{"id":20569,"date":"2025-10-22T14:37:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/22\/average-but-arresting-games-used-to-be-the-backbone-of-the-industry-what-price-perfection\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T14:37:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T12:37:17","slug":"average-but-arresting-games-used-to-be-the-backbone-of-the-industry-what-price-perfection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/22\/average-but-arresting-games-used-to-be-the-backbone-of-the-industry-what-price-perfection\/","title":{"rendered":"Average-but-arresting games used to be the backbone of the industry. What price perfection?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this week\u2019s newsletter: It used to be OK for games like Vampire: The Masquerade \u2013 Bloodlines 2 to be just, well, OK<\/em> \u2013 but today\u2019s boom and bust economy has almost erased an important genre<\/p>\n

It should perhaps come as no surprise that the highly anticipated horror adventure sequel Vampire: The Masquerade \u2013 Bloodlines 2 has fallen short of expectations. Released this week to mixed reviews<\/a>, it had a tortured gestation, arriving after seven years in development via two different studios. A few reviewers are disappointed that the title dropped a lot of the complex role-playing elements of its acclaimed predecessor, while others are frustrated that you begin as a powerful elder vampire and never develop much, despite being able to earn a few extra abilities as you explore the snowy city of Seattle sucking blood and fighting monsters.<\/p>\n

What I have experienced messing about in this admittedly flawed game, and watching my vampire-loving son play with huge enthusiasm, is that it\u2019s enjoyably idiosyncratic and compelling. The slightly soft-focus, icy cold rendition of Seattle gives it a film noir feel, accentuated by streets lined with neon signs and lavish members\u2019 clubs where besuited vampires play classical music on grand pianos. You can flirt with exotic bloodsuckers, you can psychically lob sledgehammers at bad guys; my son particularly enjoys making people explode by cursing their blood and then throwing stuff at them. It\u2019s like starring in some forgotten 1990s vampire flick that has since developed an obsessive cult following.<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nIn this week\u2019s newsletter: It used to be OK for games like Vampire: The Masquerade \u2013 Bloodlines 2 to be just, well, OK \u2013 but today\u2019s boom and bust economy has almost erased an important genre
\nIt should perhaps come as no surprise that the highly anticipated horror adventure sequel Vampire: The Masquerade \u2013 Bloodlines 2 has fallen short of expectations. Released this week to mixed reviews, it had a tortured gestation, arriving after seven years in development via two different studios. A few reviewers are disappointed that the title dropped a lot of the complex role-playing elements of its acclaimed predecessor, while others are frustrated that you begin as a powerful elder vampire and never develop much, despite being able to earn a few extra abilities as you explore the snowy city of Seattle sucking blood and fighting monsters.
\nWhat I have experienced messing about in this admittedly flawed game, and watching my vampire-loving son play with huge enthusiasm, is that it\u2019s enjoyably idiosyncratic and compelling. The slightly soft-focus, icy cold rendition of Seattle gives it a film noir feel, accentuated by streets lined with neon signs and lavish members\u2019 clubs where besuited vampires play classical music on grand pianos. You can flirt with exotic bloodsuckers, you can psychically lob sledgehammers at bad guys; my son particularly enjoys making people explode by cursing their blood and then throwing stuff at them. It\u2019s like starring in some forgotten 1990s vampire flick that has since developed an obsessive cult following. Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this week\u2019s newsletter: It used to be OK for games like Vampire: The Masquerade \u2013 Bloodlines 2 to be just, well, OK \u2013 but today\u2019s boom and bust economy has almost erased an important genre It should perhaps come as no surprise that the highly anticipated horror adventure sequel Vampire: The Masquerade \u2013 Bloodlines …<\/p>\n

Average-but-arresting games used to be the backbone of the industry. What price perfection?<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":20570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20569"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}