Pazzesco come un gioco di 25 anni fa sia di gran lunga migliore della stragrande maggioranza dei titoli di oggi, sia per scrittura che per gameplay! Una pietra miliare, un puro gioiello. CAPOLAVORO

il migliore della saga

A journey expanding from one the most obscure and primordial depths of the Kindred's story to the sinister authority they hold over the modern nights, Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption is a treasured member of the franchise.

Main protagonist, Christof Romuald, a name you might be acquainted with from Beckett's Jyhad Diary; is a Crusader Knight of the Dark Ages. All the hallmarks of a chivalrous knight: brave, noble and kind-hearted, this soldier of pure faith guards the people of Prague against the uncanny forces of the night, all the while consumed by his love for none other than priestess Anezka. Once he comes within the crosshairs of Ecaterina the Wise, the leader of the Brujahs in Prague, and is Embraced, he finds himself in the midst of a conflict, secluded from Kine's gaze. Demanding a strong militarism for her clan as well as an intellectual accumulation, Ecaterina, isolated within the bounds of University, strives to create an established coterie for the campaign against Tremere and Tzimisce. This calculated vision and ambition of hers draws Christof in and the story begins.

a) Dark Ages: The time spent in the Dark Ages focuses on Ecaterina's political concerns and Christof's campaign to find Anezka, however, as the story unfolds, various narratives about the existence of the Kindred, its sectors and the inherent nature of the clans and their quarrels amongst themselves are revealed. From the Lasombra to the Followers of Set. Enhanced by a gothic atmosphere and some deliciously old-school dungeon crawling, Old Prague immerses the player into a world several centuries old. The coterie in the dark ages consists of Wilhem, a friendly and guiding Brujah, Serena, a dignified and resourceful Cappadocian, and Erik, a well-meaning, if somewhat confrontational, Gangrel.

b) Modern Nights: Although the passage between the Dark Ages and the Modern World is quite abrupt and sudden, the principles of the universe are skillfully integrated into both eras, despite their divergence from one another. Therefore, for audiences unfamiliar with the brand, I found Redemption to be a very satisfying and welcoming entry. Despite its wonderful ambience and thrilling soundtrack though, Modern Nights is a bit weaker in terms of content than the first half of the game. It feels like this period is treated as a major turning point in the story, so the maps and missions are confined to fulfilling the main campaign. This quarter, the party consists of Pink, a foul-mouthed Brujah, Lily the Toreador, a quintessential Damsel™ in distress, and Samuel the Nosferatu, whom one would most likely prefer for his personality rather than his beauty.

Yes, we have no children of Malkav. Nor a Ventrue. Thank the Caine!

Given the relatively old age of the game and Nihilistic's numerous indecisions during development, it's no wonder that the gameplay and combat system are a rather disorienting affair. The AI isn't the brightest around, and unfortunately, less so for your party members than for the enemies. Hence coterie management (and Disciplines, but more on that in a moment) can either make or break the overall experience. Idle Coterie members are willing to lose a whole lot of their vitae in combat for the sake of the most frivolous attacks against the least threatening enemies, so make sure to switch between characters. Each party member possesses particular abilities appropriate to the composition of their respective clans, so it is sensible to allocate a particular offensive function to each of them. Stances are crucial also. Based on the setting you are in, you can decide between aggressive, neutral or defensive stances. The AI will react to its surroundings accordingly, even if not always tactfully.

Redemption is incredibly rich in terms of Discipline trees. Although there are 18 of them, I will focus on the ones I find the most efficient in combat. Feel free to try out the rest though, it is a whole lot of fun. Almost all of the Discipline groups are clan based, however, there are tomes scattered throughout the game that will grant you some of these respectful skills.

Common: Common, as is called in Vampire the Masquerade, is the only Discipline group that is attainable and performable by the Kindred of all clans and sects. The first skill within this discipline tree being Feeding, which, as you might have guessed, draws blood from the target's Blood Pool and satisfies the Kindred's thirst. The other four skills cost 5 units from the Blood Pool and they operate as stat enhancers. Blood Healing, Blood Strength, Blood Dexterity, i.e. These enhancers will be heavily needed.

Auspex: Yes, yes and yes. Auspex is an incredibly advantageous Discipline in Redemption. It has four abilities that you might try out, although merely just the Heightened Senses is the most utilitarian one against foes that use the Obfuscate Discipline tree, like the Nosferatu. They can get ridiculously annoying as they continously teleport from one spot to the other, but their defeat is guaranteed for measly 5 units from your Blood Pool!

