World of Darkness Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 - VTMB sequel from The Chinese Room - coming early 2025

[Infinitron]

If this is true and the developer is indeed The Chinese Room, it puts Dan Pinchbeck's recent departure in a different light. He finished working on the game.

 

[Moink]

Call it a hunch but I am fairly sure it isn't The Chinese Room.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

Call it a hunch but I am fairly sure it isn't The Chinese Room.

That would be quite the plot twist, given that it was the most popular guess by a landslide for the last three years.

 

[deama]

What is is it supposed to be again? A telltale clone?

 

[Herumor]

What is is it supposed to be again? A telltale clone?

No, that's the other one, Swansong, with 3 different playable characters.

 

[Roguey]

If this is true and the developer is indeed The Chinese Room, it puts Dan Pinchbeck's recent departure in a different light. He finished working on the game.

Alternate interpretation is that he felt they needed more time to truly deliver a quality work and Alan Smithee'd himself away when told there could be no more delays.

 

[JBro]

Maybe they'll fix up the original Bloodlines and try to sell it as a remaster.

 

[Skinwalker]

Maybe they'll fix up the original Bloodlines and try to sell it as a remaster.

That would be the best-case scenario.

Having this abomination cancelled before it rapes the light of day would also be great.

 

[Wesp5]

Maybe they'll fix up the original Bloodlines and try to sell it as a remaster.

Paradox already tried to do that with the modder behind Project Vaulderie, but at the time Activision wasn't interested and they own Bloodlines even if Paradox owns the overall IP...

 

[Ismaul]

Who's really interested in Bloodlines 2 now? I know I'm negatively interested, like I was with Fallout 3.

It's like, there's no reason for a sequel, not the same creative team/writer. It's just IP rape/recycling to cash in on the fanbase. Just make your own VtM spiritual successor FFS, because this will never be Bloodlines 2.

I'd love a good successor without ties to the original, but frankly I just hope this cash grab sucks and fails. Worst case scenario is Fallout 3's success.

 

[Grauken]

I would be interested in a good Vampire The Masquerade cRPG whether it's Bloodlines 2 or something else, but this doesn't fill me with hope that there's something good going to come out.

 

[Anonymous Ranger]

The annonment better be them canceling the game because there’s no way they’re going to save it otherwise. If it’s not that then I really hope they announce a new VTM crpg that isn’t tied to bloodlines at all like others have said in the thread.

 

[Cricket McBangle]

The annonment better be them canceling the game because there’s no way they’re going to save it otherwise. If it’s not that then I really hope they announce a new VTM crpg that isn’t tied to bloodlines at all like others have said in the thread.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Heartless Lullaby on Steam https://store.steampowered.com/app/1926120/Vampire_The_Masquerade__Heartless_Lullaby/

This is being expanded into a full game called Heartless Symphony

 

[Fedora Master]

The annonment better be them canceling the game because there’s no way they’re going to save it otherwise. If it’s not that then I really hope they announce a new VTM crpg that isn’t tied to bloodlines at all like others have said in the thread.

Not gonna happen. The name recognition alone is too valuable to let go.

 

[Zombra]

I would be interested in a good Vampire The Masquerade cRPG whether it's Bloodlines 2 or something else, but this doesn't fill me with hope that there's something good going to come out.

What? Why? What's automatically bad about 2½ years of work behind closed doors?

The annonment better be them canceling the game because there’s no way they’re going to save it otherwise. If it’s not that then I really hope they announce a new VTM crpg that isn’t tied to bloodlines at all like others have said in the thread.

What? Why? What's automatically bad about 2½ years of work behind closed doors?

 

[Grauken]

I would be interested in a good Vampire The Masquerade cRPG whether it's Bloodlines 2 or something else, but this doesn't fill me with hope that there's something good going to come out.

What? Why? What's automatically bad about 2½ years of work behind closed doors?

If you think you have a winner at hand you put some marketing money behind it. If you don't believe in your own product you suddenly release it with almost zero amount of hype. That's a good heuristic, though obviously not flawless

Also, 2½ for a proper cRPG is rather short.

