Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Devs Expand On Its “Visceral Combat”

Paradox Interactive, a well-grounded video game publisher known for helming the likes of Cities: Skylines and its sequel, is looking forward to pushing out the next installment in the Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines franchise in collaboration with developer The Chinese Room later this year. As of late, Paradox took to its official website to issue a new blog post, highlighting the upcoming RPG’s different combat styles to a certain extent. 

When designing Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 combat the goal was to create an action experience that can compete with modern titles. We think of it in three main gameplay styles we want to offer to you all – existing Bloodlines fans, and players who are new to the World of Darkness,” reads the blog post curated by The Chinese Room.

From the looks of it, the developers seem to be emphasizing the combat of Bloodlines 2 this time around, making it possible for players to get into three different gameplay styles, depending on their preferences. There’s the “Strategic Stalker” at first that draws inspiration from the likes of the Dishonored IP and “stealth-focused builds Fallout or Elder Scrolls games.” It’s perfect for those who like to strike from the shadows while making the enemy stay oblivious of their presence the whole time. 

Once your plan is ready, summoning the powers of the blood, sneaking up on an enemy, distracting them, feeding on them before a fight breaks out or hit and run tactics are options for people who love to play this way,” The Chinese Room describes the first type of combat gameplay.

The second type of combat style is pretty hands-on (quite literally) and revolves around no-holds-barred fighting, thereby the term “Action Brawler.” “References for this style are action-brawling games like the God of War series, Shadow of Mordor and Elden Ring,” affirms the dev, while encouraging that players are free to experiment between these two fighting styles and discover what works the best for them. 

But wait, there’s more. The Chinese Room is of the opinion that a hefty chunk of the original Bloodlines’ fanbase prefers digging into the narration and story more than the combat, so this third combat style, called “Narrative Adventurer” is curated perfectly for them, where every fight needs not be picked, and for those encounters that must be faced, a rudimentary knowledge of combat should suffice, letting you focus more on the surrounding plotline instead. 

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• Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt Devs Are Working On Two Unannounced AAA Projects
• Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2’s 2023 Release “Not Impossible,” Says Paradox CEO

At the very end of the blog post, it’s confirmed that Bloodlines 2 is set to receive a gameplay trailer and a deep dive on January 31, so make sure to sign in at the right time to get ahead of that notion. As for the RPG’s release date, Paradox says on its official site that the game is coming in fall 2024.