When a game has been in development for as long as Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, it can almost take on a mythical persona. You start to wonder if it will ever see the light of day, or forever remain an almost-game, a thing eternally in potentia. You also start to wonder if there’s any way on Earth it will be worth playing once it finally does come out. Even five years is a long time in game design, and what was trending when development began might be considered outdated by the time the game is due for release.
Bloodlines 2 was first announced in 2019, and has had a tumultuous time since, changing devs from Hardsuit to The Chinese Room following a disastrous gameplay reveal. It’s not helped by the fact that the original Bloodlines was hugely popular, and the World of Darkness setting is guarded by a fervent legion of fans. It’s also worth noting that a few prominent game releases set in the same universe have been utter flops, such as the dismal Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood. All in all, Bloodlines 2 has walked a hard road for half a decade and there are still considerable obstacles ahead of it.
Having now played the opening few hours multiple times, I’m cautiously optimistic about the future. I can’t speak for the fans. I’m not as invested in the universe as some, and this game is deeply ingrained in the mythos, so I can only speak as an outsider, but what I’ve played has me excited to play more, despite a few caveats.
It begins with your Elder waking up in present day Seattle having spent 100 years in torpor, which is a deep vampiric hibernation. Now awake, you quickly take the name “Phyre” inspired by band posters you see, and find that you are possessed, sort of, by the spirit of Fabien, a vampire detective who was recently killed. His job was to protect the Masquerade, the intricate social smokescreen used to hide the existence of the supernatural from humanity. With multiple recent Masquerade breaches as well as some upheavals among vampire society, you’ve awoken into a world at war with itself.
The preview build began with me escaping a rundown building filled with patrolling cops and Ghouls, low-level vampire servants. Although I could have killed the cops, such an act would destabilise the Masquerade so I was encouraged to use stealth instead. The Ghouls, however, were fair game, so I was invited to take them apart. This section was pure tutorial, showing me how to use stealth, and activate my vampire instinct (focus mode) to see enemies through walls and locate items I could use telekinesis on.
In the World of Darkness, vampires aren’t entirely invincible superhuman monsters, hence the necessity for the Masquerade. They’re strong, sure, but they’re not of godlike power, so you’ll need to use what gifts you have to get by. Combat is mostly melee, with a mix of spells and abilities after you select a Clan.
There are four Clans to choose from, with two others promised as DLC. The preview had all six unlocked, although I won’t spoil the DLC options. I picked Tremere originally, which allowed me to turn enemies into living bombs. I also played with Brujah, which let me explode enemies with a hundred punches. Other skills include a short range teleport recall, or turning enemies into temporary allies. The outfits you wear are tied directly to the skills you unlock, and have a bearing on how NPCs respond to you.
What you say and do is logged with each named NPC you speak to, and will affect the outcome of certain story elements and encounters later. It’s not a new system, and the preview build was too short to see how it will pan out in the full release, but it’s an intriguing system given that the main focus of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is investigating mysteries, primarily what happened to Fabien and why.
The world is gorgeous, particularly the night-time streets of Seattle, but right now it’s a very empty place. There are NPCs everywhere, many of whom will interact with you, either to attack you, or allow you to feed on them for mutual benefit, but there’s little to find, see, or do in the world. Dark corners are plentiful but hide nothing, with no collectibles or side activities in the preview. Perhaps the full game will have more to do, and it sorely needs it. Moving around feels satisfying, as you double-jump, glide, and sprint up vertical surfaces to reach rooftops, but overdoing it in front of people I’ll result in a Masquerade breach so you need to be careful.
Combat is fun, and while the powers are varied, the animations seem sparse, so I was repeating the same brutal finishers over and over, which lost their appeal after a while. Again, this is something that may change when the game releases in full. As it stands, the fast, impactful melee mixed with using telekinesis to throw weapons or furniture, or even fire guns, is cool, but needs a little more variety. Levelling up to unlock new skills seems fairly quick early on, though.
I got more from interacting with the NPCs than the combat. They’re a colourful lot so far, with their own agendas and vendettas, and mysteries follow mysteries in the story to always give you something to explore and puzzle out. The crux of the story is a power vacuum, and all the clans are preparing to go to war over it, which is a cool setting that allows the lore to breathe and do a lot of the heavy lifting. I noticed that there aren’t a huge amount of consequences for getting dialogue choices wrong.
At one point in the preview I took control of Fabien in a flashback, and had to interrogate a mortal. In order to get her to open up I needed to trick her into thinking I knew more than I did, but I got the dialogue choice wrong three times, and every time she just repeated the conversation and I picked a different response until I got it right. It felt like something a ten-year-old game would do, rather than bending or moving with my choices. I was unable to get it wrong, really, regardless of my blunders. Fabien’s powers of manipulation could be cool to use, but they won’t be if you ultimately can’t fail.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has a lot to live up to, but right now I feel mostly hopeful. The world is interesting, the characters are intriguing, and the combat and movement are fun and rewarding. The world itself needs more favour in it, and who knows how fans will react, but I came away from playing the preview build four times wanting to play the rest of the game, which tells me what I need to know. With the release date fast approaching, there may not be time to tweak everything, but what’s here nonetheless feels like a solid foundation.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is coming to PC, Xbox Series S|X, and PlayStation 5.
