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

[Semiurge]

spaghetti, and corpses

 

[Be Kind Rewind]

Why is this even a discussion? I always figured that it was pretty clear how White Wolf took a lot of inspiration from the old school Italian mob when writing down the Camarilla laws. The similarities are very obvious, like how the very first rule in both is that you're supposed to never reveal the existence of "this thing of ours" to outsiders, how you can't kill or turn someone into a made man/vampire without the approval from the higher ups, how you're stuck in the Omerta/Jyhad forever after being made/embraced, etc.

Vampires are just supposed to be kikes/fags. The vampires being fags angle was really hammered in in Bloodlines when you had to shut down a poz party because the vampires didn't want to unleash another monkey pox just yet, it would draw too much attention. Government employees were standing around in hazmat suits before you dealt with it in the downtown area. The parasite-predator angle while pretending to be one of the host population is just Talmudism 101.

 

[ind33d]

Why is this even a discussion? I always figured that it was pretty clear how White Wolf took a lot of inspiration from the old school Italian mob when writing down the Camarilla laws. The similarities are very obvious, like how the very first rule in both is that you're supposed to never reveal the existence of "this thing of ours" to outsiders, how you can't kill or turn someone into a made man/vampire without the approval from the higher ups, how you're stuck in the Omerta/Jyhad forever after being made/embraced, etc.

Vampires are just supposed to be kikes/fags. The vampires being fags angle was really hammered in in Bloodlines when you had to shut down a poz party because the vampires didn't want to unleash another monkey pox just yet, it would draw too much attention. Government employees were standing around in hazmat suits before you dealt with it in the downtown area. The parasite-predator angle while pretending to be one of the host population is just Talmudism 101.

nothing about being a vampire is inherently evil. vampires are one of the best-behaved minorities per capita, they should get affirmative action in college applications

 

[MjKorz]

Watching the promo material for this game makes me believe they just gave up on the story and characters and just want to focus on delivering a semi-competent action game.

 

[Ibn Sina]

VTMB was a shit overrated popamole game (made by competent people), what do you expect from VTMB2? Even fucking disco is better than VTMB.

True. It was totally on rails with no true C&C.

 

[sosmoflux]

Jokes aside I'm playing this day1 for 12 hours straight and so are all of you.

 

[Baron Tahn]

I wont be...What makes it a day 1 purchase!? It looks like a steaming pile of crud - but weirdly if reviewers pan it I might have a look, reviewers these days are usually 180 degrees in the wrong direction.

 

[sosmoflux]

Who said purchase

 

[Tyranicon]

Jokes aside I'm playing this day1 for 12 hours straight and so are all of you.

Oh hey look, I found the lone QA guy.

 

[sosmoflux]

What clan are you picking on release day Tyranicon? I'm going Ventrue for sure

 

[ShiningSoldier]

I'm going to play Nosferatu or Malkavian.
Ah, yes, I've totally forgotten that the developers couldn't come up with the ideas for unusual clans, so they decided not to add them to the game.

 

[sosmoflux]

There's four to choose from, which is even more than Cyberpunk

 

[Semiurge]

I'm not playing a genderqueer superhero simulator. A spiritual successor to Bloodlines I might, but this isn't going to be one of those cases.

 

[Harthwain]

There's four to choose from, which is even more than Cyberpunk

You make it sound as if they matter.

 

[MjKorz]

There's four to choose from, which is even more than Cyberpunk

You make it sound as if they matter.

I hope they'll at least give them different clan disciplines.

 

[ind33d]

a vampire 4X game where you fight the vatican in a civilization IV-style diplomatic conflict would be ballin'

 

[S.torch]

The other day I watched "Still Wakes the Deep", another game supposedly produced by the same studio that is now making Blooodlines 2 and I was pleasantly surprised about how natural the atmosphere and dialogue is made. Not saying the whole game was perfect but it handled it well-enough. Some people here said it was a walking-sim but in reality it was just a standard horror game.

The game takes place in an oil platform in the middle of the sea around Scotland. Everything from the character accents to the environment of the platform is well researched and done. You can believe most characters are working-class adult males on a shitty job in the middle of the sea. It even felt very crappy when some of them died in the middle of the game. In general an interesting experience.

How they came from there to Bloodlines 2? Main character, who is supposedly a super 500 years old vampire from the middle of Mesopotamia or whatever. Doesn't speak, act, behaves or do anything remotely similar to someone of that time and place. The name "phyre" is stupid and ridiculous itself and then you have skibidi toilet dumb wanna-be zoomer voice in your head talking ALL THE TIME. Not even the looks are decent. Does anyone believe an old vampire from Mesopotamia is going to get a rapper-like cut? This person just forgot ALL his/her culture after coming back from the dead or what?

