In the ongoing development of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, The Chinese Room is spilling the beans on how players will sink their teeth into Seattle’s society.
In this game, blood is your lifeline, letting you harness your vampire abilities, so you’ll need to hunt frequently for a fresh supply. To get this human-sourced nourishment, you’ll have to use your supernatural tricks or sweet-talk people into being your meal without making a scene. Breaking the rules of the Masquerade could lead to some serious trouble. Feeding is tricky, explained Max Bottomley, a senior game designer, in a blog post. He said, “Feeding in first-person doesn’t really show you much at best, and looks silly at worst, but a simple cut in and out of third-person can also be disorienting and feels a bit disconnected. What we settled on uses a bit of both, with some basic cinematic action cutting techniques to maintain continuity of motion, and enough first-person action at the end to get you settled into your next move.”
Michele Nucera, a senior concept artist, shared that they wanted the feeding to feel “like an intimate experience,” showcasing the raw power of taking life from a beating heart and passing it to a vampire. As players, we love when games make us feel powerful and in control.
In a cool twist, players will hunt down NPCs with a maximum Resonance effect. Resonance, a new feature, adds special effects based on the victim’s emotions when fed upon. This creates a secondary XP system that activates Merits, which are unique buffs. So far, emotions like desire, rage, fear, pain, and delirium have been revealed.
Bloodlines 2 had a bumpy ride during development and nearly got canned until The Chinese Room took over. It’s now set to release in the first half of 2025, pushed from its original Q4 2024 date, giving the studio more time to refine the game and flesh out its story.
