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

[Ibn Sina]

I played still wakes the deep and if they can maintain that kind of atmosphere in the final game and eliminate the discount store johnny then we might get some ok to good horror action with minimalistic rpg elements.

I don't have any expectations but I don't think it will be worst than Veilguard. The Male voice sounds good, almost max payne like in his narration.

 

[Storyfag]

Bro, that shot looks like they didn't know how to make the gun appear in the hand of the MC, it kept bugging out by appearing to the side and now they make it seem like the MC is controlling it with telekinesis.

I believe they forgot that this would be a waste of blood, even for an elder. Or is telekinesis free with no blood loss in the V5 rules?

All blood sorcery requires blood, but in the V5 system any expenditure only means a chance of getting hungrier. And for Elders this chance is significantly reduced, due to the potency of their blood.

 

[The President]

This game also implies Phyre is going to severely overpower the other kindred around her. Is a 500 year old elder of questionable generation who has been asleep a century that strong? Phyre seems stronger to me than she should be.

 

[Zombra]

Phyre seems stronger to me than she should be.

Every video game protagonist ever is stronger than they should be.

 

[d1r]

The newest trailer is probably the best piece of media they have released for this game so far. Too bad that every piece of media that came before it showed the game's actual true, and ugly nature. Too bad!

 

[Storyfag]

This game also implies Phyre is going to severely overpower the other kindred around her.

How so? Has Phyre been shown combating any of the city's Elders?

Is a 500 year old elder of questionable generation who has been asleep a century that strong?

Yes, though that century of torpor will make said elder initially weaker than their top capability.

 

[Tyranicon]

Do they have a concrete launch date for this besides "first half of 2025?"

These dates are getting vaguer and vaguer as the months go by.

 

[d1r]

These dates are getting vaguer and vaguer as the months go by.

They're sticking with theme of ambiguity. As ambiguous/vague as Phyre's gender.

 

[Litmanen]

203 pages of thread and, still, no one who could have a boner here.

Nice.

Very nice.

 

[S.torch]

Not impressed. Half the characters in that trailer are from the previous game interaction. Lou was from the Mitsoda version and I swear I've seen the ugly guy before.

 

[Zombra]

Not impressed. Half the characters in that trailer are from the previous game interaction. Lou was from the Mitsoda version and I swear I've seen the ugly guy before.

Yes, some characters from v1 are going to be in v2. Not sure what's wrong with that.

 

[Semiurge]

Bro, that shot looks like they didn't know how to make the gun appear in the hand of the MC, it kept bugging out by appearing to the side and now they make it seem like the MC is controlling it with telekinesis.

I believe they forgot that this would be a waste of blood, even for an elder. Or is telekinesis free with no blood loss in the V5 rules?

At the moment it seems there's no way to do ranged combat without spending some points, so it may be just as well. Maintaining a telekinetic grip on the weapon whilst firing it would presumably require more bloodpoints than simply snatching it away, so they had justification to implement a continuous loss of bloodpoints until you let go of the item, but they probably didn't. They probably figured this was a bad-ass compromise when you can't actually wield the weapons, but the other way would've been just as cool. I can't really imagine a single good reason to not include gunplay in this except for keeping the mechanics as simplistic as possible, hence no loot or vendors from whom you could buy ammo. Masquerade also seems to play a minimal role, so again guns aren't needed as a masquerade-preserving alternative in ignorant kine-infested areas like city hubs. You probably can't even get in trouble with the law.

 

[S.torch]

Not sure what's wrong with that.

There's nothing wrong per se. But they've been going around saying they redone the story and the game from scratch, but since they keep showcasing the same characters and the same location from the previous version that's clearly not true. And funnily enough the only character who draws some positive reaction is Lou.

 

[Roguey]

There's nothing wrong per se. But they've been going around saying they redone the story and the game from scratch, but since they keep showcasing the same characters and the same location from the previous version that's clearly not true. And funnily enough the only character who draws some positive reaction is Lou.

