They should have called it Vampire: The Masquerade - Nomad.

It's pretty good.

It is not at all an RPG, despite borrowing the trappings. It has a lot in common in with Batman: Arkham Aslyum: lots of actually pretty good story moments enriched by outstanding performances, plenty of pretty-but-shallow exploring, lots of beating up/chewing on baddies, and plenty of time menacing Seattle's back alleys and rooftops. This is lightweight "action-adventure" soaked in vampire vibes. And the vibes are perfectly delivered. Voice-in-your-head Fabien is precious, smart-assed glue that provides a ready foil to just about every possible thing the story and world have to offer, and the cast of steady characters never disappoints. The feel of sweeping around the city as a menacing, annoyed, immortal investigator is spot-on. The narrative ranges from "I'm pretty sure I remember this episode of Angel" to delicious Witcher 3-class twists and turns. It's worth the price of admission.

From what I can tell, it's remarkable that this game shipped at all. I'm not privy to the real story, but what I gleaned is that this game started development at one team (going under the moniker Hardsuit Labs), then went into purgatory after the Hardsuit team ran into trouble, and was then handed to another team, The Chinese Room. My guess is that given the budget, time, and expertise available, the game that shipped is essentially a wholly-new adventure bolted (by the second team) into a shell created by the first team. There are oddities lurking in the experience, little rough edges where you step out of richly conceptualized moments into annoyingly forced fights or the liminal streets that thread through Seattle, as the game gives you something to do while conveying the adventure from one (heart)beat to the next. Given a concept of "Winding, layered mystery with bitey-slashy action", well, the overall package works OK. Kudos to The Chinese Room for getting something together and out the door in decent shape.