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

[Storyfag]

a real video game based on VtM (sorry Requiem!)

You likely mean Redemption? Which, for its multiple faults, had an excellant soundtrack, including the menu theme:

 

[Jaesun]

Listening to that Bloodlines menu music again, made me remember the excitement of installing Bloodlines for the first time, the anticipation of playing a real video game based on VtM

Yeah! That's such a great and memorable track. Every time I hear it, it evokes the FUCK YEAH VtM here I come! Feeling.

I have been very curious how they are going to approach this musically (not really expecting them to do the whole Goth/Industrial/Punk of the previous game). That Midnight song is fine, kinda has a catchy melody. For now it's not really giving me the FUCK YEAH VtM here I come! feeling for now. Will still wait to see how music direction they are going to do going forward.

 

[Cyberarmy]

best menu theme ever written imo, the drop is goosebumps



but yeah, you on some kind of shroom if you think "depression" and the laconic isn't a vital part of the vtm aesthetic

Years later I heard a similar tone in one of my favorite shows, it was uncanny

 

[NecroLord]

a real video game based on VtM (sorry Requiem!)

You likely mean Redemption? Which, for its multiple faults, had an excellant soundtrack, including the menu theme:

I really like Anezka's theme.
Beautiful, but also tragic in a way, especially considering the love and infatuation between her and Christof, who becomes a Kindred.

 

[Zombra]

I didn't love Bloodlines because of the music - it was the other way around. The goth vibe, well, I'm not going to outright insult it but let's say I do not like it when I hear it, but when I hear a Bloodlines song I get excited.

I definitely didn't see a trailer in 2004 and go oh, that soundtrack, I must play that game.

Sooo basically, who cares. If B2 is a well-written game then the soundtrack will give me good associations. If it's a bad game it won't matter if the music gives me that special feeling of being edgy in that exact way I like (and let's face it, no two people here are going to respond the exact same way to any vampire music). I'm not here for that.

 

[ColaWerewolf]

"Midnight" is good in that it evokes the melancholic, grimy feeling endemic to Vampire. They picked a good song. The only thing missing from it is edginess. It feels like it takes itself too seriously, without being edgy for edginess' sake. But this is just one song, hopefully there will be some edgy songs included as well, as those are the most memorable ones usually. It would be a shame if this is just a song for the trailer, and the actual in-game OST will be boring. Hopefully that's not the case and the rest of the music will follow Midnight's standards.

I didn't love Bloodlines because of the music

I think the OST for the Vampire game matters a lot. If Swansong had a competent soundtrack instead of the cheap and forgettable jazz tracks it features, I actually think it would've been much better received. Bloodlines and Redemption are so memorable because of their atmosphere, and music did contribute a lot to the success of the ambiance. It's more noticable in Redemption. For me, the music in Redemption absolutely carried that game to greatness. I actually thought that the Redemption setting was more fun than the Bloodlines one, because Redemption's soundtrack is really good.

Just to illustrate my point, these two soundtracks from Redemption are completely different genres and yet manage to hit that gothic/grunge feeling like nothing else. I remember playing through these sections of the game and pausing more than once just to listen to the music.

Exhibit A: London Tower



Exhibit B: NYC Rap


Compare the two above with the only "edgy" song in Swansong and you really start to notice just how important good music is for Vampire.

Anger of Death - Swansong OST

 

[Semiurge]

It should have quality licensed songs in all the right places. Songs like

 

[Wesp5]

Rik already figured it out, no?

It would be very interesting to know if Rik still makes the music for Bloodlines 2 as he wasn't involved in the trailer song. Also I never noticed how similar the Bloodlines music is to that of Redemption, they certainly must have shown that to him!

 

[0wca]

I didn't love Bloodlines because of the music - it was the other way around. The goth vibe, well, I'm not going to outright insult it but let's say I do not like it when I hear it, but when I hear a Bloodlines song I get excited.

