanced.

The original, unpatched version of the game comes with a terrible save system. You can only save in your haven, or rely on auto-saves between different levels. In a game that is not very easy to begin with, it is just an additional frustration factor. Fortunately, it was corrected in the patch: in the upgraded version you can save anywhere you want.

The Bottom Line
Redemption is far from perfect, being neither a particularly fulfilling adaptation of the pen-and-paper rules nor an important factor in the development of RPGs. That said, it is quite engrossing in its own way, atmospheric and even addictive with its simple gameplay, and the epic ride from medieval towns to modern-day metropolises is not something you'll see a lot.

Now go away, mortal, and play this game, or we shall embrace thee before sunrise!

Windows · by Unicorn Lynx (181788) · 2015

Solid on the surface.

The Good
Vampire is damned addictive. The story keeps going from one exciting locale to another and spans 800 years (sort of). For the most part, Vampire is an excellent action game. I would compare it to Diablo with the camera zoomed in. There is a mixture of sword and sorcery and guns and ammo. Vampires are much like humans, except their undeath gives them access to powerful spells called Disciplines. Disciplines work like Jedi Knight's force powers or Undying's spells in that you can upgrade spells to make them more powerful. Unlike most games, it pays off to master a few Disciplines rather than knowing a little bit about all of them.

The game is largely combat based with a surprising amount of linearity. There are some quests that involve acquiring items, but most of the game entails raiding enemy vampire camps. Still, combat is varied with a large number of enemies and a variety of weapons and spells to choose from.

The mythos of Vampire is very well developed and is excellently presented here. I have not played the pen and paper game, yet was able to follow the story which involves 13 rival clans vying for supremacy. The actual story of the game is entertaining if not original and various conversation options and your Humanity level (an indicator that shows whether you are following a human moral code or are succumbing to the Beast) determines the game's ending.

The Bad
I expected the Masquerade to be more masquerady. The World of Darkness assumes that vampires are among us (and always have been) yet they remain unknown due to the Masquerade. That is, they hide from our view and operate out of our knowledge. In this game the Masquerade involves running past London bobbies with swords, guns, knives, fangs dripping blood, etc. Imagine what a stealth element would have added to this game.

Vampire is billed as being an RPG and has been hyped as being a first-rate RPG, I find both claims doubtful. If you accept Diablo as an RPG, a pure hack and slash game with one way to completion than so be it. Granted there are three possible endings and you can customize your character, but many games have multiple endings and various character/weapon/spell choices.

This game does use the character stat/discipline sheet that is part of the pen and paper game. Within this game I felt those stats were poorly realized. Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina all seemed to take an active role, but others such as Intelligence and Charisma served only as prerequisites for higher Disciplines. In true CRPGs these stats come into play throughout the game. In Fallout, a great RPG, Intelligence determines conversation options, Charisma (or the equivalent) determines character interactions.

Another problem I had with the game is the Discipline choices. The manual (which is pretty but bloody useless) offered iffy descriptions and failed to explain why I would want to upgrade certain Disciplines. One Discipline identified magical objects, would level two really identify them? Would level three identify the hell out of them? Or how about another useless Discipline that allowed you to determine if a person was good or evil? This would be very useful in the pen and paper game, but in the computer game you could usually tell your adversaries by the way they swung their swords at you.

Graphically this game was incredible except for poor clipping, sprite based shadows, and combat. Combat, the majority of the game, was incredibly frustrating. There was no difference in animation if a sword/arrow/bullet connected as opposed to a miss. In a game with as great of graphics as Vampire had, it's the little details that stand out.

Finally, the AI. AI is bad on both parts and sometimes coterie (party) members behaved so poorly I wished the game was turn-based. There are three settings for coterie members: do nothing, kill everything, tag along. I unfortunately had the party set for kill everything and after sitting through a long cutscene explaining how we weren't supposed to harm humans, my party went berserk in town. Party members also fire ammo into walls, refuse to move to get a better shot, cast powerful spells on weak creatures, etc. Enemies stand still until you come within striking range before swinging into combat. Ack- and pathfinding- Pedestrians routinely walk into lamps, sides of buildings and get stuck, your own party isn't much better. You fortunately have the option of releasing party members and controlling them one by one, this isn't a great feature it's a poor fix to a design flaw.

THE PATCH IS AN ABSOLUTE MUST!!!