Blood Rituals: Blood Rituals is only accessible through the Haus Tome you get from Haus de Hexe, but it's worth every single agonizing minute spent in that hell hole. It has five abilities and their stat requirements range from 25 to 60 INT. Although they cost a good chunk of the character's Blood Pool, Prison of Ice and Call Lightning do wonders against hyperactive bosses. Especially the final boss, Vukodlak, is nearly impossible to beat without the Prison of Ice ability. (p.s., it's challenging even with Prison of Ice.)

Lure of Flames: Like the Discipline Tree above, Lure of Flames also is accessible only through tomes. There are two of them, the first one is found in the Teutonic Knight Base during the first half of the game. And the second one can be found within the Society of Leopold. Weaker abilities are okay, I suppose, but they don't do a whole lot of damage that is worth mentioning. Fire Storm though, will do the job for you. It requires 70 INT and costs 25 units from your Blood Pool, so make sure to fire that bad boy up at the perfect time.

Presence: Majesty! Majesty is the most sumptuos ability within this Discipline group and to be honest, it doesn't have the most insane AOE. However, it's a great backup to have for whenever you're cornered by enemy hordes. I used it a whole bunch and saved me from a grotesque Final Death a few times.

Protean: For this Discipline tree, I will mostly focus on Feral Claws as it is a quite early-game ability that comes with Wilhem joining the coterie and it costs only 5 units from the Blood Pool. Already at the beginning it has 15 Aggravated damage and it can only go up! Erik also has this ability as he is a Gangrel, those two will help you a bunch with bosses that regular weapons won't do even the slightest damage. Wink wink, looking your way, Vaclav.

Happy gaming!

One of the greatest RPGs of its time. Little known fact : this game was what spawned the engine for Warcraft III, WoW, SC2 etc.

It's old so be ready for some frustrations when it comes to character control, it's a clicky with screen edge camera movement thing not a wasd with skills thing.

Story is great, characters are fleshed out and the variety of builds is nice. Very DnD like but with a vampire twist.

Oldie but goodie.

The gameplay is horrendous with an ugly UI and clunky controls. This was true even when the game released. By modern standards, it's like going from a state of the art car, with all the mod cons, gadgets and gizmos, to a horse drawn cart, but instead of a horse you have a knackered donkey, the cart has a broken wheel and sometimes the donkey needs a rest so you have to take over pulling the cart.

There is also the very uneven quality of both voice acting and writing. Some of the dialogue and those that deliver it, are chewing the scenery a little too often and not in a good way. This games narrative comes off like a 90's saturday morning kids tv cartoon, with villainous villains and a virtuous knight hero (the MC)
That said, there are layers here, with the classic World of Darkness, signature dark setting. This can come through in much of the lore and environmental story telling and in the overarching narrative. Whilst there are some lore dumps along the way, most of the lore is delivered organically and well and helps to immerse the player in the world, enough that some of the hammier parts of the game, feel less cringe and awkward.

In terms of mechanics, it's a real mixed bag. I often found movement a real pain and combat, whilst satisfying enough, was just as much about fighting the cursor to land a blow as it was about slaying kindred adversaries. That said, there is a huge assortment of disciplines to play with in the game that can make combat all kinds of different. I had one Cristoff who learned Mortis and would routinely raise my slain enemies to fight for me, creating a much different combat experience to my Cristoff who learned Thaumaturgy and rained fire on anything that moved. The frenzy and humanity system however are a battle to deal with at first, when your learning the ropes.

In terms of roleplay, there is less wiggle room than some would like. You play Cristoff and he is Brujah. You can't change that. You also can't choose to NOT pursue his love interest through the ages. This is his story and your agency extends only to whether ol' Cristy is a giant D or not. But the story is compelling enough and they handle the transition between the dark ages and modern nights pretty well.

All in all, I'd say the game is worth playing if you are a fan of WoD or you enjoy vampire titles.

The graphics and gameplay haven't aged particularly well, but warts and all this is one of my favourite games of all time. The story is something all Vampire fans, or fans of vampire media in general, should play at least once. This game also happened to be my introduction to the World of Darkness, which has given me countless hours of enjoyment ever since in video games and at tables.

To the Abyss with thee!

Don't let my play time fool you. I actually owned a CD copy of this back in the day. Its a solid fun old school computer RPG. I really like how it starts in medieval times and then you get to plag in modern times with guns. It keeps the game fresh and compels you forward. The mechanics are a bit outdate but what do you expect from a game made 24 years ago? I definitely reccomend this if you are in the mood for an old school RPG expirence.

Atmosphere and story is very good, which is why you should play this game.
However the difficulty is artificially high and unbalanced, play with cheats once you have had enough.
Final boss is just frustrating for no reason keeping you stun-locked throughout the fight.
Despite that, I still recommend it, the ending is very moving.

I've loved this game since its release, I wish someone would make a continuation of Cristoff's story following the clan novels.