The associate art director of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has shared how John Wick and Nicolas Winding Refn’s filmography influenced its “neo-noir” style.
The Chinese Room‘s Ben Matthews explained in a developer diary published to Paradox Interactive‘s website why neo-noir was such an attractive angle for the game’s art team.
“It’s very moody and evokes places that harbour sinister characters. Think Blade Runner or John Wick. Subversive, Dark, and Threatening, are all Neo-Noir conventions we’re focusing on for our game,” he said. “[Vampire: The Masquerade] is all of these tones and so naturally it worked hand in hand.”
Neo-noir also relies on sharp contrast of light and dark to divide the world that it is painting for the viewer, and this was a facet that lent itself to the duality of a vampire.
Additionally, Unreal Engine 5’s capabilities for atmospherics has ameliorated the visual storytelling of these environments, allowing for “dense scenes thick with warm glows and cold spotlights”.
The works of Danish film director Nicolas Winding Refn, and specifically the magical realism show Copenhagen Cowboy, were also cited as another influence on the team.
Furthermore, the tenets of neo-noir have effected the development of the “eclectic mix of miscreants and personalities” that populate Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, with each of them feeling like they’re at home in this corrupted version of the city.
“It’s not a 1:1 scale replica but we’ve created our Seattle by spending a lot of time researching with Google Earth, maps and real life visits. We haven’t taken things verbatim but we have tried to capture the soul of the city and give it a Vampire Skew,” continued Matthews, adding that there are inspirations from New York and San Francisco in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2‘s setting.
In other gaming news, the world’s biggest game speedrunning event will welcome Peanut Butter the dog who will be playing the 1985 NES title Gyromite as the event’s first canine speedrunner.