I definitely didn't see a trailer in 2004 and go oh, that soundtrack, I must play that game.

Sooo basically, who cares. If B2 is a well-written game then the soundtrack will give me good associations. If it's a bad game it won't matter if the music gives me that special feeling of being edgy in that exact way I like (and let's face it, no two people here are going to respond the exact same way to any vampire music). I'm not here for that.

Whether or not games like these end up being classics is a culmination of several things.

It's not just that it's well written, has great C&C and fantastic atmosphere. It's how the soundtrack is an intrinsic part of the homogenous whole.

It doesn't feel 'tacked on' like in a lot of modern games but reflects all that the game is about - you hear it and you know what you're getting into.

So I do think the soundtrack is pretty important for this game.

 

[Grunker]

Rik already figured it out, no?

"It's a piss-poor copy of the real thing"

 

[HeatEXTEND]

I didn't love Bloodlines because of the music - it was the other way around. The goth vibe, well, I'm not going to outright insult it but let's say I do not like it when I hear it

Same, but I'll be damned if

doesn't bring me right back to the first time I finished it every time, good shit.

 

[Häyhä]

It should have quality licensed songs in all the right places. Songs like

Imagine a Vampire game with large open-world city you could travel by motorcycles and cars, the radio blasting Billy Idol, Type O Negative or Sisters of Mercy etc. Damn!

 

[Roguey]

"It's a piss-poor copy of the real thing"

When you're a copy of an imitation

 

[Grunker]

"It's a piss-poor copy of the real thing"

When you're a copy of an imitation

All art is imitation. The key there was "piss-poor"

 

[Moink]

I like the Rik version more because of the WOWOWOWOWOWOWOW.

 

[Jaesun]

It would be very interesting to know if Rik still makes the music for Bloodlines 2 as he wasn't involved in the trailer song..

Yeah I have been wondering too if Rik Schaffer will be in this project too. My guess is probably not, so we will have to see when/if they release some new tracks

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Second Vampire the Bloodlines sound sappy, oversensitive, and smell like therapy session.

vtm was always emo tf you talking about



(this track is a banger tho)

I mentioned gothic because I realize that we revolve around youth interests and teenage angst. But I wouldn't call it the dominant mood of VtB.

Or to put it another way, if VtB can be emo, VtB 2 seems to be it forever.

If modernity means "depression" and "immobility" I prefer stick to past in my tastes and face everyday life with the strength derived from it.

Remove the vocals from the trailer song and it'd sound like Bloodlines hub music, only with modern production techniques because it was recorded in 2023 and not 2004.

Generally speaking, a cat is a type of dog. They have four legs, fur, whiskers, and are carnivorous.

It's not completely creators fault. Art mirrors life. Our lives, our times are like that.

PMC aesthetic and cultural sensibility, those people can only plagiarize from current cultural trends, they have no intention (and the required intellect) in exploration of the human condition that their plagiarized cultural reference is regraded and convey nor the exploration of it's themes, only the cultural adherence to the referenced works, i think that the main reason why VTMB2 feels so insipid.

I think there is a lot of truth in this. I'm also afraid that if Chinese Room really tries to tackle a more interesting topic, it will drown in bland correctness.

Doesn't this fit our culture in general?

 

[Fedora Master]

Nice chat thread you guys got going here

Roleplaying Games?!

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Nice chat thread you guys got going here

And we are happy.

 

[Gandalf]

Rik already figured it out, no?

Is this real main menu song or fake?

 

[Fedora Master]

Nice chat thread you guys got going here

And we are happy.

 

[Storyfag]

Rik already figured it out, no?

Is this real main menu song or fake?

Real, but from the previous attempt at BL2. No telling whether TCR kept it.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Nice chat thread you guys got going here

And we are happy.

View attachment 42584

You should kiss a girl from time to time.

 

[pOcHa]

the mods music will surely save it

 

[Infinitron]

Snippet of VTMB2 from a new Chinese Room showreel: