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

[Herumor]

Maybe they regret meddling with the RPG studios they employed now...

Nah, the only thing Paradox regrets is not making any money off of it.

 

[Itoh]

As a big fan of Representation, I hope the Chinese Room writes in a hulking, muscular Malkavian who wears a dress and insists he's really a woman

 

[Fedora Master]

As a big fan of Representation, I hope the Chinese Room writes in a hulking, muscular Malkavian who wears a dress and insists he's really a woman

That could absolutely work if they had the balls. But balls is the last thing involved in this production.

 

[Roguey]

If Bloodlines 2, God willing, is successful, Bloodlines 3 [will be] done by someone else.

Paradox aren't making Bloodlines 2 anyway, they're publishing it and it's made by Sumo. Made a sick clickbait though.

Read the article, they're saying they won't be funding another RPG again. Anyone who wants to make a VtM has to pay to license it and fund it themselves.

 

[lycanwarrior]

Jesus Christ, the situation is dire if they allow for such articles to see the light of day. They just gave up and admitted it.

Realities of the gaming industry. Publishers are going to become extraordinarily more risk-adverse than they already are.

Unfortunately, a WoD game likely has a very small chance of breaking-even, nevermind making a profit.

 

[The President]

Read the article, they're saying they won't be funding another RPG again. Anyone who wants to make a VtM has to pay to license it and fund it themselves.

Which means unless they charge cheap to license or there is a really bold studio out there who is sure they can make a hit, you won’t be getting anything to akin to Bloodlines ever again. At least not in the WOD IP.

As an aside as much as I love BG3 I hate how it’s used to either speak as an example of what a studio is hoping to do but everyone knows they won’t or as an excuse for why they suck and can’t do anything/try.

 

[Hammer Of The Heretics]

That's the most honest and self-aware assessment I've seen from a gaming industry exec in a long time. Granted, not a high bar.

 

[Skinwalker]

Please let this shit get cancelled.

 

[Irxy]

I wouldn't mind an isometric VtM game done by Owlcat.

Their games are too combat-focused, with dungeon crawling and exploration making up 95% of gameplay - that wouldn't work with VtM.
Take something like Disco Elysium as a base though, this I can imagine.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

I wouldn't mind an isometric VtM game done by Owlcat.

Their games are too combat-focused, with dungeon crawling and exploration making up 95% of gameplay - that wouldn't work with VtM.

Eh, I think that VtM has enough mechanical depth in terms of possible vamp abilities and what not to allow for a more conventional CRPG approach to it. Same as with PST for the Infinity Engine games which, if anything, suffered from not expanding its combat system a bit more. A DE approach can work too, but that depends entirely on the sort of story that you want to tell and I think that the system & setting is versatile enough for it to be adapted in either direction.

 

[Roguey]

Redemption was a combat crawl with cutscenes.

 

[Irxy]

Redemption was a combat crawl with cutscenes.

Yes, and it was shit. That's why Bloodlines is a cult classic, and Redemption is the obscure Diablo clone barely anyone even remembers.

 

[Roguey]

Yes, and it was shit. That's why Bloodlines is a cult classic, and Redemption is the obscure Diablo clone barely anyone even remembers.

It's a party based real time RPG, not Diablo. Number of people like the writing, the problem was the execution.

 

[Fedora Master]

I wouldn't mind an isometric VtM game done by Owlcat.

Their games are too combat-focused, with dungeon crawling and exploration making up 95% of gameplay - that wouldn't work with VtM.

Eh, I think that VtM has enough mechanical depth in terms of possible vamp abilities and what not to allow for a more conventional CRPG approach to it. Same as with PST for the Infinity Engine games which, if anything, suffered from not expanding its combat system a bit more. A DE approach can work too, but that depends entirely on the sort of story that you want to tell and I think that the system & setting is versatile enough for it to be adapted in either direction.

Any other splat in WoD is more suitable to combat heavy dungeon crawling than Vampire.
Changeling, as gay and retarded as it is, actually mechanically and narratively would allow for it the most.

 

[Semiurge]

I wouldn't mind an isometric VtM game done by Owlcat.

