What do we know about Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2
November 2004 turned out to be difficult for the gaming industry — Half-Life 2, Halo 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater hit the market. One day Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines, RPG in the World of Darkness from masters of Troika Games, ended up on the shelves together with the shooter Valve. After a while it earned a cult following among gamers, but this did not happen immediately. Low sales at launch led to the closing of Troika Games. The fans had to wait a sequel for a decade and a half — the franchise rose from the dead at GDC 2019.
Today we will tell you what we known about Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 so far. Along with Cyberpunk 2077 this is one of the most promising role-playing games.
Setting and plot
VtMB 2 events are taking place several years after what you have seen in the original VtMB. The setting has moved to Seattle. Vampires have been ruling the city since 1851, that is, from its very foundation; they do not come out of the shadows and follow the laws of Masquerade.
Only once the rules of Masquerade are broken brutally: many people turn into bloodsuckers overnight, among them there is our main character. The aristocrats are questioning him in details (as an eyewitness), but he avoids execution.
Who works on VtMB 2?
The rights for the “World of Darkness” belong to Paradox Interactive. It entrusted Hardsuit Labs, a studio based in Seattle, to design VtMB 2. Logically the team is familiar with the architecture and history of the city. And it will reflect this in the game, for example, it will make a place in the prehistory for a catastrophic fire of 1889, after which frightening underground ruins allegedly remained.
Hardsuit Labs was involved in designing Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, A Hat in Time and Shadow Complex. It has no large projects of its own.
Is it the subject to start worrying about? Definitely. However, do not be in a hurry: Brian Mitsoda, the scriptwriter and designer of the first part, is also on board. He is responsible for the storyline. Cara Allison, a former game journalist, helps him. After VtMB Mitsoda worked on Dead State, Alpha Protocol and Torment: Tides of Numenera, Allison had experience in working on Where the Water Tastes Like Wine. Finally, Chris Avellone, who needs no intro, helps them. Another good news — the soundtrack is composed by Rick Schaffer, the composer of the original game.
Gameplay
The press was showed a pre-alpha version of VtMB 2 at GDC 2019. We have read a few previews and this is what we have found out.
In Seattle there are enough tower blocks and dark alleys with a bunch of secret. Here it is convenient to be a vampire, so to speak. The streets are always crowded. Of course, if you do not start to break Masquerade rules left and right: in this case, the city people will prefer not to poke their noses outside their apartments.
The main character is allowed to create his biography. For example, to indicate that in the “previous life” he worked as a policeman or a coroner. You can choose the gender regardless of your body type (yes, VtMB 2 is a tolerant game). Fighting and exploring the city will be the first person. Only in certain situations, like finishing off, the camera will switch to a third-person view. There is a curious innovation, i.e. the ability to climb the walls. Melee prevails. You will be also given a chance to shoot, although the “handguns” here serve rather as an addition.
The character, by the way, is not voiced, which allowed the scriptwriters to use more answers. The sequel is much more diverse than the original game in terms of choice and consequences.
In VtMB 2 you will need to find out who was behind the mass transformation. To do this one need to track down other vampire-beginners. During the “hunt” you will face echoes of their backgrounds (someone lost a happy family, someone — a prestigious job).
By the way, in the beginning you will be offered to master one of the supernatural abilities: turning into a fog (whenever you want, you can “dive” into ventilation), controlling objects at a distance (snap your fingers and disarm an enemy) and something like a flight. You will join the clan later than in the first part. There will be 6 clans at the release, based on the hint on the official website. Next Hardsuit Labs plans to release free updates with additional parts.
The parameter “humanity” is still in use. The murders worsen the “humanity”, but it’s impossible to do completely without them. The behavior will affect the content of the dialogues and the missions.
One more interesting feature is the “illuminating” of people. Each victim has a special aura. Mechanics is called “resonance.” Having tasted the blood of an angry person (red aura), you will get a bonus to combat capabilities, having attacked a lover (yellow aura), you will strengthen the skills of charm.
Conclusions
Many journalists have compared VtMB 2 with Dishonored and Deus Ex. Nevertheless, there is the real RPG before us, according to the authors. Action does not dominate here. High priority is given to colorful characters (there are a lot of them) and the need to be responsible for your actions.
Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 will be released in the first quarter of 2020. If you did not play an original game, do not worry. Developers say that newbies will quickly feel at ease here. The path to the captions will take 25–30 hours. It is not so much time by the standards of some modern RPGs, but Hardsuit Labs and Paradox keep in mind that gamers will want to go through VtMB 2 together with different parts. Is it worth it? We’ll soon find out!
The page with Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 is already included in the Playkey.net catalog. If you have a slow PC, but you want to play modern games, look no further: cloud gaming allows it.
