Following the unveiling of the new version of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 in development at The Chinese Room, the developer has started posting regular developer diaries.
The latest one is focused on narrative themes and atmosphere. Penned by Senior Narrative Designer and Writer Sarah Longthorne, the blog post explains why The Chinese Room decided to make the player character an Elder (a very old and powerful vampire) instead of the newly transformed Thinblood that was in the original pitch created by Hardsuit Labs.
One of our early design decisions was to make the player character into an Elder Kindred. This was interesting to us because it means that we can play with how this established vampire knows things about being a Kindred already and how we can create gaps to let the player learn this type of information firsthand. Balancing the opportunity and the history it entails with the desire to allow players to still roleplay and make the character their own. It was extremely challenging but fun!
The blog post also confirms that, predictably, the story of Bloodlines 2 begins with the Elder protagonist awakening after a long imprisonment in Seattle. Moreover, the vampire's full powers have been 'artificially suppressed', explaining why players must unlock them again through RPG-like leveling.
The Chinese Room also hints that the plot will involve several NPCs attempting to exploit the weakened Elder vampire, including Lou, Ryong, and Tolly. How to deal with them will be entirely up to the player. The blog post ends by musing on the characters' feelings towards humans. Are they simply prey, or something more?
Presumably, that's also something players will get to decide for themselves once Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is released. Publisher Paradox Interactive is seemingly confident in the Fall 2024 release window, though caution is always warranted, especially when it comes to this game.
Anyway, The Chinese Room promised to reveal all playable clans before the end of the year, so look forward to that information in the coming weeks.
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