VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE – BLOODLINES 2 Back From The Dead 15 Years Later

Well gather your guns and hoard your fuel, it looks like the apocalypse has finally come. Prophesied in the Book of Cain as a marker of the end times, the Resurrection of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines signals the beginning of a new world of blood and chaos. Antediluvians will rise from their crypts, long dead clans will reclaim their place in the world, 1/3 of the stars shall fall from the sky, a great dragon will rise from the seas, you know the drill. And I couldn’t be more excited

I seriously never thought I’d see the day where we got a sequel to Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Pretty much the gold standard for a cult classic, Bloodlines is fondly remembered for being 2/3’s of one of the best RPGs of all time. It was developed in a time before major studios had turned gaming into a wasteland of open world sandboxes and dialogue trees consisting of four ways to say “okay.” Its maps were open but not choked with random pointless time-wasting collection quests. Its choices were broad, and could lead to some genuinely varied outcomes. How you played, the vampire you became, and how you treated those around you would have real consequences.

That is until the developer Troika ran out of money and the last 1/3 of the game devolved into long gunfights in bland corridors. Seriously, get to Chinatown and you can practically see where the money ran out.

It’s the kind of story that generally damns a game to the annals of history. A beloved footnote to be forever “re-imagined” in spiritual successors, but never fully revived. Download the original, and find a vibrant modding community full of attempts to expand and flesh out the original game into its perfect form. It’s the kind of genuine fan love you rarely find nowadays.

If you had asked me if we would ever see a sequel, I would have openly and derisively laughed in your face. But butter my butt and call me breakfast, I’ve got some egg on my face. For it was announced today that fans will once again enter the World of Darkness, with Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. Fans have been waiting 15 years for this, so I won’t make you wait longer. Here’s the trailer:

Not much is revealed beyond this initial trailer, but what we do know about Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is promising. The game is being developed by Hardsuit Labs, an independent studio consisting of a mix of indie and veteran developers. There are about 60 people working on the game at this point, meaning this is far from vaporware. Furthermore, the game is being published by Paradox Interactive, a publisher with a strong track record for making hardcore games for hardcore gamers. People buy Paradox games on name alone, ranging from their RPGs like Pillars of Eternity and Tyranny to their grand strategy games like Hearts of Iron and Crusader Kings. With Paradox behind it, it’s a guarantee the game won’t cut corners.

As for gameplay, there’s not much to say about Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. The game will take place in Seattle, which is fine. The game is being written by Brian Mitsoda, who is the creative mind behind the original. You play as one of several humans turned to a vampire in a night of Mass Embrace, and as a free agent can align yourself with the various factions to shape the fate of the city. Hopefully there will also be an option to give everyone the finger, which was a legit ending in the original. If you want to find out more, just check out the game’s official website.

I, for one, will eagerly be awaiting the chance to sink my teeth into Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. It doesn’t drop until March 2020, which gives plenty of time for the information to tortuously trickle out. The game will be launching on PC, Xbox One, and PS4, and you can pre-order it now. Get the “Blood Moon Edition” to also snag the “Season of the Wolf” DLC. I’m iffy as a general rule about pre-order DLC, but hey, that’s the world we live in.

Stay tuned for more Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 info, and let me know how shocked and pumped you are in the comments!

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