I think HSL/TCR had the right idea about making the game 1st person and "visceral". It just needs way more complexity, both in story and gameplay. Right now your only weapons are your fists and your vampiric disciplines. Where are the melee weapons and guns in case you want be a gangsta, Neo or a ninja? It's already safe to say that this thing will be extremely railroaded, a walking simulator that Sumo/TCR are best known for.

If Bloodlines 2, God willing, is successful, Bloodlines 3 [will be] done by someone else.

Paradox aren't making Bloodlines 2 anyway, they're publishing it and it's made by Sumo. Made a sick clickbait though.

Read the article, they're saying they won't be funding another RPG again. Anyone who wants to make a VtM has to pay to license it and fund it themselves.

It could be a studio that still has the means to rent a license, and some goodwill remaining. Something with 'RED' in the name...

Jesus Christ, the situation is dire if they allow for such articles to see the light of day. They just gave up and admitted it.

Realities of the gaming industry. Publishers are going to become extraordinarily more risk-adverse than they already are.

Unfortunately, a WoD game likely has a very small chance of breaking-even, nevermind making a profit.

The franchise is cursed now, and only because these fucks wouldn't do it right the first time. Paradox is a clueless publisher that only considers the financial side, and they hired incompetent political idealists who have no grasp on the practical side of RPG design.

It's really not the fault of the bad developers, since it's Paradox who will either accept the pitch, or tell the devs to gtfo. This IP needs a better class of owner.

 

[Heroic Liberator]

I wouldn't mind an isometric VtM game done by Owlcat.

I think HSL/TCR had the right idea about making the game 1st person and "visceral". It just needs way more complexity, both in story and gameplay.

Unfortunately TCR are probably too incompetent for that. When your boss (re: recent Paradox statement) throws you under the bus publicly despite giving you ample time to get your shit together, you know that there's a big problem. Now they're just waiting to cut their losses and nothing more.

 

[Fedora Master]

Paradox are a dysfunctional company in every regard but only the autists who still bother with their map games are really aware of that

 

[Skinwalker]

Redemption was a combat crawl with cutscenes.

Yes, and it was shit. That's why Bloodlines is a cult classic, and Redemption is the obscure Diablo clone barely anyone even remembers.

Redemption was great, fuck you. Bloodlines is just better.

 

[Roguey]

It could be a studio that still has the means to rent a license, and some goodwill remaining. Something with 'RED' in the name...

If they wanted it, they would have made an offer a long time ago.

 

[The President]

In a strange irony Paradox has actually licensed more games than the IP’s old owners. The very public drama of this game, I hope will inspire some developer to feel they can get it right and try.

 

[Harthwain]

Which means unless they charge cheap to license or there is a really bold studio out there who is sure they can make a hit, you won’t be getting anything to akin to Bloodlines ever again. At least not in the WOD IP.

You won't be getting "anything to akin to Bloodlines ever again", but the license for the World of Darkness IP was actively used since Paradox got it. Just check out titles released after 2015: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_of_Darkness_video_games

Frankly, I am expecting Paradox to either sell the IP or give it to anyone willing, the same way the Warhammer license (for 40,000 and Dark Fantasy) is given to a lot of developers, because the possibility of making money by lending your IP is better than letting it collect dust if you don't want to sell it outright.

 

[Vincente]

Dev Diary #19: Hunting and Feeding

 

[Tyranicon]

Explaining to animators that I want an animation of someone cowering like a shocked actor from a 1950s horror movie then watching those animations come to life… Chef’s Kiss!

-looks around blog for said animations-
-sees only more concept art-

This is the most absurd overuse of concept art I've seen for game marketing, especially for a title that should've been released already.

The joke is getting old and it's making me seriously wonder how gonked this is behind the curtain.

 

[Cricket McBangle]

"But mainly we want to clarify that we're making a spiritual successor, not an actual same blueprint type of game, so people don't get disappointed and feel cheated," Lilja went on. "We really don't want that."

This was fairly obvious.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/bl...ently-good-game-by-2004-standards-say-paradox

 

[Grauken]

Anyone who wants to make a VtM has to pay to license it and fund it themselves.

Are there even enough fans out there for World of Darkness stuff to make this viable, seems like the setting has been down in the dumps for a long time

You're better off making up your own vampire setting