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

[Harthwain]

I mean, slaughtering monstrous enemies by the truckload is one of the most common video game premises there is. Vampire hunting specifically doesn’t seem to be very common, tho. The only example I can name off the top of my head is Wrath of Malachi. From the early 2000s.

Yeah, that's why I thought I was missing something there for a moment. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt was one thing that came to my mind. Shame it's battle royale though.

 

[StrongBelwas]

Why have they been tasked with making a game as complex and borderline immersive sim as a Bloodlines sequel, especially when the last band of clowns failed so utterly?

What specifications or talent does the Chinese Room bring to the table they the ones being called in to unfuck the project?

You aren't wrong, but its not like theres any team with the appropiate experience that Paradox could easily get a deal going with. They're either eaten up by the other publishers or too big to bother with a middle leaguer like Paradox at this point. Any Bloodlines sequel is gonna have to be handled by newbies to the genre(Which is the point where a sequel becomes debatable.)

 

[Tyranicon]

Why have they been tasked with making a game as complex and borderline immersive sim as a Bloodlines sequel, especially when the last band of clowns failed so utterly?

What specifications or talent does the Chinese Room bring to the table they the ones being called in to unfuck the project?

You aren't wrong, but its not like theres any team with the appropiate experience that Paradox could easily get a deal going with. They're either eaten up by the other publishers or too big to bother with a middle leaguer like Paradox at this point. Any Bloodlines sequel is gonna have to be handled by newbies to the genre(Which is the point where a sequel becomes debatable.)

Seeing how VtMB2 is currently being made (apparently) by a tiny dev known for walking sims, after the previous team abandoned it/got fired, I'm inclined to agree with your statement.

People who think this game will be good (despite a complete blockade on news, new screenshots, gameplay, etc) are wildly optimistic.

 

[Gahbreeil]

Will my favourite character be in the game? Help me out, I don't know whether the game is worth waiting for.

 

[Jenkem]

can people please stop bumping this thread unless the discussion is about Vampire: The Masquerade® - Bloodlines™ 2

 

[gerey]

People who think this game will be good (despite a complete blockade on news, new screenshots, gameplay, etc) are wildly optimistic.

I'm just baffled by their choice of developer. All things being equal are the Chinese Room really the best candidate for the job? They're a bunch of dumb modders that have made two (three?) shitty walking sims nobody cares about, one of which was so bad the whole Amnesia community was up in arms about it.

How shit of a developer must you be to fuck up a walking sim?

 

[Jenkem]

Judge the game when it is released, or at least shown off. Until then, leave your stupid comments in your pocket!

 

[Roguey]

I'm just baffled by their choice of developer. All things being equal are the Chinese Room really the best candidate for the job? They're a bunch of dumb modders that have made two (three?) shitty walking sims nobody cares about, one of which was so bad the whole Amnesia community was up in arms about it.

How shit of a developer must you be to fuck up a walking sim?

None of those people except the founder and his wife are employed at the company anymore.

 

[RaggleFraggle]

Every single urban fantasy series I can think of is pornography for women. Anita Blake, Mercy Thompson, ect

If you want to avoid paranormal romance under the guise of UF, just look for male written UF: Felix Castor, Alex Verus, Twenty Palaces, Dresden Files, Rivers of London, Eric Carter, Garret P.I., Alexander Southerland, P.I., The Many Travails of John Smith, Demon Accords, Iron Druid, etc. Not all are great, but none are porn for women.

Oh yeah I forgot about Dresden Files and Iron Druid. Both started good and eventually went to shit. I don't think either would make a great game though.

Yes, because those were created to be book series and not games. This bizarre obsession publishers have with adapting existing IPs is beyond stupid, especially when they make games that don't even appeal to the fans who would be drawn in by name brand recognition in the first place. If you want a good game IP, then your best option is to make it from scratch to be suitable for the format.

To add to that list, I'm pretty sure there are tons of East Asian novels, comics, cartoons, dramas, etc that are urban fantasy and aimed at male demographics.

I mean, slaughtering monstrous enemies by the truckload is one of the most common video game premises there is. Vampire hunting specifically doesn’t seem to be very common, tho. The only example I can name off the top of my head is Wrath of Malachi. From the early 2000s.

Yeah, that's why I thought I was missing something there for a moment. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt was one thing that came to my mind. Shame it's battle royale though.

Plus the battle royale genre is dying anyway so there's no chance to make further profit now. Paradox was giving the license to anyone who asked regardless of whether it actually appealed to existing fans, defeating the entire point of name brand recognition in the first place. Tbh, I don't think the IP was ever appropriate for video games for this reason. Sure, Troika made a cult classic but that's entirely due to their skill as a dev and fuck all to do with the IP's own merits (BL's tone is the polar opposite of the original IP's), but even then it bombed on release and killed the company.

There are tons of modern monster slaying games but finding them is fucking impossible due to poor SEO and sheer oversaturation of garbage data. I've been trying to find just one video I remembered watching without success. There are probably loads of games that fit your taste but are impossible to find in this sea of garbage data. Even googling "monster slaying games" gives a ton of irrelevant garbage data about the Monster Hunter franchise.

 

[gerey]

None of those people except the founder and his wife are employed at the company anymore.

We can all agree that developers, like any other organization, carry around a certain degree of institutional experience - either through the employees on their payroll, the internal procedures developed and put into effect by management or through their internal archive of files, protocols, projects, cases etc.

