The Chinese Room, the team behind Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture, is developing Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 as per an announcement from publisher Paradox Interactive over the weekend.
At PAX West, a new Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 trailer was released, revealing the involvement of The Chinese Room and a release window of late 2024. “Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is very special to many, and we can finally reveal that we’ve been embraced by this adventure,” said the Brighton based developer. “We’re crafting something incredible here, and are bloody excited to share more at last!” Check out the new trailer below.
Originally, Hardsuit Labs was attached to the anticipated sequel. In 2019, former Paradox Interactive producer Christian Schlütter said that Hardsuit Labs’ pitch was “perfect”, but the game suffered some significant losses in the years to come. It was delayed twice and then lost creative director Ka’ai Cluney and writers Brian Mitsoda and Cara Ellison.
In 2021, the publisher revealed that Hardsuit Labs had been removed from Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 and that the game was on the verge of being binned. Yet, a partnership with The Chinese Room allowed Paradox Interactive to retain the majority of what was built by Hardsuit Labs.
Speaking to PC Gamer, the sequel’s creative director Alex Skidmore said that while “a significant amount of art and level design” is the same, the game features “a new code base with different gameplay mechanics and RPG systems”.
Furthermore, the playable protagonist is no longer a newly transformed vampire in Seattle. Instead, they are an “Elder” vampire that is something of a rarity in the world of Bloodlines 2 due to the actions of the Vatican’s “Second Inquisition”.
“We don’t want it to be just a sort of poor homage or pastiche of Bloodlines 1. We want it to be its own thing,” continued the creative director.
“We’re not doing what Bloodlines 1 did, which is a traditional RPG game start: the very first day you’re a vampire. The actual character you are has been a vampire for quite a while. And that was to create something different from Bloodlines to give a different experience.”
In other gaming news, Nintendo described Super Mario Bros. Wonder to be a game that “fits this day and age”.