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At the E3 2019 (opens in new tab) PC Gaming Show, we got another glimpse at the night-stalking gameplay of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 (opens in new tab), the long-awaited sequel in the World of Darkness universe from Paradox Interactive and Hardsuit Labs. In this new trailer, you get to see a bloody stake pulled out of your heart in first-person, have a handsome bloodsucker wave a machete in your wave, and get a rundown on what it means to be a vampire from a newfound friend.
“Most of you types won’t even make it a whole year,” he says. “We have one rule: don’t break The Masquerade.” If you haven’t yet played the 2004 cult hit Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, vampires are incentivized to never use their abilities in front of humans and give away the existence of the supernatural.
“It’s a darker version of our world, and the vampires need to keep their presence secret from humanity,” said Hardsuit Labs’ senior narrative designer Brian Mitsoda. “So the vampires are staying hidden in the shadows while also needing to feed on human beings and manipulating us in order to get blood.”
Hardsuit Labs’ senior narrative designer Cara Ellison mentioned the Resonance system: “Vampires can see the emotional resonance of human beings, like fear or desire, and then they can feed on those people to feel the same things to feel more alive, and that can give you extra boosts in the game.” That explains the snippet of gameplay we saw with X-ray vision on ordinary citizens’ veins and the different colors of their blood.
Ellison also set up some of the Bloodlines 2 story, particularly your place in this world. “When you were made as a vampire – a very young vampire – a lot of other vampires were made at the same time in this thing called The Mass Embrace,” she said. “And that means essentially, they’re having a less lucky time than you in the world. You’re having a relatively good time compared to them, because they don’t know what they’re doing – they’re going through vampire puberty on their own.” Vampire puberty: confirmed.
Paradox also uploaded an extended gameplay trailer which you can watch below, featuring a few additional minutes of gameplay and a lot more conversations with NPCs from the various vampire clans. Check it out:
The ‘March 2020’ release date shown on the Bloodlines 2 Steam page (opens in new tab) is reflected in the trailer’s ‘Q1 2020’ date, but the lack of specificity might mean that Bloodlines 2 could need a bit more time in the coffin. We’ll hopefully get a more exact release date soon enough, because we’ve already got our eyeshadow and fake fangs at the ready.
See what else is in store at the show will the full E3 2019 schedule (opens in new tab).
