More than a decade onward from the release of its commercially ill-fated predecessor, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 was unveiled at the 2019 Game Developers Conference to much fanfare and adulation.
Created by Hardsuit Labs and to be published by Paradox Interactive, the title has been in production since 2015 and set to release in March next year on PC and various console platforms.
Bloodlines 2 will feature five playable clans – the Brujah, the Toreador, the Malkavian, the Ventrue, and the Tremere – and provide users with a mostly first-person driven narrative that will, on occasion, switch to third-person for select interactions.
The game will also employ the RPG mechanics laid down in the first iteration of the franchise, with players given hold of a ‘Thinblood’ – vampires with diminished abilities due dilution of pureblood – who attempts to break through the ranks of the aforementioned Clans and make their presence felt in the game’s so-called ‘World of Darkness’.
Writer Britan Mitsoda has assured fans of the original game that the follow-up will have an even darker tone, and challenge players’ in-game morality through a new system termed Resonance. Wherein the main character will consistently be faced with the choice to, either, feed on rodents and other small animals for low-energy boosts, or feed on humans and get the most for their efforts. But lose some of their Humanity and etch closer to a stage where the character becomes nearly unplayable due to lack of user control over their actions.
