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World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 - VTMB sequel from The Chinese Room - coming early 2025

Skinwalker

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All that being said, the concept of playing an Elder is much more interesting.
Is it? Elders are interesting to encounter as characters/antagonists in the course of the game, but it's hard to get into the mindset of a centuries-old vampire as a protagonist.

The idea of a thin-blood who diablerized an elder and is now hearing his voice in his/her head (along with rapid rise in power/level-ups) is a much more interesting one.

Tbh, that's an even more interesting concept than the Bloodlines protagonist who inexplicably has very potent blood with no real explanation (plus some very vague hints that your Sire may have been the taxi driver antediluvian rather than the beheaded chick).

Leave it to shitty walking simulator studio to get this simple concept completely backwards.
 

Dishonoredbr

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Delterius

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It is entirely possible that the Swedes have a double agent in the norwegian sovereign fund ready to buy 50 million copies of Bloodlines 2 as an educational game to be available in all norwegian schools (each child gets 20 keys).
 

jackofshadows

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https://steamcommunity.com/games/532790/announcements/detail/4029101838400009221
Explore the World of Darkness
Hello again,

This is my 3rd dev diary, and I have used the last two to talk about the 1st and 2nd pillars of the game: Feel Like a Vampire[www.paradoxinteractive.com], which covered the player fantasy; Visceral Immersive combat[www.paradoxinteractive.com], which covers the action gameplay. Today I want to tell you about our 3rd and final game pillar: "Explore The World of Darkness," which covers the setting, society, characters, story, and RPG elements of the game. We'll be talking in-depth about RPG elements at a later date, so today I am going to focus mainly on the setting, society, and characters.

ffaf651c55cf75d26a7d44d4bc040aeb1fbcad1f.jpg


The World of Darkness is the larger umbrella for the Vampire The Masquerade IP and the related games. It handles the supernatural in a mature and grounded way, basing it on the premise that vampires, werewolves, and ghosts are actually real, but are hidden from our contemporary human society. Video games offer a unique perspective on this world that other mediums don't, being able to walk around it and explore it. Our goal with this pillar was to create a version of Seattle that is authentic to The World of Darkness IP and makes you believe that this hidden side of Seattle, where vampires are in control, could be real and that in contrast the human world feels more alien to you and potentially unreal. To that end, we didn't set about making an exact replica of Seattle, as our priority wasn't to represent the human world, but the vampire one. The Seattle you experience in Bloodlines 2 is a kind of "best-of" Seattle where we've taken key landmarks and brought them in closer together. For example, Pioneer Square is a key location, and it speaks to us of the old city and its founders (some of which were vampires that you will meet), but we also have volunteer park, which in reality is on the outskirts of the city but we loved the idea of doing a creepy mission there that reveals something sinister beneath this iconic conservatory.

We want you to feel like you are seeing Seattle through the eyes of a vampire, so we have also made buildings taller, lights brighter, and alleyways darker to give an overall heightened feeling to what you are seeing as if you are looking through the eyes of an apex predator. For a better explanation of this, I suggest you read Ben Matthews dev diary on our neo-noir art style.[www.paradoxinteractive.com]

In Bloodlines 1 you were a new vampire in a city with a large Anarch presence where the Camarilla don’t have complete dominance. For Bloodlines 2 we have flipped this on its head. You play Phyre, an Elder vampire (~400 years old) in a city where Camarilla has been dominant for decades, and any hint of Anarch sympathy is squashed. Phyre's number 1 loyalty is to herself, but she is wise enough to respect the power of the Camarilla and, more importantly, the Masquerade. Within the story Phyre earns a seat at the top-table of the Camarilla as the court's Sheriff, giving her the court's protection but also a powerful authority within Seattle's vampire society. This is an RPG, of course, so you can roleplay Sheriff in multiple ways, maybe you are a loyal Sheriff of the Camarilla, or an Anarch sympathiser working from within to undermine the court, or maybe you're a self-centred Elder vampire playing the different factions off each other to your advantage.

36205f88d700a5b3d90aa08391093c05734f8e01.jpg


Phyre's motivation in the story is driven (at least initially) by regaining her power - she has awoken after 100 years in torpor (vampire hibernation) 6000 miles from home with markings all over her body which are limiting her powers. This sets up the narrative context of the ability tree (which we will show in due course) which instead of being about adding new powers to Phyre, like levelling up in the pen-and-paper RPG, you are unlocking her existing powers. Over her 300 years roaming the old world, Phyre had gained many powers, not only those from the disciplines of her clan.
An important part of the Masquerade is that vampires are hidden in plain sight in our society. There are several vampire hangouts in the city which, to a passerby appear innocent, but to those in the know, are important places in vampire society. For example, the little old lady who runs the all-night coffee shop may not be as sweet and defenceless as she seems at first glance. A key location the player often returns to, is Weaver Tower, a Seattle corporate HQ that is actually the front for the Camarilla, inspired by the downtown skyscrapers in Seattle and giving the city's Prince a skyline view over their domain.

