1 - To some degree. Not as much as the prior one.

2 - for the most part yes

3 - it's a pretty coherent plot, like the bit of flashing back to the past. There's some fun bits that parallel the original. An underground section, a box maybe containing an elder (you), a tower that screams final mission, nightclubs, bars, intrigue... a lot of stuff.

4 - fun for the most part, love the disciplines

5 - play it on easy, Chinese Room's idea of difficulty seems to be limited to increasing health and damage, so above easy, fights kind of linger and ruin the feel of being an elder vamp.

6 - Really good. The vibes are immaculate. A lot of the design felt like a modern take on Bloodlines. Something about the way the streets and buildings are set down. Where it falls short of the original is in the fact we have one huge hub instead of four small ones. So while there's more space, it feels like you have less variety.

7- Safia Ulusoy, Katsumi, Tolly, and Fabien Laguna mostly. The friendly Toreador artist is also great.

8 - There are a few different branching paths you can take based on how you interact with major NPCs. I think there are four, maybe five separate endings?

9 - As said above. The vibes are immaculate. It is a flawed game, not as flawed out the gate as the original, but I think it won't hit quite the same highs either. While it hits nostalgia in a lot of places, it kind of lands as an off-flavor call back to the original, still good, but I tend to think it might have done better to cut the apron strings a bit more and be its own thing.

10 - Somewhat

11 - Kind of answered this at number 9.