The Bottom Line
Not quite an RPG but a fun action/adventure game that is novel in having the player assume the role of a vampire. Graphics are quirky at times, but are largely the best to be found and the music is remarkable. The patch is necessary in that it refines a save system and provides a balance for the early game. Highly worth its now bargain price.

Windows · by Terrence Bosky (5397) · 2002

Don't let the title or topic scare you, let the intro!

The Good
For starters, when you get done installing the game, you'll start to feel very cold and lonely as you let the intro finish up. From there, it just gets better. Extreme detail went into this game to make it engrossing and enthralling.

The graphics are as good, and occasionally far superior to, anything else out there. Some scenes are truly stunning, and you'll find yourself re-loading a saved game to see it again and again. Spell effects are superb, and the "floating camera" angles and the ability to control the camera are just fantastic.

The sound is excellent to. Between the background music and the sound effects and the dark, dank tone of everything, it just adds to the whole experience.

There are plenty of weapons and armor throughout the game, and the differences in weapons (bashing, slashing, etc.) actually make a BIG difference.

The story is totally encompassing, and it isn't too long or drawn out that you'll get annoyed with it. Everything has been timed so that you get new spells/weapons/toys just at the time you need them.

There's plenty of character development (though die-hard fans of Vampire may not like being forced to be one clan), and you even get to develop the characters who join your group.

The Bad
I hate to admit there's something wrong with a game this great. But not admitting them would be just wrong.

There are some glitches to the game. The stark example of this is a dead character who shows up at a cutscene to do some talking.

Party memebers are rather idiotic. You can set some options to make them smarter, but I find that if you give them an inch, they'll abuse it (insert joke about a better idiot here).

Extrememly limited replay value. Oh, how I hate this one. Something you need to understand is that, in the Vampire world, everything is based on destiny. Nothing you do will ultimately effect where you go next. There are choices throughout the game as to what you want to do, but ultimately, it doesn't matter. I've been waiting for another Vampire game, but, alas.

The Bottom Line
I've never played the paper and pencil version of Vampire, and I didn't need to. The game is excellent at teaching you as you go (no stupid tutorial here, it tells you how to play the game as you go, and ties it in with the story).

For sheer story-lovers, this is your game. For hack and slash, you might really like the mix of hack and spell-casting, but you can't totally forget about evertying else.

Occasionally you'll feel like a general trying to order around a bunch of six-year-olds, but take some time, and it'll pay off big.

Oh yeah, don't let a six-year-old see or hear this game. He'll have nightmares for weeks!

Windows · by Cyric (50) · 2001

Great story, great atmosphere, repetitive gameplay.

The Good
The game starts with great story-telling and quickly builds up the atmosphere. In the beginning, gameplay is simple enough and very addictive. But the difficulty quickly rises and requires you to use disciplines (spells) properly.

Story is divided into two parts, both are good alone, but together they create nice "twist" in the atmosphere and game itself.

Every game "dungeons" looks differently than another, they are very specific, with great looking graphics, but in single dungeon you will most probably have trouble telling different levels one from another.

Inventory and whole interface is nicely done and works almost perfectly, although it is not exactly suited for quick-enough combat control.

Vampire the Masquerade rules are nicely implemented, though it is necessary to read the manual to understand some disciplines. Manual is also nicely written and helps in understanding the world of darkness for those not familiar with it.

The Bad
While the story is deep enough for RPG, the actual gameplay gets repetitive. You talk to someone, they will send you to nearby dungeon, you battle through four levels of dungeon, kill boss creature, listen to new facts, go back to the quest-giver, talk, clean four level in another dungeon and so on and so on. It is always a small progress in story and then four levels dungeon. Exactly something for those who loved repetitive gameplay of Diablo.

AI of the enemies is nothing special (enemies usually stand at one place until they see you and then approach/shoot/use discipline). Nothing special, but their sheer number makes up for it. What troubles me is the AI of your characters. When you will watch your character walking in circles for three minutes trying to get through the doors or going down the stairs, you will know what I mean. Also character become stuck behind one another far too often, and try to shoot through walls.

Since you play with up to four characters, some sort of quick commands should be implemented, but no, only thing to help you manage your team are selection shortcuts and attitude setting. Everything else is up to your reflexes and clicking skills. Also rearranging your inventory in combat is almost impossible (since you cannot pause the fight). Due to this, some boss fights are really hard and the final one is almost impossible.

