Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a sequel to the 2004 cult classic Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. The original was notoriously janky and unfinished, yet embraced by a devoted coven of goths, ravers, and weirdos. It had a troubled development and had to be brute-forced into existence. Critically, it was well-received despite its flaws, though acclaim didn’t translate into sales — Bloodlines developer Troika Games shuttered shortly after release. Over time, community patches slowly improved the game, and some of these improvements were later incorporated into official releases. It’s best remembered for its promise and atmosphere, but it still requires a strong imagination to appreciate fully.
More than 20 years later, Paradox Interactive has taken up the reins. Fittingly, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is janky and unfinished, yet the same coven of goths, ravers, and weirdos will likely embrace it. I know I did. The sequel also had a troubled development, switching hands mid-production from Hardsuit Labs to The Chinese Room, developers of Still Wakes the Deep. Like the original, it doesn’t fully live up to its promise, but at the very least, its compelling story and entrancing atmosphere give World of Darkness fans something to sink their teeth into.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is not the RPG fans have been waiting for. In fact, it’s not much of an RPG at all. Half the time, it plays like an open-world action game, letting players stalk, suck, pummel, and glide around a fictionalized Seattle. The other half, though, is a walking simulator where you control an uncharismatic detective as he trudges through the city, reliving his memories.
The game has a split narrative, with each half offering its own playstyle. In the main story, players take to the streets as Phyre, an elder vampire and minor undead celebrity, rudely awakened from a 100-year slumber. To reclaim her peace and goddamn quiet, she must first silence the rumblings of dissent threatening to tear Seattle’s vampire underworld apart. Complicating her quest is Fabian, the voice of a slain detective who has taken up residence in Phyre’s head.
“Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is janky and unfinished, yet the same coven of goths, ravers, and weirdos will likely embrace it. I know I did.”
Phyre’s sections make up the lion’s share of the gameplay. As Phyre, you explore the semi-open world of Seattle, moving between vampire havens and taking on missions that mostly involve trekking across the city to talk to other vampires, fetching mail, or punching people to death. That’s about it.
On the bright side, the few things you’re allowed to do feel great. Combat and parkour feel very much like Batman: Arkham Asylum, but in first person. All fights have to happen in the shadows to avoid detection by Seattle’s mortals. The constant hunt for shadows adds a thrilling tension to even low-level encounters. Get too brazen with your powers or murder without discretion, and you’ll break the Masquerade and be killed on the spot.
Fighting is almost entirely melee, and melee is almost entirely punches: light attack, heavy attack, and a handful of movement-specific variations. You can pick up and throw objects and fire guns using telekinesis, but once a fight starts in earnest, the only viable strategy becomes backsliding and attack spamming.
Vampires can also use blood magic to injure or manipulate their prey. Each clan offers a unique set of spells tailored to different playstyles — in theory, anyway. Clan choice is one of the few customization options for Phyre, but it quickly loses relevance; as Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 progresses, all clan spells can be purchased and equipped. Blood magic is fun to wield and allows for some inventive strategies, but clumsy arenas often force confrontations. Blood mana is also costly and can’t always be replenished without alerting an entire room of enemies.
Initially, the combat shows promise, but it never evolves. New enemy types appear later, yet button-mashing and limited spell slots keep each encounter feeling flat. By the second hour, when enemies turn into damage sponges, combat devolves into little more than a grind. The same goes for movement. At first, running up walls and gliding across rooftops is exhilarating, but after hours of traversing the same handful of buildings, it often feels easier to choose peace and stick to the streets.
When everything clicks, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines delivers a proper vampire power fantasy. The highlights are its set-piece boss battles, which make the most of the limited mechanics and force you to think fast. It’s also rewarding to zone out and just pilot Phyre around the city. They move like a wild animal, and there’s a labidinal joy in using their gloriously gory blood magic to annihilate roaming bands of thin-bloods. Unfortunately, that world is populated by brain-dead NPCs, repetitive encounters, and unremarkable locations. Still, it can be fun—if only occasionally.
“When everything clicks, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines delivers a proper vampire power fantasy.”
The same can’t be said about Fabian’s sections of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. At the end of each in-game night, when Phyre goes to sleep, the Fabian walking simulator starts to play in her head. Fabian is a goofball 1930s detective retracing his steps through the closing days of his life. The less said about these parts, the better; I don’t want to bore you to death. In short, you walk from point to point, sometimes back and forth, to work through unfailable dialogue challenges. It’s never a good sign when the developers add a fast-forward button to help with the pacing, but mercifully, we have one here.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is first and foremost a narrative adventure. It has action and RPG elements, but they’re limited enough to feel like window dressing over a linearity that borders on “on-the-rails.” Granted, that ride has some interaction—but so do spinning teacups. Both can be fun, yet both limit you to going in circles while going in circles.
As far as the story goes, it’s pretty good. The dialogue and pacing can be a little clunky, but the game consistently adheres to the clan and hierarchy dynamics established in the World of Darkness tabletop games. The overarching narrative and the connection between Phyre and Fabian build toward a rewarding conclusion. The side stories and character interactions, however, don’t add much weight to the world and primarily serve as repositories of lore.
You can build relationships and complete sidequests for different clans, but the only payoff is a romantic encounter with your contact. Disappointingly, that encounter is just a black screen and a few saucy lines. Is it out of pocket to demand a more trashy resolution to my vampire romances? I think not.
Like a vampire that missed the neck and hit the belly, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is an awkward experience. One fang finds an artery, drawing deep from the universe’s lore and mechanics. It fluidly blends inspirations from across gaming to create something unique and bloodily satisfying. The other fang is regrettably lodged in the intestinal tract. That imbalance is inescapable. As vampires, we don’t drink with one tooth — if you want a mouthful of the game’s sanguine elder-vampire action, you’ll have to suck down some bitter pills along the way.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is for hardcore fans looking for a campy story and a chance to play as their favourite clan. For casual players or newcomers to the World of Darkness, its jankiness will likely feel more unfinished than charming. I didn’t hate my time with Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2—but I also knew what I was getting into, and I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to be a Tremere for a while.
