Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines was a first-person motion roleplaying recreation that got here out in 2004 within the heyday of the FPS RPG growth, when titles like Deus Ex and The Elder Scrolls 3: Morrowind had been flying off the cabinets. The franchise went dormant for some time, nevertheless it has risen from the grave — however personally, I want it had been nonetheless buried.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, from developer The Chinese language Room, brings again the FPS RPG, nevertheless it misses on so many marks. It presents gamers little past the expertise of enjoying a hip vampire in a near-future downtown Seattle. I had performed solely a brief burst of the unique recreation, which provided extra of a storyline, customization, and sense of badassery than all my time with its successor.
In Bloodlines 2, gamers take the function of Phyre, an elder vampire generally known as the Nomad, woke up from a century-long slumber by Fabien, a vampire detective. In what appears like a transparent copy of Cyberpunk 2077, Phyre tears aside Fabien’s physique, and the detective’s spirit is now embedded in Phyre’s thoughts. The 2 should clear up who put the mark on Phyre’s hand and the conspiracy involving a vampire serial killer from a century in the past.
The premise sounds attention-grabbing till you notice how the RPG and detective components are fairly inconsequential. The “roleplaying” and “crime-solving” elements that ought to kind the core of the gameplay barely exist.
Even for a vampire recreation, this sucks
Most likely the one constructive facet of the sport is the titular Masquerade mechanic. Vampire: The Masquerade, which began as a tabletop RPG within the early ’90s, focuses on vampires hiding from people in a world very like ours, following guidelines generally known as the Masquerade.
Bloodlines 2 incorporates this like GTA’s wished system. Should you’re in public, double leaping, utilizing powers or biting somebody makes the meter rise from inexperienced to crimson. You may disguise or climb away from people to cut back it. Max it out, and vampire enforcers charged with upholding the Masquerade will stake you with none discover. This method works effectively with Phyre, attempting to mix in with people, and it does assist with the thought of attempting to dwell a life within the trendy world as a vampire.
The remainder of the sport is type of sparse. There is no leveling system or stats. XP solely unlocks talents tied to your clan of alternative: Brujah, Tremere, Banu Haqim, Ventrue and Toreador, all catered to completely different playstyles. If you wish to punch folks at superfast pace, you’d go along with the aggressive Brujah clan or be capable to keep stealthy with the Banu Haqim. As an elder vampire, Phyre can really study the opposite clan’s talents as effectively, however that is the extent of the roleplaying choices out there, as Phyre goes to be as highly effective no matter which clan you are in.
Regardless of a slew of talents, fight is fairly boring. You may hypnotize, freeze time, or make blood boil, however in any other case you are restricted to punches and kicks. Phyre has telekinesis to throw knives or shoot weapons, however by no means equips weapons. Dodge and parry can be found, and with sufficient follow, enemies might be handled fairly simply. All in all, the fight is so limiting and presents fewer choices than its predecessor, which got here out greater than 20 years in the past.
Phyre can do some harm along with his claws.
Enemies are largely low-level vampires known as Ghouls, that are cannon fodder that may overwhelm you when surrounded. There are harder enemies, however you will not see them till close to the very finish of the sport. Boss fights exist however are unremarkable.
The detective aspect is worse. After some missions, Phyre should return to his haven to sleep. Whereas asleep, Fabien relives elements of his life, fixing murders utilizing abilities equivalent to fooling folks, studying ideas, or speaking with inanimate objects. Later, a submitting cupboard supplies all legal data which may be related to the case, since apparently nobody makes use of computer systems in Seattle.
At first, this looks like an attention-grabbing type of aspect quest to the sport, however fixing these mysteries largely includes simply going from one place to a different, speaking to whoever, exhausting the dialogue bushes which have hardly any penalties for saying the mistaken factor, after which going to the subsequent spot till you are advised what occurred.
These reminiscences tie into the plot: when Fabien goes again to the Nineteen Twenties, he remembers a sure occasion that offers some backstory associated to the present overarching thriller Phyre is attempting to resolve. But it surely’s simply mind-numbing after some time as a result of none of those characters are attention-grabbing in any respect, and like I stated earlier, there appears to be no type of fail state, because it appears inconceivable to not clear up the thriller for the reason that solely roadblock you face is somebody or one thing that it’s essential to use Fabien’s powers on.
One of many elite enemies in Bloodlines 2.
Jam a stake in my eyes
I wish to say the characters at the very least look attention-grabbing visually, however that wears off rapidly. You will discover how devoid of emotion or element their animations are.
The setting of Seattle has a cyberpunk vibe with snowstorms, however nothing adjustments over time. NPCs wander the road, both ranting concerning the chilly, seeking to begin a combat with you or attempting to have intercourse with you. There are a few dozen areas to go to, with one or two essential NPCs at every. The entire metropolis feels empty and bland.
Throughout the board, Bloodlines 2 is only a disappointment. It needs to be oozing with type and gothic vibes that make you wish to paint your fingernails black and placed on some My Chemical Romance. As an alternative, it is simply the identical factor again and again that feels uninspired and unchallenging. It additionally would not assist that when enjoying on my PS5, the sport crashed a number of occasions. Should you’re determined to spend the remainder of October enjoying as a vampire, go choose up Baldur’s Gate 3 and play as Astarion as a substitute of this recreation.
Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 is ready to launch on Oct. 21 for $60 on the PC, PS5 and Xbox Collection consoles.
