Vampires. We all love them. Love them in games, love them on the big screen, and even love the ones who walk amongst us (you’re not fooling anyone, Keanu Reeves).
But it does feel like it’s been a while since we’ve had a decent vampire RPG to sink our teeth into, and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has come along at the right time. With it being six years since the sequel was originally announced, and over two decades since the first game, I was quite ready to don the cape and descend into the night yet again. But with such high expectations riding on this, you’re better off holding it at arm’s length.
It would be impossible to judge this game without considering the context in which it was made. Originally announced in 2019, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 was in development with Hardsuit Labs at the helm. However, due to a bit of a clash between the publisher and developer, Paradox removed Hardsuit Labs from the project and replaced it with The Chinese Room, known for its narrative-focused adventure games like Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
This isn’t a studio that has had extensive experience in creating tabletop-inspired games. It has gone through the effort of bringing on talented RPG developers like Alex Skidmore to direct production on Bloodlines 2, but I feel like The Chinese Room’s talents lie better in some areas than they do with others.
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So, with even keeping this context in mind, I wasn’t necessarily expecting Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 to be this massive RPG with deep mechanics and character building similar to the first game, or the original tabletop game the Bloodlines series is based on. Considering the IP it was working with here though, I was at least expecting some kind of resemblance to the original game. Ultimately, I was left disappointed by what’s on offer.
For starters, Bloodlines 2 feels immensely stripped down. Character sheets and skill checks have been removed, severely limiting the potential when it comes to building your character. Considering the limited options for customising your character’s appearance, as well as the lack of diversity in skin tones, it’s bizarre that this is based on a popular tabletop game, especially one where its predecessor had all of these features.
In this case, it’s pretty clear that The Chinese Room did not intend for this to be a proper successor to the first Bloodlines. Though, why Paradox has insisted on keeping the Bloodlines name is beyond me. If it was a branding thing, it’s not like the original game was hugely successful to capitalise off, as it went up against Half-Life 2 and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. Instead, we have an action-adventure game with a small, dense open-world and Dishonored-like powers to use in combat. So, how does the actual game fare?
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Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is set in Seattle at Christmas time. You play as Phyre, an ancient Elder vampire who has recently awakened from a long slumber with a mysterious mark on their hand, and has also discovered a city-wide power struggle involving the different vampire clans. Phyre learns that their mind is inhabited by the disembodied voice of Fabien, a thinblood Malkavian vampire and private investigator. Together, they set out to reclaim Phyre’s power and resolve the conflict that is occurring between the different clans in Seattle.
Also departing from its tabletop origins, as well as the original Bloodlines game, Bloodlines 2’s Phyre is a predetermined character, rather than someone you can create yourself. That means there are limited options to customise their appearance, as well as their backstory.
In fact, the only real part of character building that Bloodlines 2 has lies in its clan selection at the very beginning. Before you’ve even started the game, you’re asked to choose one of six clans for Phyre to belong to: Banu Haqim, Brujah, Lasombra, Toreador, Tremere, and Ventrue. Each one has its own strengths and intended playstyles, and these are apparent when they are presented to you.
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For my character, I went with Banu Haqim, who are described as “strategic stalkers, using shadows to their advantage.” As a huge Dishonored fan, I figured this would mean I’d get to do a lot of stealthing around, picking off enemies from the shadows, and using the environment to evade detection.
And, there certainly is some of that in the game, but the way this has been done is a little frustrating for certain types of players, to say the least. For starters, there are certain sections of the game where you’re forced to kill groups of enemies. A very early mission had me trying to access a large building that had been locked up. A group of enemies, known in Vampire: The Masquerade lore as Anarchs, were guarding the place and I’d have to find a way inside. Considering I was playing a stealthy character, I figured this would mean finding an air vent, or loose window, or something else entirely that could allow me to slip past the enemies without killing them, nor being spotted.
Unfortunately, Bloodlines 2’s levels are not designed with this playstyle in mind. Most levels only really have one linear path through them, and multiple methods to traverse through these stages don’t exist. The game is just begging for Dishonored-style immersive sim layouts, where hidden passageways and systems-driven traversal is emphasised, but there aren’t really any areas where this is the case. The worst offense is that even if you manage to sneak past the enemies and make it to the door you’re supposed to go through, you’re hit with an “enemies nearby” message preventing you from progressing until you kill them.
