We've been waiting for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, well, since the first released back in 2004. But in a real sense, the revival of the hugely influential vampire RPG was announced in 2019, and it sounds like the game has been stuck in various kinds of development hell for years. Still, it was just rated "M" by the ESRB, which suggests some good progress has been made.
Described by the ratings board as "an action role-playing game in which players help two vampires regain their memories and their powers to stop an uprising", players will battle bloodsuckers in an expectedly violent fashion. Additionally, expect to see plenty of decapitated corpses and bodies impaled on stakes, as well as some surprisingly confronting suggestive/sexual material. Oh, and "the word 'f**k' is heard in the game".
Considering the first game, developed by Troika Games, was unplayable at launch by today's standards, only ever achieving its cult status after fans banded together to patch the thing, we're keeping our expectations firmly in check. Still, The World of Darkness tabletop setting on which it is based is an undeniably evocative one, and we still hold out some semblance of hope despite the apparent curse that plagues associated video games.
Bloodlines 2 is being developed by The Chinese Room, of Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and Still Wakes the Deep fame; here's hoping the studio can stick the landing and continue its run of critically acclaimed games.
Were you a fan of the old Vampire: The Masquerade games, like Redemption and the original Bloodlines? Are you looking forward to Bloodlines 2? Let us know in the comments section below.
[source esrb.org, via reddit.com]
Comments 10
It was a buggy as hell but a great game. I played thru every class. I had a great time with it. The fan patches helped the game out and improved it. Damn shame we can't get a remaster of the original or at least a port to console but the graphics are pretty outdated now.
Still fascinated by the development of this game. Chinese Room are talented but I need Jason Schreier to get that article ready.
It has/d regular updates on their blog so how is it mia?
And no, obviously wasn't a fan of Bloodlines 1 because it was one of the worst and most overrated games ever. While Redemption was awesome.
Looks like it could be on track for that mid 2025 launch date they mentioned last year. I'm hopeful we'll get it by the end of 2025 now!
Here’s hoping for some solid werewolf content - it’s ridiculous how little werewolf rep we have on console. I’m also looking forward to where they’ve chosen to include the singular use of F**k
Fully expecting this to tank pretty hard. Bloodlines 1 was great but this just seems to lack so much. Only 4 clans is a huge downside especially when they have picked the standard Fighter, Mage, Thief clans for 3 of them.
@Hyena_socks The entire World of Darkness is such a good setting but they seem unable to use it to its full potential. I wish they would revisit the old Hunter games as they were pretty good fun. Or just give us a full modern day remake of VTM: Redemption.
I really want this to be good, mainly because the original is one of my girlfriend's favourite games, but I suspect it's going to be a total mess. That's fitting of course, given how the first one launched.
@Ilyn This game has also been rebooted in development like three times right? That's obviously never a good sign. Meanwhile The Chinese Room has never done a game before that has any gameplay beyond walking. Of course they could suprise everyone here but they still seem like a strange developer to pick for a game with combat in it.
Haven't played the first so the least I would expect out of it is a decent narrative driven action RPG. However I don't have high hopes. I'll be surprised if it's good.
@TruestoryYep "The Chinese Room has never done a game before that has any gameplay beyond walking." Harsh but probably true. I really enjoyed Still Wakes the Deep particularly for the atmosphere. In a sense it was Rapture but more fast paced. Hoping they can pull this off.
Honestly the original is possibly my favourite game of all time, and this doesn't look like it's shaping up to be anything like what I'd want from a sequel, but it is looking to be a pretty solid VtM videogame, so my only real complaint is that it should have got a new name when it moved studio given how it's essentially a completely different project.
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