The lonely and forgotten radio is located in a dusty, desolate room that is remarkable for its modernity. I approach it, I’m curious and tentatively pushing the on switch – this was in Seattle 2024, when I stole the Earth, I didn’t talk any strange stories. “Hello Seattle, this is your 2am weather and traffic update,” the voice informs me. “We’re still being warned of a severe storm, but it’s cold, cold and cold.” It takes a little time to recognize Dight’s iconic storyteller World of Darkness and LA’s brand manager Jason Carl. “Let’s take a note here in these important reminders, because multiple things happen at once” – one of Curl’s most iconic lines from the aforementioned live play. I felt myself invade my smile and honestly, I shed a bit of tears. I was waiting Vampire: Masquerade – Bloodline 2 For years and this small and easily overlooked interaction suggested that my belief in the Chinese room was nothing.
You’ll be a liar if you say you don’t have a reservation about your pedigree 2. The original vampire game has been arrested for absolute certainty, but remains a cult classic and respected post-release as one of the best RPGs ever made. Its vanilla version is buggy and often unplayable confusion, but the character’s cast and dry humor carry it. Its success is hard to replicate, mainly because it didn’t – most metrics made Bloodlines a bit of a flop, but it’s also one of the most beloved PC games of all time.
Bloodlines 2 has huge shoes to fill. In many ways, it could be a perfect sequel – no bugs, it is narratively strong and innovative in its gameplay – but it stands up to a completely flawed but unique idolized thing. How do you compete with something rosy and beloved? But I think that, after spending more than 10 hours pouring into the introductory quests in Bloodlines 2, the Chinese Room captured the essence of what makes a good vampire game. I won the Masquerade Game.
You are Fear and the recently revived “by the age of 150” you are older than the US. Pushing into the snowy world of dystopia, you have a mysterious mark on your hands, and perhaps more urgently, the voice of a very talkative Marcavian detective is stuck in your head. You and your spiritual partner in crime, Fabian, who carved a rune into your body, navigating the chaos of Seattle in the war. What’s not going well?
As Fear step into Seattle’s snowy streets (“cold, cold, cold” after all”), he bumps into a dark, boring stab wound when the soundtrack begins. But it carefully moves to its own melody. It’s a welcome explosion from the past, engulfing Seattle in the same mood as downtown Troika and Chinatown.
While searching for Fabian’s body, you pass the latter version of Seattle. When LA’s Chinatown felt on Earth in many ways, the rethinking of Bloodlines 2 is reminiscent of the neon grime seen in Cyberpunk 2077. The city is illuminated with blue and purple shades. Homelessness is intense, and sidewalk cleanliness is clearly not a priority, and even the residents themselves seem relatively intended to give you a part of their heart. It’s hostile and oppressive, but more than anything, it feels like a city where vampires can roam freely.
And there are many families in Seattle. In the wider vampire, masquerade universe, every city has certain loyalty, and often has people who are not in the enduring state of civil war. Since last seen LA, it has moved from the Camarilla-led metropolis of Lacroix to the Free State, then attempting to buy Vannever Thomas (an unprecedented cry to Brian Decahart), and then back to the anarchy-led city. Seattle is on the brink of a similar war, and while the prince recently places the court in a red warning, the anarchy takes him onto the streets, causing chaos.
Our first interaction comes with Lugraham, the veiled woman we saw in every trailer for the game. Fabian advises me to be careful. She’s old, she’s strong and doesn’t shit. Every conversation is a unique and unique movement of choice, and the voice line changes according to the family. Graham, for example, is not particularly friendly to my tremore, but is relatively polite to my rason bra. It takes me to go a few to navigate her complicated personality, but honestly I could hear her saying “subsequent Gore and Dior” over and over again.
Similarly, my interaction with Ryong Choi is just as unstable. The lion, Graham’s genius and the acting prince of the city, doesn’t bother flattering. She is a straight race and wants a solution rather than flirting. It’s not easy to win the favor of Seattle courts, particularly adjacent to Tory, a gorgeous nosferatu, but it’s a fun political game to play. Each character has a unique personality that perfectly embodies each clan and their ideals. This is an impressive feat of World Building and character writing, almost rivaling Gate 3 of Larian’s Bardour. Every member of the cast feels that this world is complicated. Lou is a monster while charming. Ryong beheads the Anarch King as he walks into the room in a smooth suit. Their appearance is refined, but like you, they are slaves to the beast. They are animals in their own way. That’s everything about Vampire: Masquerade, and that’s what the Chinese room absolutely nails.
