World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 from Hardsuit Labs

[rusty_shackleford]

This is obviously being orchestrated by paradox entirely. It's midnight in seattle, 9am in sweden.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Aww man. I was getting so hyped to watch the reactions to its launch.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.bloodlines2.com/en/bloodlines-2-development-update

BLOODLINES 2 DEVELOPMENT UPDATE

Good morning, everyone

As you have noticed, we’ve been keeping pretty quiet for a while. With this in mind, the first piece of news we have for you is to confirm that Bloodlines 2 is still in development.

Secondly, we have made the hard decision that Hardsuit Labs will no longer be leading the development of Bloodlines 2 - which also means that we will not be releasing in 2021 as previously planned. Since we cannot at this time communicate a new release date, we've also decided to stop accepting pre-orders for the time being.

This game is very important to us and it has been an ambitious project from the very start. In order to meet our goals for it, we’ve come to the conclusion that a change is needed and, as a result, more development time is required.

We’d like to take this opportunity to honor Hardsuit Labs for their efforts and thank them for their hard work on the project. The studio has done a tremendous job in laying the foundations for the game and we hope that you, the community, will also appreciate their contribution to Bloodlines 2.

We’re thankful for your continuous support throughout the game’s development. We understand how important this is to you, and we’d love to share more with you. As soon as we can, we’ll let you know what the future development team of Bloodlines 2 will look like.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

It's a polite way of saying that Hardsuit Labs botched the project. Honestly, this is good news in my opinion, because it could mean the game can be salvaged. Maybe.

Going to take them a massive amount of time simply getting up to speed on a project that was being developed by a completely different team.

 

[Duraframe300]

It's a polite way of saying that Hardsuit Labs botched the project. Honestly, this is good news in my opinion, because it could mean the game can be salvaged. Maybe.

That hope will last as long as the next hardcore SJW type person will be revealed to have a big hand in the project, because Paradox will have learned nothing.

 

[TheSoul]

Never thought I'd be so happy to see something get stuck in development hell.

 

[fantadomat]

ITZ HAPPENING

Good morning, @everyone

As you have noticed, we’ve been keeping pretty quiet for a while. With this in mind, the first piece of news we have for you is to confirm that Bloodlines 2 is still in development.

Secondly, we have made the hard decision that Hardsuit Labs will no longer be leading the development of Bloodlines 2 - which also means that we will not be releasing in 2021 as previously planned. Since we cannot at this time communicate a new release date, we've also decided to stop accepting pre-orders for the time being.

This game is very important to us and it has been an ambitious project from the very start. In order to meet our goals for it, we’ve come to the conclusion that a change is needed and, as a result, more development time is required.

We’d like to take this opportunity to honor Hardsuit Labs for their efforts and thank them for their hard work on the project. The studio has done a tremendous job in laying the foundations for the game and we hope that you, the community, will also appreciate their contribution to Bloodlines 2.

We’re thankful for your continuous support throughout the game’s development. We understand how important this is to you, and we’d love to share more with you. As soon as we can, we’ll let you know what the future development team of Bloodlines 2 will look like.

 

[Wunderbar]

It's a polite way of saying that Hardsuit Labs botched the project. Honestly, this is good news in my opinion, because it could mean the game can be salvaged. Maybe.

Going to take them a massive amount of time simply getting up to speed on a project that was being developed by a completely different team.

i bet they are restarting the development from scratch. Next release date - 2023-2024.

 

[Fredward]

Maybe they'll give it to HBS uwu.

 

[Alienman]

In before they rehire Mitsoda.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

It's a polite way of saying that Hardsuit Labs botched the project. Honestly, this is good news in my opinion, because it could mean the game can be salvaged. Maybe.

Going to take them a massive amount of time simply getting up to speed on a project that was being developed by a completely different team.

i bet they are restarting the development from scratch. Next release date - 2023-2024.

Depends entirely on who they're working with I suppose. Paradox could be looking to simply push some garbage out their and recoup a bit of their losses.
Not like paradox could possibly have a worse reputation.

 

[Storyfag]

Never thought I'd be so happy to see something get stuck in development hell.

May it stay there, asleep and in torpor, forever.

 

[Merkwürdigliebe]

Switching dev team in the middle of it, this is never going to be released is it?
Oh well time to replay the original I guess.

 

[Harthwain]

I don't see how that's possible if they build on top of what is already made, which they most likely will.

Well, I will put it this way: I am interested to see what a new studio can do with this mess.

That hope will last as long as the next hardcore SJW type person will be revealed to have a big hand in the project, because Paradox will have learned nothing.

Maybe. We shall see.

 

[Longes]

V5 is cursed, eh. First Modiphus spends four years 'making' Player's Guide, only to never release it and get kicked as the Paradox's main V5 publisher. Now Hardsuit Labs repeats their journey.

