Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2has just re-revealed one of its playable clans, the Brujah. However, the most interesting part of this announcement is the confirmation that there will be just four clans to pick from, as opposed to the seven from the original game, and at least six initially promised for this sequel.
This come shortly after it was also revealed that we’d be playing as a named protagonist, one that has already been a vampire for some time before the game’s story starts. It’s a huge departure from the firstVampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines, where the player character was a recently turned vampire with no influence, completely customisable.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was previously in development over at Hardsuit Labs,but the studio was dropped in 2021. After that,it was taken over by The Chinese Room, who seem to have changed much of what was originally planned.
The player character in this version of Bloodlines 2 is called Phyre and is fully voiced. In a reveal video, we can see that Phyre often responds without letting the player select what to say. When we do get the chance to choose how to respond, the choices are quite limited, although you may set the tone for the conversation and have a say in how much you reveal to a certain character.
However, narrative director Ian Thomassays that Phyre “isn’t a blank slate”. The reveal goes on to state that Phyre is the inverse of the player character in the first game. Instead, our protagonist is an elder vampire, so they already have a lot of experience under their belt. It’s implied that we’ll have some say in Phyre’s backstory through dialogue options, so at least there’s that.
Despite that reassurance, the reception to this was quite negative, if the comment section is anything to go by. Many see this as a huge downgrade on the original, taking away player choice.
In any case, today’s announcement gave us a peak at one of the clans, the Brujah, in action. They focus on melee combat, if that’s your preferred playstyle. We’ll have to wait and see which other clans will be available, and how they’ll be implemented into this new take on the series.
Having just four clans to choose from is hardly helping matters. We don’t know which ones have made the cut just yet, so we’ll have to see how that will influence our character. But given that Phyre alreadyhasa backstory, we might not get the dramatic clan options of the first game.
For example, playing a Nosferatu severely limited how you travelled around the city, as you were so disfigured that you couldn’t interact with humans without breaking the masquerade. Then, there are the Malkavians, who are all mentally ill. This would be pretty hard to implement into a pre-written backstory, so they might be dropped.
Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is now planned to launch in fall 2024.
Next:For Dungeons & Dragons DMs, ‘No, But’ Is As Important As ‘Yes, And’
