I really enjoyed this game but I also almost gave up on it.
Story, world building, character development and roleplaying potential in this game are all amazing. Setting is one of the best I encounter in any kind of fiction - post World war I plagued by Spanish flue epidemic. Add vampires and world of mysteries to this and you really have something unique. I don't particularly like vampires; if anything I dislike the romanticized fiction around them. But I find the entire trope done right here - conflicted soul getting to terms of his newfound immortality and deciding what to do with it. Will you try to save the collapsing world or are you gonna succumb to your inner desires and accelerate the world's demise.
On the other hand at one point towards the end I almost quit the game. My frustration mostly came from the fact that you can't swap game difficulty. I decided to play on hard and in the end I did managed to beat the game without killing(embracing) anyone. However, road to the end was somewhat bumpy. I didn't have particular problem with game bosses but with clump of trash mobs which by the end are 10 levels ahead of you and are really tough to fight - this becomes tedious by the end in itself. Couple that with the minute+ loading times if you die just to get another shot to "cross the street" you can probably see where I'm coming from.
Game relies on full action combat with parries and dodges. There are light and heavy weapons and two types of firearms. Aside from that there are also vampiric abilities - think spells from fantasy games but with dark, shadowy and/or bloody lens. You aim is to make a good mix of different abilities to be prepared for different situations/enemies game throws at you as they fight differently and have various resistances.
Graphic are decent but could definitely be improved, and sound and voice-overs are very good. I should mention that some of the dialogue was in strange tone compared to what I expected but that was by design so I'll give them a pass on that. Lastly, the game crashed at least five or six times form me. Considering it was three years since launch I find this to be unacceptable.
In conclusion, I would love for them to take another swing at this - polishing the existing systems and improving graphics and fixing bugs and crashes. Second Vampyr game could have top game potential. As it is this is the game for those that like to role-play, explore the world and immerse themselves into stories. However, be wary that this is not the greatest game technically.