In fact knowing little about the game before I started I actually had no idea it was using the engine and when I was told it was I had to take a bit of a double take. On closer examination the graphics are indeed impressive – well detailed and with some excellent use of light and shade (funnily enough the game is always set at night). Indeed according to Boyarsky the team have made many of their own alterations to the basic engine with their own lighting and cloth system as well as a complete overhaul of the particle system.

This may well be but just looking at the game it’s still not a patch on anything that has yet been seen of Half-Life 2. Which is really a testament to the talents of Valve’s artists rather than a complaint against Bloodlines. At the end of the day Bloodlines is still heaps better looking than pretty much any comparable RPG and that’ll be all most people care about.​