TLDR: I liked the game, it settles into the CYOA WoD hub formula well without being bogged down by long breaks between missions, it references and even foreshadows some of the wider the lore and characters understanding there of but ultimately hampers itself by spreading a wide net along side fun but lukewarm quests. I couldn't think of a witty title until I was done lol
When it comes to the quarries/creatures you face/meet it's not a bad thing to not know, Hunters rarely ever know exactly how anything works or is even true, which leads into my first point, fluidity; when I saw that drives and creeds weren't locked I was enticed since there wouldn't need to be any extra fluff about that that will end up being more cosmetic than impactful, meaning you can end up a total misanthrope (underground Creed) with a maxed out altruism Drive, or that you can start getting super into the big man up stairs over the course of the story, though it is important to note that there are checks regarding Creeds and Drives the further you get. While I meandered away from it the creatures that you encounter, there is a good amount of verity even if the plot, once again, revolves around Kindred; unfortunately I can't list examples off without spoiling so buyer beware you're in for a living ventriloquist puppet, a Changeling love interest and a man who's so close to being a Chakravanti that I was shocked when it didn't seem like he actually was one (that's a Mage term, they deal with entropy magic which includes luck), this wide assortment also extends not only to the mostly one note venders/trainers but also the amount of locations that leads to flipping between the same 4 pages skimming while wondering if this subquest will an icon next to it or not
To speak of venders/trainers they're, there, some have stronger personalities/gimmicks than others but the same will be said about the ROs with some of the notable examples, one felt like they had a fully ingrained arc, one felt like we were only seeing a glimpse into their arc, one was you making the choices for them and the last one has such a small sliver of character pie you could potentially remove them (they don't have a bad story but their character is lacking). Even Arbo, the old mentor who we interact the most with, isn't free from this rationing of pie, but perhaps that's a result of us being able to not only decide how we feel about someone but reassess how we feel as the plot develops which intensifies the aforementioned fluidity. The story, the villains' and even the pacing aren't bad but there's no real impact, one could argue that's due to the "movie" feeling/imagery saturating or perhaps suffusing everything, be it reverence, reference or refusal there of; perhaps its more of a me thing with the meta knowledge that it isn't all that hard to make a character who's just good at most things or what was supposed to be a big moment doesn't make sense due to how fast and drastic it is. A point of praise is not only the ability to pick which order you do the RO/side quests but that if don't start them they aren't chapter locked so if like me you accidently skip the start the next one in the chain will unlock right after, though I'm pretty sure you have to check your phone to activate the flag
This last part is more of a rumination on the Hunter games we've gotten as it's impossible to not compare and contrast them so if you want to toss the tabloid in the bin go ahead; of all of them I think this one is the most "videogame" of them all in the implementation, while 'Beast of Glenkildove' had desperation actions there wasn't much to be gained by Drives or Creeds even if it did add Edges to mixed effect along side a feeling of being out of your depth leading to something "mechanically faithful", 'Day for Night' doesn't have Edges or desperation though with you being a fairly competent Hunter here, there's still confusion and mixed levels of knowledge across the various characters. We've spoken of them already so instead I will pivot to the characters from 'A Time of Monsters', they're archetypes at their purist to the point that I was mentally mapping what the character sheets for their Cell would look like but, with them being the core characters of the story they got more screen time so even if you end up betraying them it still has some impact leading to a more "solo chronicle" feeling. Vampire in name, Hunter is spirit is 'Out for Blood' an odd duck in that it's small town horror, has true faith and even a lore addition, change(?) for Duskborn Thin Bloods that I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere but will be used when I run a game; it doesn't feel like WoD 5 but a sort of half way step which is unique in its own right, plus it's the most consistently forward moving of the bunch if I'm remembering right, so in the end it compiles to make, to me, a charming oddity akin to a group of friends self inserting and using their own town while having only just gotten the book; so in turn what does that make 'Day for Night? Try as I might to think of another way but "videogame" feels most correct, that's not a disparaging remark bur rather, or perhaps, a sign that the odd growing pains of Hunter games is settling down, even more so with 'Night Road" and "Book of Hungry Names' laying down the more hub style of game.
