Out of the shadows, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has emerged with a rare look at gameplay in a new trailer. A sequel that some ageing RPG fans have been waiting two decades for, Bloodlines 2 was supposed to be out several times over by now and is currently targeting a broad Q1/Q2 2025 release window on PS5.
Developed by Troika Games and polished by Activision, the original Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines was released on PC in 2004, and if you owned a trench coat at the time, chances are it was your favourite game. Considered a masterpiece by many genre enthusiasts, it was a nightmare to make, released in an abysmal state, and later patched extensively by the community.
Bloodlines 2, meanwhile, appears to be afflicted by the same curse and has been in development in some shape or another since 2016. Hardsuit Labs was ultimately removed from the project by publisher Paradox in 2021, taking it internally. That didn't seem to work out either because, in 2023, it was announced that British studio The Chinese Room (Dear Esther, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture) would take charge, which brings us to today.
Are you hoping that Bloodlines 2 will have the same impact as the first game? Can vampires ever be as cool as they were in the early-2000s? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com]
Comments 12
This game is is in quite the development hell at this point. Such a shame.
Really enjoyed the first back in the day. Hopefully It comes together with some of that DNA still in there.
Troika Games made some absolute amazing rpg games back in the day, janky and unstable, but amazing non the less.
I'll be mighty suprised if this can live up to the legacy of Bloodlines 1, but seeing as I love surprises I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
The first Game was amazing.
I'm confident this could turn out to be decent. Development hell doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be bad, look at Dead Island 2.
@Bentleyma Or Sleeping Dogs!
Love the Vampire franchise (Redemption, Bloodlines and even Coteries of NY) so I will def be getting this day 1, regardless of the state the game is in.
It’s going to be a mess but I just hope it’s salvageable. This and STALKER are my tentatively most anticipated games.
Redemption was brilliant, Bloodlines was also great. When younger we played a lot of VTM 2nd Edition, VTM Dark Ages, Werewolf and Mage pen and paper. So its safe to say I am a fan of the WoD franchise but this just looks like its going to be a bit of a flop, which is not surprising given its development hell.
Right from the start when they character is using what I assume to be Movement of the Mind to hold and fire a weapon. It just makes no sense as you would no use vitae to hold a weapon 6 inches away from your hand for edgelord vibes.
Hopefully they makes something salvagable but I am not convinced from what they have shown so far.
I find dialogue presentation to be very important. Something Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk excel in and Horizon/ Bathesda games absolutely suck in.
This looks to be even better than the CDPR games, but we'll see
Hmm. The sequel to a much loved game from decades ago, made by a different studio? Ordinarily I would be pessimistic about it's chances not to be terrible.
But then Baldurs Gate 3 happened, so who knows?
I installed the fan mod remaster to the first Bloodlines this past October. Still such a banger! I can not wait for this! Hopefully I can still be my Tremere
Looking forward to it even though it's been a disaster. Same for Beyond Good & Evil 2 as they seem like both will be releasing still at some point.
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