Be honest: Did you ever think that a sequel to Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines would be released? Well, the developer Hardsuit Labs from Seattle has presented first excerpts from the second part of the vampire role-playing game at E3 2019.
At first sight, the appearance of the pre-alpha version of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 looks very pleasing. The nocturnal Seattle makes for an atmospheric impression and the area in the middle of the city center creates an immediate recognition value with places like the King Street Station. However, the animations still look a bit barebones. Although acrobatic parkour manoeuvers can take you to remote locations and allow you to view the city from unusual perspectives, the jump animations and movements currently make for a clumsy impression. Even your melee attacks look like you are not hitting the enemy at all. At least, you can grab various objects like metal pipes from your surroundings and use them as weapons. Alternatively, you can use your special abilities.
What are the Thinblood abilities?
At the start of the game, you can choose between three Thinblood abilities, the kind of superpowers you want your vampire to own. Chiropterans can summon supernatural swarms of bats to support them in battle and Mentalists can manipulate objects or other people by telekinesis. Last but not least, Nebulism allows your character to wrap himself in fog and thus secretly assassinate enemies.
The game often has more than eight dialogue options to choose from, impressively illustrating that conversations are at the heart of the game. You don't always need to use force, but you can decide to go the diplomatic way - which might not always be the best option, too. For example, we tried winning an NPC's trust, and he started opening up to us until we made a mistake - we addressed the character by his name, which he had never mentioned before - a fight ensues. These decisions and results have real consequences, which might not always be foreseeable. The developers promise a complex system, which will also affect the different ends of the game.
Every run of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is supposed to be different. With a lot of freedom at hand, the dialogue options and resulting consequences make for a great addition to the game, while the combat system is still looking pretty weak. However, we are positively impressed and are looking forward to the game's release in early 2020 for PC, Playstation 4 and Xbox One. The first part was released in 2004 and is still a cult classic among role-playing fans today.
