Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

[Mera'din 306]

So, how has everyone been the past 2 years?  

 

Since I last posted in here, Bloodhunt released and I actually really liked it despite it being a Battle Royale, to the point that I started making lore/story videos centered around the game since nobody else was doing it, got to know a number of the developers, was able to do a recorded interview with the writing team, and now the game has stopped development and is in maintenance mode because they kind of biffed their launch and took too long to fix the nastier bugs the game had and lost most of their concurrent player count.

 

Swansong also released and it was decent. Nothing standout, but I enjoyed it a lot.

 

And in all that time there was no real news on Bloodlines 2 other than "We're happy with the progress the team is making on it." from Paradox. Still no idea who the developer is. They never ended up saying because they didn't want them to have to deal with all the shitty people the last team had to deal with who were sending threats and what not. Understandable, but frustrating.

HOWEVER, there is finally a light a the end of the tunnel. They announced not long ago that real news would be coming in September. They dropped all their physical preorders if people had bothered to keep them due to changes to their contents incoming (digital preorders were left alone though), and they purged the website and their discord channels of anything referencing what had been shown before (including emojis). They just announced today that the World of Darkness brand team will be appearing at PAX West, Sept. 1-4. Considering the game is set in Seattle, PAX is one of the bigger gaming conventions anymore, and they said news would be coming in Sept. I assume this will be where they announce everything, including who the new developer actually is and what form the game has now taken. I'm mostly interested in seeing if anything of the original story remains since the writing had supposedly been completed, and one of the big draws was the game having the writer from the original on board.

 

I imagine the game is all but done though, so we may even get a release date. I seriously doubt Paradox would risk trying to hype this game up again without being sure there's actually a functional game to hype this time. XD

[Galeigh 280]

Here's hopin

[Mera'din 306]

New developer is The Chinese Room, which was rumored a ways back, but most people wrote it off since they're typically known for walking simulators, but it seems like they've expanded a lot since the last couple games of theirs I've played (which I liked, to be fair, walking simulator or no).

Seems like they've completely retooled the story from what they were doing before though. No more Thin-blood starting point. You're a reawakened elder now. Could be fun, but RIP Brian Mitsoda's work I guess.
 

Here's everything they've basically put out, mostly on the refreshed Website:
https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/games/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2/about

 

Fight your way through a modern-day Seattle on the brink of an open war as an elder Vampire. Meet the power-players, ally yourself and decide who will rule and what the city will become.

A three-front siege on Seattle, a power vacuum in the vampire court and an awakened elder at odds with the voice in her head, realized by BAFTA award winning studio, The Chinese Room.
 

You are the Monster
Blood sustains you and powers your vampiric Disciplines. You’ll stalk and feed on the city’s population by night. Use your supernatural powers or raw persuasion on civilians and lure them into deep, dark alleys to sate your Hunger. Beware of breaking the Masquerade though: do not reveal what you are or you risk reprisals -  at first from law enforcement and then, well, remember you are not all that goes bump in this night.

Explore visceral, immersive combat rewarding entirely different playstyles and approaches based on your choice of vampire clan. Will you wade into the fray with supernatural fists, harangue from afar or rebalance your odds by thinning the herd like the apex predator you are? Clan choice supports these playstyles and more.

A World of Darkness
Enter the World of Darkness and rise through vampire society or rail against it. Experience Seattle - a city full of alluring, dangerous characters and factions, not to mention the mortals at stake in the clash of powers beyond their knowing. In this sequel to the cult classic, your choices, plots and schemes will determine the balance of power and what becomes of the city and its people.

Between today and the end of 2023, we will reveal all playable clans in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. In the opening months of 2024, we will reveal gameplay and go into depth on disciplines, playstyles and the experience of playing the game as each clan.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 will release Fall 2024. We’ll be back with a precise date when we open pre-orders.
 

[Galeigh 280]

oof, that does not bode well for the game

[Mera'din 306]

I'm tentatively looking forward to it, but what they show in the coming months will be a big part of it. The trailer doesn't really give us much to work with. What they have shown certainly looks better than what HSL had though in terms of actual in-engine stuff, so that much has improved at least. The story is something we'll have to see on, but at the very least I like the elder awakening from torpor starting point better than the Thin-Blood one, personally.

[Mera'din 306]

They've been throwing up a Dev Diary every couple weeks since the announcement talking about different aspects of the game, and just did a longer video interview type thing yesterday talking about the narrative and a little about game systems. I'm liking most of what I've seen so far, and the things I don't care for are far from deal breakers. 

 

Some of the main things revealed yesterday were that the main character goes by the name "Phyre", they've been in torpor for 100 years. You have some notoriety and legends about you that people are aware of and you can lean into that or skew peoples perceptions of you based on what they think they know. You woke up with your power suppressed presumably via a series of sigils branded into your body (probably via some Blood Sorcery or Thin-Blood Alchemy shenanigans) and are trying to find out what the hell is going on. To top it off, you have a constant companion in the voice in your head, belonging to a Thin-Blood named Fabian. It has not been revealed how you got stuck with him, but likely it relates to the aforementioned Shenanigans, or you ended up eating him when you were first woke up and you didn't completely absorb his soul. Or possibly both.

 

You will be able to choose some background/origin stuff for the character, their clan, gender, and it seems like at least some stuff will be customizable for the character based on in-game and concept stuff shown. Outfits for sure though, and they mentioned that the outfit you where can affect how some people treat/talk to you.

 

It sounds like they've cut back more on clans though. It will be 4 at launch now, with at least 2 added via DLC. It was mentioned that the 4 still in don't necessarily match up with everything that was there in the first iteration, so we could see something different than what's been done before which would be nice.

Dev Diary #1: Introducing the company and giving some basic info on the game.
https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/games/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2/news/welcome-to-the-chinese-room

 

Dev Diary #2: Narrative Atmosphere & Themes
https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/games/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2/news/narrative-atmosphere-and-themes

 

Dev Diary #3: Neo Noir Art Style
https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/games/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2/news/neo-noir-art-style

 

Narrative & RPG video interview: