Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 review

One sequel, uh uh, two sequel, uh uh.

    VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE: BLOODLINES 2 is a game that has been a long time coming. Not only from the original game in 2004 to 2025 but also the fact that the game was initially announced in 2015 and then got cancelled before being taken over by a new developer, leading to a development cycle of five years. The game was also put under an unusually intense microscope by fans due to the original's cult classic status as well as the fact that events included the high profile firings of both series creator Brian Mitsoda as well as Chris Avellone. So, really, the game had to either be the best game of all time or a train wreck of epic proportions. The absolute worst thing for reviews would be if the game was pretty good but nothing that shook the gates of heaven as Jack Burton would say.

    Oh dear.

    That is the opening summation of what is Bloodlines 2's biggest strength and biggest weaknesses. The game is fine, enjoyable, and you will get your money's worth by the time you finish it. However, if you're looking for a Dragon Age: Origin, you're probably going to be annoyed this is a Dragon Age 2. It's a much scaled down sequel and streamlined that lacks quite a bit of the customization of previous entries. The combat takes up an incredibly large portion of the game and Phyre will have killed the population of Tacoma, WA over the course of a week but that is probably the least enjoyable part of the game. 

    The strength of the game is exactly what they needed to get right and that is the atmosphere, characters, and world-building. No one visits the World of Darkness for the combat but the atmosphere, characters, and complicated noir plots. Okay, also = the sexy characters. For the most part, Bloodlines 2 delivers on this. Mind you, so did Swansong and there was a limit of how much could be excused by said factors. Bloodlines has better graphics and gameplay than Swansong by far but the heavy lifting of this game is absolutely being done by the writing team.

    The gameplay is functional but if I had any complaints about it, it's the fact that it seems immersion breaking. Phyre (and yes, there's a reason for that silly name) spends a good chunk of the game gliding from rooftop to rooftop like Batman and beating the crap out of several generic thug models. They ignore guns and melee weapons save those he can throw with telekinesis and the big difference between him and Bruce Wayne or Peter Parker is his executions of everyone at the end. I say this is immersion breaking because there's no reason he shouldn't be able to pick up guns and it's confusing to have Phyre called out for leaving a hotel of bodies in the tutorial when he/she kills a thousand or so mortals in this game. Seattle is apparently Night City now with endless hordes of psychotic criminals (there's a reason for that but it's revealed later in the game).

    The story is that Phyre ("The Nomad" - which I'm pretty sure the Ravnos and Gangrel have a trademark on) awakens from a hundred year torpor in Modern Day Seattle. They are incredibly weak with a magical mark draining their Elder Powers. Worse, there's a charming Phillip Marlowe-esque detective in their brain that was once a Malkavian deputy named Fabien. In what will surprise a lot of fans, while the Malkavian clan isn't playable, you'll spend almost a quarter of the game as Fabien. So there's plenty of Malkavian content in the game. Seattle has gone to hell in the past week with the Anarchs in revolt, the Prince dead, and the Sheriff on the verge of wightdom. Less obvious but familiar threats to the tabletop game will also show up.

    The dialogue system is the one most similar to Bloodlines (though it also gives you some Telltale-esque clues about people's behavior that isn't necessary). Phyre will have to negotiate the Camarilla Courts, dealing with the Anarchs, and so on. You will encounter arrogant vampires, sexy vampires, weepy vampires, and homicidal psychopath vampires. Some of them you will also be able to romance, though not two of the femmepires that I wanted to. There's no skill system in this game so you won't be able to use them in dialogue but your clothing will affect how some NPCs see you and is mostly going to come up during hunting.

    Plotline-wise, the game has a decent number of side-quests, each relating to the local Primogen, and the main quest that is a labyrinthine bunch of betrayals and counter betrayals. You can also kill a bunch of Anarchs on the rooftop and seek out specific mortals to feed on that is a mini-quest to lure them into locations that don't break the Masquerade. There's some mild tie-ins to Bloodlines 1 with characters and references but nothing too specific. The Santa Monica Memories DLC jukebox sadly gives the best music in the game.

    Are there areas that could have been improved and improved by updates? Oh yes. The lack of customization is something that should be addressed. If Phyre can have blue hair, they should be able to be multiple races. There's also only a single save slot and lack of manual save is just ridiculous. Even Swansong had three save slots. Lock on would dramatically improve the game's combat as the enemies move like they have magical rollerblades on. I play console but the game is already being modded so that should dramatically improve the game's shelf-life. I also wouldn't be offended if they somehow incorporated one or two of Brian Mitsoda's sidequests later on as part of their updates. Hint-hint.

    Which brings us to the constant fan question of: "Is it really Bloodlines 2?" Well, bluntly, that's just not really a question. Games redo their interfaces all the time. Oblivion to Skyrim. Fallout: New Vegas to Fallout 4. It's a decent single player action and dialogue-heavy Vampire: The Masquerade game that allows you to play the role of a customized vampire Elder. People will debate if it's an RPG or Bloodlines game forever but it's fun. Not quite as good as the original game but it's in the same ballpark and I don't care about lockpicking versus smashing locks and doors with telekinesis. I'm glad this was a same day purchase for me and I got about 40 hours from the game.

8/10