While he stays out of the power struggle, our character won’t take that approach. Of course, the rules are a good deal more complicated and fluid than that, which is why our pal Dale has opted to stay safe with the confines of his apartment, living off blood bags and obscure ’90s television reruns. In the fiction and in the game, breaking the Masquerade gets the attention of rival vampires and faction leaders, who will do their best to cut off our character’s head. The Masquerade, for folks new to the series’ lore, is the first and most important rule of vampire life: to not reveal one’s true powers, strength, and vampiric habits to humans. A band of rogue vampires converted a crowd of humans in public (including our character), breaking the Masquerade and igniting feuds among the city’s many vampire factions. The character is one of many “bloods” to be “born” from an incident called a mass Embrace. (The game’s internal code name was Project Frasier.) Our character - whom we can identify and specialize however we see fit - is a Thin-blood, a human with new or relatively weak vampire powers. His lighthearted pragmatism elevates the usual exposition dump that starts most games into a fun, surprising conversation - and a helpful primer for somebody new to the franchise.īloodlines 2 is set, fittingly, in Seattle. The latter features heavily in the demo with a young hermit named Dale Talley, who introduces our character to the game’s world and the life of a vampire. It has brought on Bloodline’s lead writer, Brian Mitsoda, along with game writer and critic Cara Ellison.ĭuring our demo, Mitsoda underscored that Bloodlines 2 will capture the tone of the original: a mix of noir, personal drama, political intrigue, and humor. Called Hardsuit Labs, the team is best known for its free-to-play shooter Blacklight: Retribution. Now the publisher and developer, best known for its collection of high-concept strategy games, has tapped a relatively new Seattle-based studio to build a sequel. Paradox Interactive acquired White Wolf and the rights to the Vampire universe from CCP in 2015. Judging from a meaty demo showing during the 2019 Game Developers Conference, the original’s many fans have reason to be hopeful. Now, under a new publisher and developer, Bloodlines is getting a second chance with an official sequel, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. Fans and critics hold up its ambitious story and emphasis on player freedom as evidence that Bloodlines arrived ahead of its time.
But over the past 15 years, the PC role-playing game based on the popular White Wolf tabletop franchise has become something of a cult classic. Most of its development team was laid off shortly afterward. Released in 2004 in the same window as Halo 2, Half-Life 2, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, it sold fewer than 100,000 copies at launch. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines never had a chance.
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