As someone who really wanted to play a stealth character and avoid unnecessary killing as much as possible, it was extremely disappointing to see that the game forces you into the role of a vicious vampire killer. And it severely limits the potential for multiple playthroughs when each one essentially plays out the same way.
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I will say though, once you actually start building up your powers, the combat in this can be quite satisfying. It’s disappointing that there aren’t any melee or ranged weapons to use (besides the ones you can throw using telekinesis powers), but the various powers you can unlock offer a wide range of potential when going up against a group of enemy vampires. Bowling through a group of enemies using the Charge ability can really help to clear a room, and then finishing them off with the Earthshock ground-pounding power is just far too satisfying to hate. It really fulfills the fantasy of being an unstoppable killing machine.
Similarly, as lacklustre as stealth can feel, you also get some incredible abilities later on which helps to realise the sneaky vampire role. Lasombra’s Shadow Step ability allows you to enter your own shadow, and then reappear from an enemy’s silhouette, while the Ventrue’s Possession ability lets you control enemies and make them attack each other. Dishonored players will definitely fit right in here, as there’s even a power called Blink which functions pretty much in the same way.
As fun as these abilities are though, obtaining them can be a bit of a grind. As you level up, you’ll be able to use skill points to unlock new powers that belong to your clan. However, if you wish to unlock powers from other clans, you’ll also need to collect some additional blood resonance by feeding on certain types of humans.
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It’s really cool (and essential for a game that lacks so many crucial RPG features) that Bloodlines 2 at least lets you mix and match different clan abilities to create a character with a unique skillset. However, the game loses momentum once you start grinding for certain blood resonances that are needed to obtain these abilities. It means you’ll be spending time running around the map, trying to find humans with the right blood type. Sometimes this can take up to five minutes just to get the right blood type to trigger. And then to get some of the more expensive abilities, you’ll need to repeat this several times over.
Another feature which feels like underutilised potential is the Masquerade system. In the World of Darkness setting, the Masquerade is essentially a code of ethics by vampires which states that the world of mortals should not become aware of vampire society. This means no unnecessary killing, and no use of vampire powers in public. Breaching the Masquerade by doing these things results in potential termination by the elites (known as the Camarilla in the lore).
Bloodlines 2 incorporates this into the game by featuring a “Masquerade metre”, essentially a measurement of how much public vampiric activity you’ve demonstrated. The higher the metre rises, the more you’ll face the consequences. Think of it as Bloodlines 2’s version of a GTA wanted star level. The main issue with this system is that it’s incredibly easy to evade mortal police (seeing as they can’t climb buildings like you can), and that you never actually get to be hunted by vampires. Instead, once the Masquerade metre fills high enough, you receive an animation of being stabbed from behind, and simply transition to a Game Over screen.
There’s just no fun filling up the Masquerade metre in the same way that it’s kinda fun to build up a five-star wanted level in GTA, or the Notoriety level in Assassin’s Creed. It doesn’t add any additional challenge due to how easy it is to reset the Masquerade, nor does it actually feel rewarding by not giving you the chance to fight off enemy vampire hunters that are sent by the Camarilla.
As negative as I have been about Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2’s gameplay, it is at least carried by an incredible setting, lore, and writing. Given that The Chinese Room’s previous experience has been in narrative-heavy adventure games, it makes sense that Bloodlines 2’s writing would be the strong suit here. And no matter what, I will bat for this game’s writing which ended up being one of my favourite aspects.
The neo-gothic punk vibes of the game has a really profound sense of place here. The characters, while sometimes veering off into cliche, manage to carry the story and central mystery through to its end, which at least feels compelling and interesting enough for you to want to continue playing. I think, if anything, this would have been a decent game based on the World of Darkness setting if it had shied away from trying to tie itself so closely to the Bloodlines property. It's almost like The Chinese Room wanted to make an adventure game set in the Vampire: The Masquerade world, only for Paradox to order action and RPG elements to be added with a very strict deadline set.
It’s a huge shame that after so many years in development, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has ended up not quite living up to its potential. The RPG features have been drained away, leaving behind a husk of an action-adventure title that sometimes passes as interesting. Set your expectations accordingly for this one, as it doesn’t live up to the series’ name, no matter how much it uses its compelling setting.
Pros: Compelling story, interesting setting, fun powers
Cons: Restrictive level design, grindy progression, lacklustre RPG features, limited freedom
For fans of: Dishonored, Vampyr, the original Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
6/10: Good
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is out on 21st October for PC (version tested), Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.
Topics: Reviews