 

[Roguey]

If you think you have a winner at hand you put some marketing money behind it. If you don't believe in your own product you suddenly release it with almost zero amount of hype. That's a good heuristic, though obviously not flawless

Also, 2½ for a proper cRPG is rather short.

From Paradox's perspective, they've already spent too much damn money on this (in development since 2016). Instead of spending even more money on presentable-but-fake vertical slices, it makes sense to just wait until it's mostly done to see it as it is.

 

[sosmoflux]

Maybe they'll fix up the original Bloodlines and try to sell it as a remaster.

That's still my running assumption too. I'm amazed nobody has done it yet.

 

[Anonymous Ranger]

I would be interested in a good Vampire The Masquerade cRPG whether it's Bloodlines 2 or something else, but this doesn't fill me with hope that there's something good going to come out.

What? Why? What's automatically bad about 2½ years of work behind closed doors?

The annonment better be them canceling the game because there’s no way they’re going to save it otherwise. If it’s not that then I really hope they announce a new VTM crpg that isn’t tied to bloodlines at all like others have said in the thread.

What? Why? What's automatically bad about 2½ years of work behind closed doors?

I don’t think there’s anything bad about a development time that long. I think the game might be bad because it’s gone through two project leaders and two different companies. Neither of those are a good sign.

 

[Anonymous Ranger]

The annonment better be them canceling the game because there’s no way they’re going to save it otherwise. If it’s not that then I really hope they announce a new VTM crpg that isn’t tied to bloodlines at all like others have said in the thread.

Not gonna happen. The name recognition alone is too valuable to let go.

I know I just wish it wasn’t like that

 

[Roguey]

Ha, here's a Paradox glass door review from August 2nd.

Great if you're working on one of their main strategy titles

Pros

Overall solid benefits, competitive salary.

Cons

Under the new (original) CEO, there's a big push to focus on their core products. Any project that doesn't fall under that umbrella will receive very little in the way of publishing support so your product will hit the market with a thud

That's a way of putting it. Guess someone might have been pretty disappointed with what's happening with BL2.

On an additional note, people in the Steam forums are claiming a mod deleted the first thread about the release date. Pointless endeavor, that.

 

[Zombra]

If you think you have a winner at hand you put some marketing money behind it. If you don't believe in your own product you suddenly release it with almost zero amount of hype. That's a good heuristic, though obviously not flawless

Sure, that's one perspective - but we've all heard of games that come out of nowhere, announced relatively close to their release dates. And I feel like this is kind of a special case due to the huge hype and fantastical crash of the first go-round. Then there are also devs that just don't like to do a lot of marketing. They are out there.

Not a guarantee it's going to be good of course, but I don't really see quiet devs as a red flag.

Also, 2½ for a proper cRPG is rather short.

Bloodlines 1 - three years
Baldur's Gate 2 - less than two years
Fallout 2 - nine months

 

[Harthwain]

Bloodlines 1 - three years
Baldur's Gate 2 - less than two years
Fallout 2 - nine months

Bloodlines was an unfinished mess though. Baldur's Gate 2 was done on the basis of Baldur's Gate 1 meaning they didn't have to work from the scratch. Same goes for Fallout 2. The latter two games were also not made in 3D, which probably makes it easier to work on than something done in state-of-the-art 3D.

 

[Roguey]

Baldur's Gate 2 - less than two years
Fallout 2 - nine months

Sequels aren't a good example to cite. Better off listing the Kickstarter games: Wasteland 2 and Pillars of Eternity were both made in 29 months though they had the benefit of being made by experienced RPG developers (well more Pillars than Wasteland).

Oh when I listed titles earlier I forgot to mention Deus Ex which was made in 2 years and 10 months. Shipped as a far more polished game than Bloodlines because Spector's crew weren't delusional about scope.

 

[Tyranicon]

I just assumed the October 27 date was a placeholder of some kind, like what you would see on Steam.

That's very short turnaround on marketing if they do release as stated.

This doesn't look good.