- 8 hours ago
We waited over 20 years for this RPG sequel but Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is the definition of a crying shame. Clumsy writing and flat, repetitive world design expose a handful of good ideas that never take root, while its poor technical quality and unstable performance will render it unplayable for some.
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00:00It's clear the Chinese Room had its work cut out for it with Vampire the Masquerade
00:04Bloodlines 2. As the long-awaited sequel to a cult classic RPG, I see evidence of that
00:10immense pressure in every single pixel. It's woven through a thinly cobbled plot so fragile
00:17even the slightest tug at a loose thread sends the whole thing unravelling. It's hidden
00:23beneath the dreary funeral pool hanging over the snowy streets in what's supposed to be
00:28a seedy and bustling Seattle. The empty silence occasionally interrupted by a line of recycled
00:35NPC dialogue as you run back and forth between the same five buildings for the first 20 hours
00:40of the 30 it takes to finish it. I feel it in the wet paper bag punch dash punch dash
00:46monotony of
00:47every combat encounter. Cringe at it whenever Fabian spouts another corny detectivism that
00:53sounds like a film student's first go at a noir script. These stress fractures run deep
00:58through Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2, breaking it before it even has a chance to go anywhere.
01:04It reveals both how rushed this game must have been and how high my own expectations were too
01:10in order to feel so bitterly let down. From the bottom of my cold black heart, I wanted to love
01:19Bloodlines 2, that this isn't a case of great ideas with poor implementation. Rather, it's a
01:25fundamentally flawed experience from conception to execution that has me wondering why it was ever
01:31made in the first place, never mind why it was released in this state. The problems start at the
01:39beginning. After finishing the prologue, I exit the streets and suddenly my computer is buckling under
01:46the onslaught of particle physics despite me meeting minimum specs. Swapping to a fancier gaming laptop,
01:56it doesn't even boot. Finally, switching to PS5, performance fares much better, but even then it
02:04crashes during exploration at times and constantly frame dips when transitioning between locations.
02:10The game starts as Fire, an elder vampire recently awoken from a deep hibernation like
02:16Torp asleep, takes a few confused steps into an abandoned warehouse. She punches an NPC and sends it
02:23splattering against a distant wall, but then a voice cuts through her consciousness. It's Fabian,
02:31the other half of our duo protagonist serving, and he has no idea how he ended up in your head
02:38either.
02:38So begins the curious bisection of Bloodlines 2. Most of the time, you play as Fire, grappling with a new
02:46world in downtown Seattle as you try to make nice with the local Camarilla Vampire Council. These
02:52sections largely involve pummeling enemies, most of the time half-blooded ghouls and renegade vampires of
02:59the Anarch faction, and making seemingly important decisions that actually make little to no difference
03:05to the story. The rest of your time is spent in dream flashbacks as Detective Fabian, chasing leads
03:11and investigating the rebar killer in 1920s and 2023 Seattle. He's the textbook stereotype of a gumshoe,
03:20cracking wise guy jokes and flirting with filing cabinets when he could probably just read their
03:25contents instead. The painful script is one of my most glaring problems with Bloodlines 2.
03:32Fabian's attempts at being a cheeky yet motivated detective come off phony, his jovial tone jarring
03:39against the old school noir edge of what he's actually saying, but he's not the only one who
03:45rubs me the wrong way instantly. The tone of the game is all over the place. Bloodlines 2 is set
03:51in 2024 Seattle, Washington, yet everyone speaks like they crawled out of Pulp Fiction. Every character
03:58is a cookie cutter stereotype with zero substance, be it the queer coded henchman, chin-stroking villain,
04:06or love-struck nerd, and it's hard to care about any of them. I can only assume the Chinese room
04:13was
04:13targeting a modern LA noir with vampires feel while also gunning for Bloodlines 1's camp theatrics,
04:20but by splitting that focus so literally, the two never find confluence. Ultimately,
04:27anything that would have made this the gritty vampire RPG of my dreams is cheapened or glossed over.
04:34If Bloodlines 2 is an RPG, I'm not sure the Chinese room knows it. The developer has never made an
04:42RPG
04:42before, but only so much can be excused as a rookie mistake. There's simply no roleplaying to be had
04:50here at all. As memories, Fabian's dialogue choices carry zero weight in his selections.
04:57Instead, you pursue investigation leads by harnessing his telepathic abilities,
05:02adding some context to a modern day storyline that's still peppered with plot holes. Meanwhile,
05:07Fire's chapters play more like a linear action game with slight variances, depending upon what
05:13Fire chooses to do with a total of two characters. Nothing feels weighty. It's impossible to roleplay
05:21in a narrative that's already set its course. You're told when you make a dialogue choice that upsets or
05:27pleases a given NPC, but without a relationship tab to keep track of them, these reactions are totally
05:34superfluous. As for romance, forget about forging a meaningful vampiric bond. Flirting with the right
05:42people enough times sometimes treats you to a blackout sex scene, complete with lewd slapping,
05:48moaning, and a few strings of ham-fisted, kinky dialogue. This is truly the most unsexy piece of
05:55vampire media I have ever encountered. At the end of the day though, it doesn't really matter who likes or
06:02dislikes fire, as everything is plot armoured to funnel the story toward a single outcome.