Not to mention Fabian though. The idea of an omnipresent voice in your head can really take away fatigue, but Fabian perfectly balances his role as a simple hint giver and lore damper while he is a true Marcabian. Famous for their scattering and odd quips, he describes the television as “a very fast telegraph system staffed by idiots” and “a fairground Nickel-ground Nickel-free-sacrifice-no-nickel-no-sacrificing-you-can-smiles-you-can-smiles-you-can-smiles.” As someone who played the Marcavians on both Tabletop and Psyche 1, there is a strange kind of clarity in how they view the world.
But you’re not Marcabian (well, most of the time you step into Fabian’s shoes from time to time). Instead, you are given the option to choose six clans: Banu Haqim, Brujah, Lasombra, Toreador, Tremere, and Ventrue (though Lasombra and Toreador require shadows and silk DLC). Try all six of them and they all play differently and leaned against the clan’s tabletop identity. For example, Tremore boils enemy blood and explodes enemies (it’s a lot of fun). Toador is an agile killer, capable of landing faster than the speed of light as he runs through the battlefield and rams through the enemies.
Similarly, Ventrue uses mental control to attract enemies from afar to each other, maintaining their identity, although slightly overlapping with Treadore. Lasombra can use their shadows to get people involved, but can also pack punches like Bruja. Banu Haqim is a designated assassin class, but you can rent Blood Magic from Tremere. Similar to tabletop RPGs where clans have overlapping comprehensive fields (or skill trees), we can see similarities in their approach to combat, but there are also noticeable differences.
The Discipline track is linear (one, then another, then another, then another), but can be borrowed from the skill tree of other clans. For example, Toador is from the discipline of overlapping Celerity in both clans, so you can learn the lightning strike of Bruja with five ability points, but considering that he has been previously excluded from Treadore’s identity, you will have to pay 10 to learn any of Tremere’s blood magic. The system is a wise nod to the tabletop experience, with additional fees for purchasing abilities outside the clan’s “core skills.” It’s this little thing that makes me smile – it highlights Bloodlines 2 as a VTM game, not just another RPG. Certainly, they’re subtle, but they’re so seamlessly integrated that new players aren’t overwhelmed, but older fans like me get that little dopamine kick.
Speaking of kicks, the entire battle is glaring and enthusiastic and makes you feel powerful, but the lack of a lock-on system means the battle will quickly become confusing, especially if you’re playing one of the faster clans like Treadore. I often find myself controlling one enemy. The enemy ran straight into the fight to fight his former allies, taking several hits from me and breaking my hold. The Vampire Elder makes me easily wipe out an entire group of enemies at once, but I find it quite difficult to deal pure single target damage.
Similarly, Phyr moves fast, but sometimes it feels like the game isn’t fast enough to catch up with them. Traversal has fast lightning and is reminiscent of Sharkmob’s Bloodhunt, but animations of movement can sometimes delay the action. Similarly, you certainly feel the loading screen between levels, especially when you leave the glacier following a conversation with Lou. However, these are all relatively minor complaints, and no one expects technical quirks in a pedigree game.
As someone who has been waiting for Bloodlines 2 for 10 years, its early missions suggest that this is a vampire. Taking Swanson’s detective elements and combining them with the dirty, frightening aesthetics of Blood Hunt’s speed and bloodline, what the franchise needs so much is a return to form. If the game can continue the momentum of the first few missions, I think there will be a winner in the Chinese room who will please both longtime VTM fans and newcomers, as the story excellence and the cliffhanger keeps the heavy story, always saying “just an hour more” while maintaining the heavy story.
Our vampire story isn’t over, and the night in Seattle beckons. Writing this preview, I’m really pleased that Pedigree 2 is not only authentic, but also a great, solid RPG. So far, it stands alone as a unique story of its own, so I can’t wait to watch it to the end. So, while waiting for the Bloodlines 2 release date, does anyone have a cigarette?