I don't even know why some super old vampire from Mesopotamia would travel all the way to Seattle. I guess you can come with an excuse for it but is not the first idea that comes to my mind when you mention these places. All in all it seems they glued this whole game at the last minute.

 

[Harthwain]

How they came from there to Bloodlines 2?

The name on the door may be the same. Doesn't mean the same people still work there.

 

[S.torch]

Is still a fairly recent title I think. But the galaxy brains at the studio must've lay off the actual competent.

 

[Roguey]

The name on the door may be the same. Doesn't mean the same people still work there.

Dan Pinchbeck claims responsibility for both.

 

[Tyranicon]

How they came from there to Bloodlines 2?

The name on the door may be the same. Doesn't mean the same people still work there.

Hasn't it been confirmed that these are two separate teams? That's usually how a single studio is able to churn out two games.

I have a sinking suspicion their A team worked on Still Wakes the Deep. I can't imagine anyone serious naming a vampire Phyre. That's something that sounds good when you're high out of your mind.

 

[Roguey]

Hasn't it been confirmed that these are two separate teams? That's usually how a single studio is able to churn out two games.

I have a sinking suspicion their A team worked on Still Wakes the Deep. I can't imagine anyone serious naming a vampire Phyre. That's something that sounds good when you're high out of your mind.

https://www.danpinchbeck.co.uk/deep

Still Wakes the Deep (tba 2024)

Concept Creation and Development (from initial pitch, through greenlighting, prototyping and pre-production), Creative Direction (until Alpha/Spring 2023 including high level direction on art, audio and design), Story Creation & Script, Narrative Direction (including working with Kate Saxon/Liquid Violet on casting, voice direction and editing).

The short pitch for Deep started with “The Thing, on an oil rig” but the story and script I wrote had aspirations to dive more deeply into the personal drama of the main characters.

I directed Deep through prototyping, pre-production and production before handing it over just after it hit alpha, with a script that was complete short of a few rewrites. I’m looking forward to seeing what the team do with it as the moment I came up with Deep I knew it had the potential to be something special.

https://www.danpinchbeck.co.uk/vampire

Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 (tba 2024)

Pitch creation and creative leadership, concept adaptation to fit publisher and IP requirements, gameplay vision (including mechanics, tone, player experience), Creative Direction (prototype, pre-production & production, until Alpha (spring 2023)), Narrative Direction (including story and character creation, overseeing writing and level design team, establishing narrative architecture, style guides, working with Kate Saxon/SIDE on casting, voice direction and editing), Publisher liaison (specifically IP/Branding teams).

I knew I wanted to write the story too, we’d never been a studio that were going to finish someone else’s work.

The central character, Phyre, encapsulates everything that VTM means to me and it was a blast writing her and the rest of the gang . Once I’d put together the story and background, characters and context, I worked with a great narrative team - Sarah Longthorne, Arone Le Bray and Frances Wakefield-Harrey on putting flesh onto those bones - and again worked with Kate and SIDE to put together a fantastic cast.

I led the project from inception through until alpha in spring this year, then handed the narrative reins over to Ian Thomas and the creative leadership to Alex Skidmore, both hugely experienced devs. If you love VTM as much as me, then I reckon you’re in good hands. And I hope the dark heart that I started beating at the centre of this thing does it justice.

 

[Tyranicon]

Is Dan Pinchbeck known for anything besides Dear Esther?

I remember looking him up a while back but that seems to be his only major work, besides Deep. It also gets really fuzzy who writes what when you're a creative director and overseeing others.

 

[Caim]

Is Dan Pinchbeck known for anything besides Dear Esther?

I remember looking him up a while back but that seems to be his only major work, besides Deep. It also gets really fuzzy who writes what when you're a creative director and overseeing others.

So I looked him up. Turns out the Dan Pinchbeck with a Wikipedia page is some new age weirdo, which has to sting for an auteur like him. But the other games he's involved with include:

- Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. The lesser sequel to the influential Amnesia: Dark Descent.
- Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. A walking simulator for Jesus!
- So Let Us Melt. VR game for the Daydream, a headset you slide your phone into for fake VR.
- Little Orpheus. A 2D platformer whose gameplay is mostly "press right to receive story". Formerly an Apple exclusive.
- Still Wakes the Deep. The Thing, except it's on an oil rig and SCOTLAND FOREVER. Released last month, a tad short for the price but people seem to like it.

Aside from that last one it's not a very impressive resume.

 

[Roguey]

Is Dan Pinchbeck known for anything besides Dear Esther?

I remember looking him up a while back but that seems to be his only major work, besides Deep. It also gets really fuzzy who writes what when you're a creative director and overseeing others.

Everybody's Gone to the Rapture also won awards.

Aside from that last one it's not a very impressive resume.

Sumo Digital paid 3 million dollars to own a name and two employees

This is the power of winning a BAFTA.