 

[Wunderbar]

It's a polite way of saying that Hardsuit Labs botched the project. Honestly, this is good news in my opinion, because it could mean the game can be salvaged. Maybe.

Going to take them a massive amount of time simply getting up to speed on a project that was being developed by a completely different team.

i bet they are restarting the development from scratch. Next release date - 2023-2024.

Depends entirely on who they're working with I suppose. Paradox could be looking to simply push some garbage out their and recoup a bit of their losses.
Not like paradox could possibly have a worse reputation.

well Paradox own White Wolf, and VTMB2 was supposed to be their headlining project. Throwing some halfbaked product out of the door may tarnish the IP and damage their future plans for WoD setting.

I suspect the ubisoft fixer told them that the project is unsalvageable, so now they will be making a new game but will continue calling it VTMB2 just to save face.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

There's a good chance the game wasn't anywhere close to even being in a beta-ready state.
They showed us nearly nothing about the game itself. We knew next to nothing about the levels, story, or even character sheets.

How long until we get the juicy drama?

 

[Flying Dutchman]

Didn't expect this, yet somehow not surprised.

Way to fuck up, Hardsuit.

Way to encourage them to fuck up, Paradox.

Still, might get a competent developer, which would be nice.

 

[Longes]

Judging by The Council, it will be a lot better too.

I've played only the first episode and it was great, but I heard the later episodes became worse.

The only problem is that it's in Epic's jail, which means it won't exist until release + 1 year after that (still earlier than Bloodlines 2 though).

The Council was a cool idea that went far off the deep end. It starts as a murder mystery at the Illuminati meetup. It ends

Spoiler

with you siding with either Jesus or YHVH who are both body-snatching demons, on the topic of whether humanity should be controlled through monarchism or corrupt democracies.

 

[markec]

At this pace Paradox will need to sell 10 million copies just to break even.

 

[Dexter]

Who called this shit two years ago?

Honestly, aside from all that shit I think people are too unconcerned about the developers of this, it strikes me similar to people expecting a competent Planescape: Torment sequel from the developers of Super Stacker and Choplifter HD: https://rpgcodex.net/forums/index.p...live-on-in-eternity.76239/page-8#post-2278162

Who the fuck are these people, and why would they be the right choice or posess the requisite skills to develop a sequel to Bloodlines?:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_Studios#Games_developed
https://www.mobygames.com/company/zombie-studios-inc

Let's assume that Cara will be a one-off and leave any sort of concern about politics aside, let's assume it's just a group of people trying to make the best game they possibly can and the best possible sequel to a cult-classic.

I'd just like to point out the studio's history again in greater detail for all the fabulously optimistic people out there, since I think they aren't paying near anywhere enough attention to that.

Here's some of their latest output:
Blacklight: Retribution (2012)

Frogger: Hyper Arcade Edition (2012)

Special Forces: Team X (2013)

Daylight (2014)

Phantom Army (2014)


They've apparently also worked on porting some games like "Shadow Complex: Remastered" to PC or "Chivalry: Medieval Warfare" to consoles under their new name, but have otherwise done no Original work since then.

Blacklight: Retribution is also the only other title they also feature majorly on their website after the transition from Zombie Studios to Hardsuit Labs: https://www.hardsuitlabs.com/blacklight/
For which they recently announced an end of life in preparation to the reveal of Bloodlines 2: https://twitter.com/HardsuitLabs/status/1093934661917597697

Money down the moneypit well spent, Paradox! If only the "CURRENT YEAR" gaming industry could use a mysterious magical power that people used to have called "Common Sense".

 

[Jenkem]

I FUCKING TOLD YOU ALL THAT THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN. AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL.
THEY ARE REMOVING THE POZ.
THEY ARE EXPANDING THE GAMEPLAY.
THEY ARE TIGHTENING THE GRAPHICS.
AND WHEN THE RELEASE FINALLY ARRIVES THE CODEX NAYSAYERS WILL BE BLOWN THE FUCK OUT BY HOW THE GAME IS NOT ONLY BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL BUT ON PAR WITH DEUS EX OR SYSTEM SHOCK 2.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Way to fuck up, Hardsuit.

Shrug. Paradox deserves more of the blame than they do honestly.
Hardsuit labs was some shovelware developer. There's a difference between giving people a chance and telling them to make a sequel to a well loved cult classic.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

At this pace Paradox will need to sell 10 million copies just to break even.

So about 20 copies before the DLC?

 

[Wunderbar]

Way to fuck up, Hardsuit.

Shrug. Paradox deserves more of the blame than they do honestly.
Hardsuit labs was some shovelware developer. There's a difference between giving people a chance and telling them to make a sequel to a well loved cult classic.

Kai Cluney, Mitsoda and Hardsuit just made a pitch, it was deemed good enough for Paradox to hire them.