That art is already made, why wouldn't they use them?

The same thing happened to Alpha Protocol and Uncharted 4. Same characters, same levels, completely different plot.

 

[S.torch]

That art is already made, why wouldn't they use them?

That's fine, any sensible dev would do it. But why go around saying you remade everything from scratch? Seems dishonest just for the sake of it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Roguey]

That's fine, any sensible dev would do it. But why go around saying you remade everything from scratch? Seems dishonest just for the sake of it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don't believe they used those words exactly, in fact mentioning that they were reusing the setting and a lot of the art to save time.

 

[Infinitron]

For our second monthly TCR Community Talk, Miss Magitek and Jason Carl will discuss how you can enter and learn about the World of Darkness, the universe for Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2. If you've only played our games like Still Wakes the Deep, Dear Esther, or Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, then this is a great place to start.

 

[Zombra]

That's fine, any sensible dev would do it. But why go around saying you remade everything from scratch? Seems dishonest just for the sake of it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I don't believe they used those words exactly, in fact mentioning that they were reusing the setting and a lot of the art to save time.

TCR may not have said that but there was a lot of talk from Paradox I guess about how the new dev would be starting over.

 

[Roguey]

Glassdoor review from October 30

Falling apart
Anonymous employee
Former employee, more than 3 years

Pros

Some very talented people who I enjoyed working with

Flexible with hours and working from home

Cons

Understaffed team spread thin. Nearly everyone given too much work then punished or even laid off when they can't do everything.

This lead to a crazy level of turnover with programming and design teams being completely different from what they were a few years ago.

2024 Layoffs were handled terribly with important people laid off increasing pressure on remaining employees. Many feel layoffs were personally motivated with people who spoke up to management being targeted.

Advice to Management

Don't ignore your employees when they complain about overwork or other issues. Several important figures who left were very clear about their issues and could have been kept with intervention. Turnover is causing a lot of knowledge to be lost

It is happening again.

 

[Wesp5]

Glassdoor review from October 30

Falling apart
Anonymous employee
Former employee, more than 3 years

Pros

Some very talented people who I enjoyed working with

Flexible with hours and working from home

Cons

Understaffed team spread thin. Nearly everyone given too much work then punished or even laid off when they can't do everything.

This lead to a crazy level of turnover with programming and design teams being completely different from what they were a few years ago.

2024 Layoffs were handled terribly with important people laid off increasing pressure on remaining employees. Many feel layoffs were personally motivated with people who spoke up to management being targeted.

Advice to Management

Don't ignore your employees when they complain about overwork or other issues. Several important figures who left were very clear about their issues and could have been kept with intervention. Turnover is causing a lot of knowledge to be lost

It is happening again.

Is this about TCR or Paradox and how do you know it is connected to Bloodlines 2?

 

[Roguey]

Is this about TCR or Paradox and how do you know it is connected to Bloodlines 2?

The Chinese Room. And the only two games they've been working on have been Still Wakes the Deep (walking sim) and Bloodlines 2. I really doubt it was the walking sim that was giving them trouble. Sounds like even this barebones iteration of Bloodlines 2 is giving them trouble, and Paradox has unrealistic ideas of how soon they can make it happen which is why it got delayed to 2025.

 

[S.torch]

Everyone is laid off except the people responsible for the debacle.

 

[RegionalHobo]

was there a game with this many red flags before? i really can t remember. there was a time, long ago, i had expectations about this, but now? at best it ll be slop tier, at worse who knows what s the limit

i made peace with the fact i ll never live to see another decent wod game. far more tragical is the shadowrun situation

 

[Tyranicon]

was there a game with this many red flags before? i really can t remember. there was a time, long ago, i had expectations about this, but now? at best it ll be slop tier, at worse who knows what s the limit

i made peace with the fact i ll never live to see another decent wod game. far more tragical is the shadowrun situation

Plenty of games. This isn't even the worst in recent times. Just look at the new Dragon Age.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

was there a game with this many red flags before

Realms of Arkania HD