The Bottom Line
It may look like I found more bad thing than the good ones, but it is not the case. I really enjoyed playing through the game. I recommend reading the manual, as it will tell you which disciplines are useful and how you should develop your character. If you can get over occasional stupidity of AI, repetitive gameplay (surprisingly mostly in the middle of the game), you will receive good story telling and solid RPG. A must for any RPG or Vampire fan.

Windows · by Dan Mokosh (56) · 2011

Better than Diablo

The Good
The graphics are incredible to say the least, with more than a few absolutly breathtaking effects included to make this one game that will leave your eyes smiling with satisfaction.

The sound effects, voice acting and music are also excellent, leaving little to be desired short of better hearing when you're trying to pick out all the subtle moans, and hypnotic groans as you traverse one location after the next.

The architecture throughout this wonderment is an example of what true talent can create. Hats off to the designers behind Redemption, every location is another piece of heaven, taking into account detail, beauty, mystique, and gameplay.

For those literary types who love a good story, here's one along with great graphics. The storyline behind Redemption is well written and well told.

The Bad
Pathfinding, Pathfinding, Pathfinding! While the new patch does address this issue to some degree, your characters are susceptible to some ridiculas glitching.

Also, your party members are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, and thus you must be extremely cautious of their mood settings, otherwise you'll find yourself babysitting a bunch of moronic nitwits... or better yet, corpses.

Gameplay is the age old, time told hack n' slash approach. Here's the dungeon, go in, clean it out, get the item, come back. One 'fetch-boo boo-fetch' after another. Tiresome, uninspired.

The Bottom Line
To put it as bluntly as I can: Darkstone on Acid.

Windows · by tantoedge (19) · 2000

Best Vampire game EVER!

The Good
This game was great. It had tons of weapons as well as many armour items and spells. It was a great game on so many levels that whenever I first play an RPG I say how it wasn't as good as vampire in a certain aspect. The game was very fun to play and extremely addicting.

The Bad
The only thing I didn't like about the game was the part in modern times. It was still good but not as good as the medieval times. Other than that it is in my mind the best RPG I have played.

The Bottom Line
This game is great.

Windows · by m n (1) · 2002

Love at First Bite? Um, no.

The Good
The graphics were quite good for their time, and the sound effects were superlative. The voice acting, with a couple of exceptions, was solid, and the characters were three-dimensional, i.e. they had their own dreams, aspirations, and agendas.

The Bad
To anyone who ever played the pen and paper version of this game, this is a horrible oversimplification and insult to their intelligence. The pen and paper version is a game that puts its emphasis on the story and the surroundings, building a sense of tragedy and futility juxtaposed with the eerie savagery of not being human anymore. This was apparently forgotten by the writers of the computer game's plot, who instead chose to use every stereotype they could think of from the pen and paper version. Playing the campaign in this game was like playing in a Vampire adventure ran by a barely literate moron who thinks "bittersweet" is a rather nasty form of chocolate. The artificial intelligence of the enemies in the game was almost non-existent, consisting of running around a lot and randomly attacking, almost always one at a time. Several times, the enemy simply stood there and let me kill them, even with the latest patch installed. In addition, the save system that shipped with the original version was horrendous; you could not save the game except at a save point, which was located in your haven! You might have to travel several levels deep into a difficult dungeon, and if you die, you would have to repeat hours and hours of game play. A patch remedied this to being able to save anywhere, but for a game released in 2000, and not being a console port, that is borderline criminal. Finally, the multiplayer mode was a complete failure. The editor was cumbersome and limited, and the graphics could not be altered without a degree in computer science. Playing online with strangers was not a viable alternative, either, as they would either kill you on sight, or make it their goal to annoy you to the brink of insanity.

The Bottom Line
If you have never played the pen and paper version of Vampire, go ahead and try this, because it will give you a very simple idea of what the real rpg is all about. Similarly, if you enjoy dumb-downed rpg's, by all means, play this game. However, if you are a veteran gamer, either computer or pen and paper, avoid this at all costs, because it will make you sad; for ultimately, this is a game that could have been great, but barely achieves mediocrity.

Windows · by Daniel Reed (28) · 2002

Contributors to this Entry

Critic reviews added by Wizo, Jeanne, jean-louis, vedder, Alsy, Scaryfun, Patrick Bregger, shphhd, Zerobrain, jaXen, Tim Janssen, Caliner, Klaster_1, Flapco, chirinea, ti00rki, Cantillon, Crawly, nullnullnull, CalaisianMindthief, Big John WV, Juan Argañaraz, Cavalary.