Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Review – A Flawed Follow-Up

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Review

Despite them being ubiquitous in popular culture, vampires have been the subject of few really great video games. 2004’s Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines wasn’t a great game. In some ways, it wasn’t even a very good one. But thanks to its mature take on the subject matter and excellent writing, it became a genre classic. Ever since, fans have been awaiting a sequel. It’s hard to imagine any gaming living up to that kind of frustrated energy, and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is probably not entirely the game the fans hoped for. But it doesn’t put a stake through their ever-patient hearts, either.

Gateway to the Northwest

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 starts with a solid premise. You play as an elder vampire known as the Nomad who awakens in present-day Seattle from a century-long torpor. Now going by the name of Phyre, your mind is seemingly also inhabited by the consciousness of a vampiric detective named Fabien. This sets off the twin quests of Phyre trying to uncover their presence in Seattle, and Fabien trying to figure out why he’s intertwined with Phyre. And how to break their inconvenient connection.

There’s another neat little hook. Fabien’s apparently also inhabited by the spirit of noire. He narrates everything and speaks like he’s the offspring of Raymond Chandler. The music is moody noire-jazz. Hard-boiled detective stories are another somewhat neglected game genre, so the narrative is doubly interesting.

World-building has some real highs and a few lows. The relatively small section of Seattle’s downtown is covered in winter snow, and the lighting and atmosphere are excellent. The contrast between the lush, old-money penthouses of the Camarilla and the beat-down bars and apartments is effective. The wandering NPCs on the streets are an unfortunate immersion breaker, however. Their character models and their snippets of dialogue repeat unrealistically, and there’s a significant quality drop in visual fidelity compared to the main cast.

Yes, My Prince

Although the set-dressing NPCs are disappointing, most of the main characters are quite well done both in terms of design and especially, performances. The writing is most often very good, too, much better than in a lot of recent RPGs. I really enjoyed meeting them and getting to know their stories and places in Seattle’s vampire community.

In fact, the story, characters, and writing are good enough that I wondered if they would have been better served in a different style of game. Something like a classic TellTale serialized adventure, so well represented by the excellent Dispatch, would sidestep Bloodlines 2’s biggest flaws. Because unfortunately, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has some issues.

The first and most glaring problem in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is mission design. It rarely rises above unimaginative fetch and/or kill quests. In fact, there are only three types of side quests, literally repeated with slightly changed objectives. A lot of the player’s time is spent on foot, backtracking across the map to talk to NPCs, with little content in between.

Bloodbaths

The second problem area is the implementation of RPG mechanics, which are interesting but don’t go far enough. Phyre has a suite of unlockable abilities tied to their faction, which are often fun to use and add variety to combat, especially the game’s difficult boss fights. But Phyre starts the game as a very powerful vampire, so the important feeling of significantly increased mastery never really kicks in.

On the other hand, combat feels and sounds pretty good and can be delightfully messy and visceral. Phyre almost exclusively uses melee and magical attacks, and needs to feed to charge these up. The lore-based mechanics of a vampire living in modern Seattle, feeding without breaking the Masquerade, negotiating the complex political and social relationships of vampiric society, are well done.

Combat is generally fun, but there are definite difficulty spikes. Bosses can be frustrating. Vampire: The Masquerade-Bloodlines 2 is not a game where you can simply grind for level upgrades.

Up to the Task

Technically, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 arrives in relatively good shape, and I had few significant hiccups or performance issues. It ran well on the Asus ROG Xbox Ally X. It’s actually a great game to play on a handheld device.

For fans of the first game, the wait for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has been long and frustrating, and the new game likely arrives with unrealistic expectations. Far from being an unmitigated disaster, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is entertaining but flawed. Excellent writing, a solid narrative, and quality performances are definitely high points. Uninspired quests and underdeveloped RPG elements suck some of the fun and potential replayability from the experience. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is probably not the game fans hoped for, but its setting, lore, and noire-ish vibe make it worth consideration for fans of all things vampire.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***