You Need to Wait A Little Longer to Sink Your Teeth Into This One
While it may not be at the level of Cyberpunk 2077, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has had a troubled production history of its own. The sequel to the cult hit 2004 game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines – itself an adaptation of the tabletop RPG Vampire: The Masquerade – has seen numerous delays and a lot of behind the scenes drama, including the firing of several key members of the creative team, and the resignation of others.
Unfortunately, it looks like the drama has resulted in a lot of uncertainty, and now Ebba Ljungerud – CEO of publisher Paradox Interactive – has waded into the mire, stating: “I do not think it will come in the first half of the year, but we will see.”
These comments are bound to leave a sour note to people who’ve been eagerly awaiting the game’s release which, while we didn’t have an official release date, was theorized to be sooner rather than later. While not on the same calibre of Dungeons and Dragons, Vampire: The Masquerade is still a popular game in the tabletop community for its rich lore and interesting take on vampire mythology, with separate clans, each with their own abilities, abiding by a code of conduct to maintain the titular masquerade – the idea that vampires and other monsters are only legends, with no basis in reality.
The game sees the players step into the shoes of an ordinary person who becomes a vampire as part of a Mass Embrace – an event where rogue vampires publicly attacked humans, resulting in many people becoming vampires overnight. The attacks also breaks the codes of conduct for vampires and threatens to break the masquerade. Players must not only discover the truth behind the attacks but find where they fit in the vampiric society of Seattle, up to and including choosing a clan to align with, with all the powers that entails. Although not all vampiric clans present in the game will be making an appearance – such as the Ravnos, with their powers of illusion – there’ll be more than enough variety for fans to sink their teeth into when the game finally releases. Will that be next year? All we can do is hope at this point, but with the game’s troubled production history so far there’s a very real likelihood that we’ll see further delays.
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