06:08It's not just the lack of meaningful branching narratives. Bloodlines 2 also refuses to interact
06:15with many other RPG staples. The ability tree is a misnomer. The four combat and manipulation skills
06:22ascribed to your chosen vampire clan are progressively unlocked within the first few hours,
06:27features, and neither your stats nor skills can be upgraded, with others unlocked by visiting
06:33fire's clan contacts. The logic here is that as an elder, more powerful vampire,
06:39fire already has access to abilities outside their clan, but has forgotten them from spending so long
06:45in torpor. There's one NPC for each of the playable clans, capable of teaching fire the four skills
06:52attributed to their respective clan once you accrue enough blood resonance points in exchange. Note
06:58that you still need skill points to purchase them from the ability tree after unlocking them.
07:03Completing missions, side quests, and engaging in combat earns experience, and eventually,
07:09new skill points. Blood resonance points are gathered by drinking from certain citizens
07:14emitting the corresponding coloured aura. Sounds pretty Sims-y, but at least it folds in
07:20some world of darkness lore and makes an effort at stylising the unlocking system. Talking to an
07:25NPC with a red pulsating aura causes them to chase after you in a rage, while pink,
07:32sanguine NPCs will follow fire blindly into dark alleyways, usually full of homeless people who may
07:38or may not react. You can also chase blue, melancholic NPCs after they run away from you screaming,
07:45though more than once I've seen them run straight through brick walls or try to lead me out of
07:50bounds. But unless you actually want to sample another clan's combat, you never need to purchase
07:56these new skills at all, let alone feed from the people of Seattle for blood resonance. I finished the
08:03game with 38 unused skill points, which feels like a huge waste of time and the mechanic itself. Considering my
08:11default clan skills synergised well enough, there's little need to experiment, as you can only equip
08:17four at a time anyway with no ability to hot-swap loadouts. When it comes to the setting and style
08:23of
08:23the game, I'm let down on both accounts. The city of Seattle is a barren shell, built in the direction
08:31of
08:31the neon and grime of Cyberpunk 2077's Night City, but with none of the menace that makes it feel
08:37threatening, exciting or compulsive to explore. Edgy ads peppered everywhere end up more cringe
08:44and outdated than seedy or exciting. Yes, there's even a Hoctur reference. You better believe dialogue
08:53also references Twilight and High School Musical too. It doesn't help that the single map, while larger
09:00in scale than any from the first Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines, is emptier, with only a
09:05handful of interior locations to explore. Aside from some late game set pieces that actually had
09:11me intrigued, you're in for a grating 30 hours spent plodding through the snowy streets or leaping
09:17across ghoul-studded rooftops. Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that there's no fast travel at all,
09:24and no cars to speak of, neither ones you can drive, nor any actually driving down the roads of a
09:30supposedly thriving major city. NPCs walk up and down the street and do little else. They're also
09:37either uncannily observant, able to see fire supping from a victim around corners and through walls
09:44weird considering the lack of population density, or noticeably oblivious when I chow down on some
09:50throats on the kerbside. What counts for side quests in Bloodlines 2 are a simple, repetitive slew of
09:56kill or fetch quests for certain clan leaders, which are only good for grinding skill points.
10:02It all speaks to a world that's trying to look dark and brooding, but is no scarier than a disinterested
10:09kitten. Least terrifying of all is fire's combat potential. Forget any hopes of a gun arsenal or
10:16picking up and wielding a melee weapon, because no matter which clan you pick, fire mainly fights with
10:22their fists. You can telekinetically pick up dropped weapons and shoot or throw them at enemies,
10:27but these are so hard to spot in the middle of a horde encounter that I end up just spamming
10:33R2
10:33and praying for an Uzi. Biting enemies is a good way to replenish health and ability charges mid fray,
10:40and I do enjoy how the two trigger buttons mirror fangs as the bite command, and you'll also come across
10:46armour, power, blood and health potions dotted around the city. Most of the time I don't need to think
10:52about anything fancy when punching and dodging gets the same job done regardless. Combat had the chance
10:59to be really, really good. There's definitely a tier list when it comes to the best skills in Bloodlines 2.
11:06The Tremere blood daggers are great for stealth, the Toreador's kiss turns hostile enemies friendly for
11:13a spell, and it's amusing to dominate enemies with a Ventrue's possession skill to make them leap to their deaths,
11:20but there's just not much reason to actually mix and match with how limited the abilities are,
11:25especially when punching, dodging and occasionally throwing things gets the job done 90% of the time.
11:31It's a sad fact that the vampire power fantasy plays second fiddle to the melee brawler playstyle
11:37you're boxed into, and if not for the lengthy bite and finisher animations, I'd probably have forgotten
11:43I was playing as a bloodsucker at all. Between the frustrating performance issues, clunky combat,
11:50shallow RPG tools and a thoroughly meandering story, I find it hard to recommend Vampire the Masquerade
11:57Bloodlines 2 at all. This is a game that had so much promise, and maybe that's why it had to
12:04fall
12:04so spectacularly short of every expectation. It reaffirmed my opinion that the visual novels are
12:11the best video game iterations of the world of darkness you can play right now if you're after
12:15an atmospheric gothic vampire tale, or maybe Shark Mob's Blood Hunt would be your blood bag if you
12:22wanted something more vamp combat oriented. Either way, Bloodlines 2 is neither the best of its ilk,
12:29nor even a passably good interpretation of its source material, and I've come away with bile on
12:36my tongue instead of blood-red RPG goodness. We give Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2 1.5 stars.
12:45But what about you? Will you be picking it up? Are you a fan of the original game?
12:50Let us know and stick with GamesRadar for the latest reviews, news and more.
12:59thấy 날ệu
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