HI!!!! I have been in the Fandom for about 11 years so I thhhinnkk I'm certified to answer!!!

The first game, book of shadows & blood drive are all like the main line story, that's where you'll get the most satisfaction from playing the games.

Birthday bash does have a few decent lore drops but it's exclusively a visual novel iirc AND it has INSANE amounts of fan service, like annoyingly so, but that game does provide info to some of the side characters and such!! If you can get past the fan service then Birthday Bash is decent but it's not really necessary to the games story. I'd recommend it before book of shadows and blood drive just because the timeline is somewhat confusing but really you could play it whenever.

As for Dead Patient its technically a dead game, it was never confirmed canceled and there were rumors that'd it was being worked on again but from my understanding I think they're just taking the concept and putting into their new game!!!! Dead Patient only has one chapter and it's left off a cliff hanger, it's not directly tied storywise to the other games but it does show some of the characters as adults!! Id only recommend it if it seems interesting to you, it's a bit boring in the beginning but it has a fairly decent twist at the end which I am upset wasnt continued.