Everything you need to know about Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 – ClutchPoints

When Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines was released back in 2004, the game was considered to be a flop after selling fewer than 100,000 copies during its initial release since it was competing against the other much awaited juggernauts namely Half-Life 2, Halo 2, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. To add more insult to injury are the criticisms surrounding the game regarding its combat and technical issues. Amid these problems, the game became a cult classic as fans and critics alike praised the games storytelling and dubbed it to be one of the best broken games and also one of the best horror games of all time. Unfortunately given the poor sales it garnered, the game was never given an opportunity to fully redeem itself through a sequel.

But things changed in 2019 when trailers started to circulate in E3 2019. Hardsuit Labs took over the reigns of developing a game centered around the World of Darkness series and given with what happened from the previous entry could serve as an opportunity for them to carry on and address the mistakes of the past.

Will the newest entry crystalize or bedazzle fans upon direct sunlight as seen from the Twilight series or will it burn to the ash like every other vampire exposed under the sun? Perhaps these facts below could help you formulate your answers prior to its scheduled release in 2021.

STORY AND SETTING

The game is set in contemporary Seattle during the Christmas season where the player controls a human being who was recently affected by the Mass Embrace, an incident where rogue vampires attacked humans, turning them into a thinblood, a half-human and half-vampire breed. As a thinblood exploring the realms of the mystical, the player is tasked to select his abilities or disciplines as well as his desired faction.

The trailers reveal that the factions are territorial, meaning that the player will encounter a struggle in completing quests. Venturing into uncharted territory or sucking the blood of human beings from other territories may lead to dire consequences. There are also grotesque scenes of human beings tortured while celebrating Christmas. One of the characters described your first day as a thinblood as the rest of your death, emphasizing the survival aspect of this game.

Some of the other characters have been mentioned with Slug serving as one of your targets in a quest. His future will rest upon the decisions you make, which will make the player question his morality.

GAMEPLAY

The game exhibits a role-playing approach where the players vampire chatacter is tasked to decide on the thinbloods choice of attributes and abilities. He can earn points and use them to improve on his weapon accuracy, agility or dodging techniques, smooth-talking or negotiation skills, etc. Besides the initial abilities that the player will incur, his choice of faction will also affect his skills or powers. Some clans are good at brute force combat, while others are capable of unleashing telekinetic abilities. Some can even use supernatural abilities to the point where they can summon spirits or boil your opponents blood from afar. Imagine the limitless power at your disposal.

But for the protagonist to reach his highest potential requires blood, which is the games primary currency. Its the resource that allows the player to enhance and develop his abilities. Blood can be obtained from rats, blood banks, or draining humans.

The player is likewise given the responsibility of maintaining two meters namely masquerade and humanity. Masquerade is the players ability to hide their existence in front of humans while humanity measures his aggression. Any reckless decision that will lead to the collapse of one of these meters will immediately end the game.

CONCERNS

Given the plethora of options with regard to skills as well as the moral and survival options that the game features, one can argue that the latest entry shares a lot of similarities with its post-apocalyptic counterpart, the Fallout series. The developers need to be wary on how they engage their game to avoid these comparisons which might harm their reputation. This isnt necessarily a bad thing as Genshin Impact has proven its worth even though fans and critics alike have noticed a lot of similarities with Zeldas Breath of the Wild.

Some content creators have mentioned the delay of the game to be an issue as reports circulated that some employees, which included the creative director and narrative lead, were laid-off during development, following the trend left by Halo Infinite and Anthem as a game that could potentially suffer due to the departure of the development team. But nonetheless we are all excited to become a vampire arent we?

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Everything you need to know about Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 - ClutchPoints