Lastly, there can be no World of Darkness without light - the world of humans. The city is populated with "civilians," unaware that you are a vampire walking among them. Whilst this may seem great to a vampire - free-ranged food on every street - it also comes with risk, as using your vampiric powers or feeding in front of witnesses can trigger a Masquerade breach, and while you are Sheriff, even you are not above the law and could have the court's Scourge sent to deal with you if you are reckless on the streets of the emerald city. So make sure to hunt like a vampire: stalking from rooftops, hunting in alleyways, isolating your prey and if you are observed, deal with witnesses swiftly.

I hope you enjoyed hearing more about the setting and world of Bloodlines 2. We look forward to sharing more information with you in future dev diaries.

Good night!
Alex Skidmore, Project Creative Director
 

Lambach

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It looks like my worst fears about Bloodlines 2 are coming true. :negative:

It looks like it won't be an unmitigated, spectacular dumpsterfire that we can all point and laugh at, generating meme after meme and having fun with it while not even playing it. The Chinese Room seem just competent enough not to release a catastrophic trainwreck, but something far, far worse instead - a completely dull, soul-sucking, brain-numbing mediocrity that has absolutely nothing of worth to remember about it, good or bad.

Styrofoam. White noise on a TV screen. Lorem Ipsum.
 

user

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So make sure to hunt like a vampire: stalking from rooftops, hunting in alleyways, isolating your prey and if you are observed, deal with witnesses swiftly.
Semi-open world confirmed?
 

Wesp5

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Within the story Phyre earns a seat at the top-table of the Camarilla as the court's Sheriff...
This is the only thing worth mentioned in the diary. You play as the Sheriff.

That was already mentioned in the extended gameplay video. I wonder how they explain that, especially as Phyre has lost most of their powers...
 

Wesp5

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I wonder how they explain that, especially as Phyre has lost most of their powers...

Aren't most remaining Vampires in V5 weak bitches themselves? The ones that aren't have gone away and are having a giant rave party in the Middle East or something.

I don't know, all the VtM lore I remember is coming from VtM video games ;)! It does remind me of Swansong though, where Galeb, the near eastern protagonist, isn't the Sheriff but also send out acting as one. This is different to Bloodlines, where you do a lot of things for LaCroix too, but at least at the beginning he really sends you out to die. The part about the consensed Seattle sounds promising though, because this is the same technique Bloodlines used for Los Angeles. I wonder if a lot of the Seattle maps are reused from the HSL version and in case they are, why are they giving no credits for that?
 

Roguey

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So make sure to hunt like a vampire: stalking from rooftops, hunting in alleyways, isolating your prey and if you are observed, deal with witnesses swiftly.
Semi-open world confirmed?
They're reusing the hubs from Hardsuit, just covering them in snow.
 

Storyfag

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I wonder how they explain that, especially as Phyre has lost most of their powers...

Aren't most remaining Vampires in V5 weak bitches themselves? The ones that aren't have gone away and are having a giant rave party in the Middle East or something.
Mostly, yeah. Some of the Cainites of Generations 7th or lower haven't been Beckoned yet, or are otherwise resisting the pull, but it is strongly implied that the majority are gone. This, in my opinion, is a case of terrible execution of a sound idea. The idea being that player characters should be closer in power to the people in charge of their city, as that is where the meat of the setting is. But instead of suggesting that 10-8th Generation Ancillae would be ideal PCs, we get at best 8th Gen Princes who are barely Elders.
 

ChildInTime

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Most intimidating Sheriff ever. Just exudes raw authority and power.


Or maybe they're trying to sell me some cheap heroin in some back alley idk.
At least the guy version (if it even exists at this point and we are not left with the dyke only) looks like the main character in one of those old 2000s vampire shows - Blood Ties, Angel, etc.

ogO5bOu.jpeg
 

user

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Most intimidating Sheriff ever. Just exudes raw authority and power.


Or maybe they're trying to sell me some cheap heroin in some back alley idk.
At least the guy version (if it even exists at this point and we are not left with the dyke only) looks like the main character in one of those old 2000s vampire shows - Blood Ties, Angel, etc.

ogO5bOu.jpeg
They seem ready to challenge their enemies to a walk off.
 

Delterius

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Within the story Phyre earns a seat at the top-table of the Camarilla as the court's Sheriff...
This is the only thing worth mentioned in the diary. You play as the Sheriff.

That was already mentioned in the extended gameplay video. I wonder how they explain that, especially as Phyre has lost most of their powers...
'i heard that a resourceful neonate once killed Los Angeles' sheriff so i'm sure you can do the job ms phyre'
 

Alienman

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Codex 2016 - The Age of Grimoire Make the Codex Great Again! Grab the Codex by the pussy Codex Year of the Donut Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
No melanin survives 300 years in a coffin.
 

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