There's a Bloodlines story you haven't played, and it's one of my favorite VTM games ever made

"It's been 15 years since I played that damned game," reads the bright blue text as the sun sets over a sleepy Santa Monica. The game in question is Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, Troika's 2004 World of Darkness epic that established a gold standard not just for TTRPG-inspired titles, but VTM videogames as a whole. But that's not what I'm playing right now, nor am I stalking the streets of Seattle in Bloodlines 2. No, this is a side-scrolling RPG that you've probably never heard of. Welcome to Santa Monica By Night.

Born in the wake of Bloodlines 2's 2019 reveal, Santa Monica By Night is a flash game inspired by the events that take place in Los Angeles ahead of Vannevar Thomas' attempted takeover. You're thrust into a pixel reimagining of the dirty, bloodstained streets that you know and love, but as an entirely different character (this time a Thinblood, or weaker Kindred) with the goal of finding Vincent Lenz.

While simple in its presentation, Santa Monica By Night is an authentic love letter to its source material. I'm greeted with "hello LA, you're up way past your bedtime," a reference to the World of Darkness' ever-iconic radio show, Deb of Night. I meander over to the television, and am only a little disappointed that it doesn't talk back in a nod to one of Bloodlines' Malkavian interactions. Everywhere else, though, the little details are unmistakably VTM.

Created as part of an itch.io jam (aptly named 'Vampire Jam,') Martyna 'Outstar' Zych and fellow dev 'Memoriesin8bit' built the game in just seven days. You may recognize Zych's name, as they're now a creative producer for World of Darkness. It has branching story paths with multiple endings, seamless side-scrolling, and myriad easter eggs, which all weave together to create a short, ten-minute experience that's an absolute joy to play (or replay). In an exclusive interview, Outstar calls Santa Monica By Night "a fan fiction project" born from "loving game jams and vampires and being endlessly excited about the [Bloodlines 2 news]."

"I love Bloodlines and wanted to create a spin on its story," she tells me. "I was also role-playing a vampire on a massively multiplayer server that emerged at the time (and is still running strong to this day!), becoming very emotional about the tragic love story between the two characters we had in there. So, of course, I wanted to include these characters somehow and pay tribute to them, and that's how Vincent and Julius [your character's sire] made their way in, making it a (tragic) love story at its core. Well, depending on which ending you get, at least."

When I ask why she chose Santa Monica instead of the well-trodden streets of Downtown, the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, or the seedy alleyways of Chinatown, she tells me that she loves "small town stories." Reminiscent of Silent Hill, Santa Monica feels like its own character with quirks and oddities, which is something Outstar really wanted to showcase.

"Santa Monica in Bloodlines just feels so small-town-y. It's portrayed as a dump with its own power players and local vibe, almost like the beginning of a Western movie, with a depressed shopkeeper, a local club everyone hangs out at, and a murderer on the loose," she says. "I love small-town stories, being from a small town myself, so Santa Monica always felt like home. The game's entire concept was based on the yearning for a home-from-home; a desire to be a part of this cool, dark world, and experiencing it firsthand. Imagine my disappointment when I visited it in person and it was nothing like it was in the game!"

Bloodlines is iconic for a reason. There are so many memorable quotes, locations, and characters: the stop sign in Downtown, Therese and Jeanette, the Ankaran Sarcophagus and Smiling Jack. I ask Outstar how she slimmed everything down into what's effectively a Bloodlines oneshot, and if there's anything she'd have done differently.

"At the time, I was deeply immersed in roleplaying fifth edition Vampire, and I wanted to focus on explaining the setting to newcomers who had never played Vampire: The Masquerade, as well as clarifying the differences between the original Bloodlines and the current setting for those returning to the fandom," she tells me. "This was the main reason for including the adult store owner - I wanted to show how the Masquerade was a much bigger deal these nights, how he got raided because of selling tapes with Kindred on them. Skelter and Bertram [two Bloodlines characters] are great 'explainers;' they fill you with knowledge in the OG, so I found them best to play the same role here."

As you traverse the map, you end up jumping into the sewers Nosferatu-style, confronting the Inquisition in Bertram Tung's rundown haven, and passing by the Asylum, where Jeanette, Therese, or both rule supreme. It's familiar locations reimagined in pixel style, but also iconic game mechanics that immediately conjure up (largely) happy memories (no one liked the Nosferatu warrens, let's be honest). "Of course, some things just get stuck in your head when you play through the Santa Monica section," she says. "The poem in the letter on your desk, or the spam emails: they had to make it in."

There are some elements that are missing, but given the duo created the game in just seven days, I'm hardly inclined to judge. "I regret not putting Mercurio in. I loved that guy, but we just didn't have enough time," she laments.

But she also made the choice to kill the ever-preaching doomsayer who lurks outside of the Americana diner - a decision that had me simultaneously aghast and relieved. "You know that feeling when there's this one part of the local ambience that is mildly annoying, but also when it's eventually gone, it feels weirdly empty and off?" she asks me. "That's why [I killed him]. You might feel relieved that he doesn't scream his apocalyptic lines in your ear anymore, but the silence left can be just as uncomfortable. I felt sad drawing that."

As Outstar mentions, however, there are multiple endings, and they're soulcrushing. While I won't spoil them here, they perfectly encapsulate the feel of the tabletop RPG and its overwhelming sense of hopelessness, loss, and anguish. My ending in particular was certainly a kick to the feels.

I ask her how players responded at the time, and how the duo went about constructing a branching narrative in a week. "Players were mainly surprised by the numerous endings it featured. It was great for us because it prolonged the average playtime and provided us with more feedback as we tried different things to see all the outcomes. Endings are made out of different building blocks stacked together, so it's not only the last scene that gets affected by your choices. After the jam, we also added a secret ending, which I believe was the only one that gave a sort of 'good' ending to the love story part. I just felt bad for these dudes never getting proper closure."

What I love about the World of Darkness is its rawness. There are no happy endings here, and nothing is black or white. I found myself rooting for Vincent and Julius, but I had a feeling that their story wouldn't end with love hearts and roses. And that's what Santa Monica By Night does so right: it encapsulates the essence of what makes VTM so special. While I'm sure a lot of you will be spending Christmas in Seattle this year, I encourage you to take ten minutes to explore Outstar's stellar flash game. You won't be disappointed.