So it begs the question, why put a developer that has only ever made walking sims in charge of the project? Now, I could be wrong and they manage to pull through and deliver a functional product, maybe even a good game, but the chances of that happening are very low, especially when they have virtually no experience actually making games with gameplay, let alone open-world, non-linear RPGs/immersive sims.

 

[Larianshill]

So it begs the question, why put a developer that has only ever made walking sims in charge of the project?

"Here's a bunch of assets left behind by the artsy-fartsy auteur types. Can you make something resembling a video game out of it, on budget, on schedule, for peanuts we're going to pay you, and without causing us any headache?"
"Yes."
"You're hired."

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

So it begs the question, why put a developer that has only ever made walking sims in charge of the project? Now, I could be wrong and they manage to pull through and deliver a functional product, maybe even a good game, but the chances of that happening are very low, especially when they have virtually no experience actually making games with gameplay, let alone open-world, non-linear RPGs/immersive sims.

Did you miss the story as Paradox itself told it?

"We were this close to say 'FUCK IT' and cancel this garbage entirely but one of our studios begged us to give them a chance".

And it probably went down something like "Oh yeah, let us give it a go. We are going to finish this shit for basically no money".

 

[gerey]

IIRC they scrapped most, if not all assets from the previous attempt, so I imagine this isn't that cheap of an investment on the part of Paradox.

 

[GhostCow]

Supposedly the guy who owns the current dev studio is a huge fan of the game and is super hyped to be working on it so there is some hope. I'm not going to say the game is going to be good, but there is hope. Imagine if any random codexer was given a team of decent programmers and artists. They'd probably make something that isn't shit. This could be the same kind of situation.

 

[J1M]

None of those people except the founder and his wife are employed at the company anymore.

We can all agree that developers, like any other organization, carry around a certain degree of institutional experience - either through the employees on their payroll, the internal procedures developed and put into effect by management or through their internal archive of files, protocols, projects, cases etc.

So it begs the question, why put a developer that has only ever made walking sims in charge of the project? Now, I could be wrong and they manage to pull through and deliver a functional product, maybe even a good game, but the chances of that happening are very low, especially when they have virtually no experience actually making games with gameplay, let alone open-world, non-linear RPGs/immersive sims.

You have trouble imagining that an executive could watch a Bloodlines gameplay clip and conclude it was a walking simulator with nice facial animations?

 

[Roguey]

We can all agree that developers, like any other organization, carry around a certain degree of institutional experience - either through the employees on their payroll, the internal procedures developed and put into effect by management or through their internal archive of files, protocols, projects, cases etc.

So it begs the question, why put a developer that has only ever made walking sims in charge of the project? Now, I could be wrong and they manage to pull through and deliver a functional product, maybe even a good game, but the chances of that happening are very low, especially when they have virtually no experience actually making games with gameplay, let alone open-world, non-linear RPGs/immersive sims.

They hired people with experience, like the Bioware Narrative QA guy, one of the Hogwarts Legacy writers, a programmer from the upcoming Suicide Squad. I already told you: the people who made the walking sims no longer work there (except the founder and his wife). The company is filled with an entirely different set of employees with various work experience and Sumo Digital bought the company so they could make action-adventures.

 

[Jenkem]

there are plenty of devs that shifted from one genre to another and made beloved games. you guys are being negative.

 

[Herumor]

Huh, first time I am hearing about it. I am somewhat interested in vampire games (I blame my university friend, who was a real vampire junkie), but this ain't the kind of a game I am looking for so I will most likely pass. Replacing zombies with vampires just doesn't do it for me.

You're better off anyway, the game requires an online connection even when playing single-player.

there are plenty of devs that shifted from one genre to another and made beloved games. you guys are being negative.

Name 42.

 

[sosmoflux]

Jenkem flipped on bumping this thread with irrelevant posts on the same page lol
Welcome to the party pal

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

I'll be damned if I'm going back and reading through this mess. Any news about this or is it still dead?

EDIT: rip

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

there are plenty of devs that shifted from one genre to another and made beloved games. you guys are being negative.

Aside from Westwood, that before the EA acquisition made a habit of shifting between widely different genres and being successful at it, I can't really think of many examples.

 

[Roguey]

there are plenty of devs that shifted from one genre to another and made beloved games. you guys are being negative.

Aside from Westwood, that before the EA acquisition made a habit of shifting between widely different genres and being successful at it, I can't really think of many examples.

Harebrained Schemes made mobile trash before Shadowrun, inXile made action crap before the Kickstarter revolution, Vavra went from Mafia to Kingdom Come Deliverance.

 

[Roguey]

Paradox released their latest financial report. Profits are up and they have 15 games in the pipeline (Bloodlines 2, Hunter, 2 from Harebrained, Age of Wonders 4, 10 others I have no idea about). No direct reference to Bloodlines 2 but they did say that from now on there will be a much shorter time frame between announcement and release, that they'll announce a game only when they're certain of the quarter it's going to be released, and they have 3-6 releases currently planned for 2023.

 

[Semiurge]

Another Paradox beancounter has namedropped Bloodlines 2

 

[whydoibother]

Semiurge​

Editing the post as I was responding to it, sneaky bugger.
But as I was going to say, no news is good news. The only news that could've dropped right now would've been delays or cancellation.