Nihilistic Software‘s 2000 release, Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption, is a 3D RPG with real-time combat and is held in very high regard by those who have played it.

On the surface Redemption is similar in style to Neverwinter Nights, although Neverwinter Nights came two years after Vampire, which demonstrates how ahead of its time it was.

Gameplay is basically party-based combat with point-and-click mouse controls. Left-click attacks things and right-click casts blood magic. Actually, the mouse clicks are context sensitive, depending on what you’re clicking on. Moving the camera around uses a combination of mouse and keyboard.

What is great about Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption is the fact that you get to play as a vampire – drinking blood from necks and having special vampire powers. It’s an interesting angle of play, even if the script and voice acting are somewhat mundane, and it helps keep things interesting.

Combat is fairly simple and reasonably enjoyable, that is: until you encounter the boss battles. The bosses I encountered were really very tough – especially the Golem fight in the early part of the game, which drove me to use the console to get past it, after wasting many hours trying to figure out how to beat it (and failing). Considering the ease at which previous opponents had been beaten, I thought that the Golem battle was a difficulty spike too far. But anyway…

Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption is nearly 20 years old now, so I don’t want to criticise it too much. It is a fantastic game overall – well worth buying and playing. Just be prepared for those boss battles…

More: Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption on Wikipedia
Steam: Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption on Steam
GOG: Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption on GOG.com