At the moment, all anyone knows about Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is that it won’t be releasing by the end of this year and that Hardsuit Labs (which Paradox owns a minority stake in) is no longer working on it. This was revealed back in February, with Paradox adding that a new studio would be taking over development.
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More recently, during Paradox’s Q3 interim report, the publisher was asked if there was any news regarding Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 or its mysterious new developer. Chief financial officer Alexander Bricca bluntly said that no, there isn’t but, perhaps to throw fans a bone, assured that development is progressing well.
He added that it will still be some time until Paradox can offer a new release date. As for why it’s keeping the new developer’s identity a secret, it’s because Paradox wants it to be in a situation where it can focus all its energy on game development and not worry about having to address fans.
To say Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2’s development has been tumultuous would be something of an understatement. While Hardlight was in charge of the project, both the Bloodlines 2 creative director and narrative lead were abruptly fired. After Hardlight was taken off development duties, the studio suffered further layoffs, which affected the entire narrative team.
The original Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines game released in 2004, developed by the now defunct Troika Games and published by Activision. Despite mixed reviews, poor sales, and technically releasing unfinished, the game garnered a cult classic status. The sequel will once again be an action RPG and offers a similar premise, with the player taking control of a newly transformed vampire.
Fans of the series have had other games to keep themselves occupied. Last year saw the release of two Vampire: The Masquerade visual novels, Coteries of New York and Shadows of New York, as well as a battle royale spin-off Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt is available in early access, with the full release scheduled for 2022.
Vampire: The Masqeurade – Bloodlines 2 is in development for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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