Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt proves vampires are more fun with AK-47s

pcgamer.com:

It's 2022, and there's a new battle royale on the block. I thought games had explored just about everything worth doing in the circle-shrinking genre, but then I started running up walls and drinking up civilians like juice boxes in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt. «This free-to-play battle royale is pretty darn good!» I say to my friends who, respectfully, will not download it to play with me.

Bloodhunt launched on Steam in Early Access last year when I wasn't looking, but it came out for real last week. The Vampire name will surely throw off fans of the original Bloodlines RPG from 2004. This is not that. Bloodhunt uses Vampire's world as a battleground for 45-player vampire-on-vampire showdowns on the streets of Prague, and quite well so far. 

I'm really impressed with how well developer Sharkmob has nailed the basics here—guns are punchy and easy to aim, jumping, sliding, and wall-climbing are slick, and my class vampire powers feel immediately useful. I'm only a few matches in so far but I might have found a favorite in the Saboteur, a slippery vamp who can place gas traps and poof into a smoke cloud to zip away from bad situations. 

I also like the small touches that set Bloodhunt apart from the crowded BR space. Players can feed off the blood of wandering civilians to gain passive bonuses like health regen or melee damage boosts. Running down the street blood suckin' like there's no tomorrow sounded like a good idea at first, until I realized that you get heavily punished for letting a human catch you in the act of feeding—this «breaks the masquerade» and temporarily highlights you on-screen for everyone to see.

When I first saw Bloodhunt's rooftop hopping and high-mobility firefights, I got a little nervous