After a long string of teases and hints, there is finally a confirmation that Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 will come to life. It seems like it was yesterday, but it's already been 15 years since Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines and now we finally have a release date for the sequel.
Brian Mitsoda, the original story writer, is returning to work with Hardsuit Labs as their Lead Narrative Designer for the project.
“Our aim has been to carry on the signature themes that made Bloodlines unique," Mitsoda said, "particularly its dark tone, atmosphere, and humor - and I think that fans of the original will love what we’re doing with Bloodlines 2."
The game takes place years after the events of Bloodlines and is set in a new city for the series: Seattle, Washington. Its modern-gothic aesthetic creates a dreary yet vibrant world perfect for the game. You will explore iconic locations like Pioneer Square, Pier 55, and other areas of downtown Seattle, following leads into the city's underground ruins. These sections are said to be inspired by the real-life locations that were paved over after the intense fires happening during 1889, and the ruins house a number secrets of the lost history of Seattle, and how vampires played a part in it.
In Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 start as a "Thin-blooded" born out of a Mass Embrace: the creation of a horde of new vampires that is considered highly illegal in the Vampire Community. A war is brewing between the different Vampire clans. To survive, you’ll choose a clan and try to navigate your new Undead life in a world which will react to every choice you make, but you'll have to be mindful of your surroundings at all times, or you will run the risk of breaking the Masquerade.
The Masquerade is a code of conduct that vampires must follow to prevent exposing their existence to humanity. Even though you are a vampire, you still look normal enough to pass as human while in public. As you can imagine, blood is a resource that you'll constantly need to keep track of, because it will power your various abilities. This even comes into play by the type of human blood you feed on as it is filled with resonance. Feeding on a specific type of blood for too long will have you favor a particular type, opening up access to certain skills. Resonance makes the act of choosing your victims more diverse and feeds back into the all-important progression loop. Each person will have a certain aura, a color wrapping around them (and their delicious blood) to indicate what their current emotional state is - red for anger, violet for fear, yellow for desire and so on.
Your starting abilities allow you to choose one of three vampiric powers that further enhance your mobility and combat effectiveness. The Chiropteran ability allows you to float, or even fly for short to medium distances. Nebulation lets you turn into mist and sneak through air ducts, pretty cool! Finally, there is Mentalism or telekinesis - you can interact with and manipulate physical objects without actually touching them. The developers didn't want to talk specifically about the clans yet, only saying they'd reveal more when the game is closer to release. Interestingly enough, more clans will be added to Bloodlines 2 after the game is released.
"The one thing we can say, we will have a good amount of clans in the main game that are really interesting, but we'll support it with more clans after launch," said Christian Schlütter, lead producer at Paradox. "And one thing that you need to write down is that every clan that we release later on will be free. We will never charge you for any clan."
Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 won't be released until 2020 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC.
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