Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 was almost cancelled after being delayed multiple times and placed on indefinite hold.
While the fate of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is unknown, a recent storey suggests that the highly anticipated RPG was nearly cancelled before being turned over to another production team. Since its announcement in 2019, Bloodlines 2 has had a difficult development cycle. The game was delayed twice before being indefinitely postponed and worked on by an undisclosed second team in February.
Bloodlines 2 was announced as the successor to one of the best RPGs of all time, promising to preserve the fundamental concept of The Masquerade series while expanding it with new characters, factions, RPG mechanics, and a new setting located in Seattle that shared the same universe as the World of Darkness. The game’s only thing in common with its predecessor is that it has had a similarly unfortunate development cycle. Troika Game quickly delivered the original Bloodlines incomplete following several deadlines and expense overruns, despite being developed by original Fallout designers after separating from Interplay. This led to the studio’s death, as the vampire RPG was panned due to technical issues and flopped horribly during its first release before becoming a cult classic years later.
CEO Fredrik Wester unveiled Vampire: The Masquerade in a new interview with Swedish website Avanza earlier this month (via PC Gamer). Paradox Interactive almost cancelled The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 earlier this year. According to Wester, the firm debated whether work should continue, and after Hardsuit Labs was removed from the title, the publisher was ready to shut down the project entirely. Fortunately, another team presented a compelling pitch for the sequel, complete with formidable concepts. Although the executive chairman hasn’t revealed which firm is currently working on Bloodlines 2, he did say that the new developer was “extremely respected and competent” and that Paradox Interactive was confident that the new team will match fan expectations, even if the game “has a long way to go.”
Vampire: The Masquerade began as a tabletop role-playing game and has since inspired a slew of adaptations, including novels, collectable cards, and live-action role-playing games, as well as a slew of video games from various companies. Aside from the Bloodlines series, The Masquerade franchise contains a few other titles, the most recent of which, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt, introduced Battle Royale and required players to slaughter other vampires to survive the sect war.
Although a release date for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is unknown, players can now boost their expectations once more.
What began as a sequel swiftly devolved into a misstep; however, a new capable company has taken over and may be able to make the long-awaited sequel better than its predecessor.
Bloodlines 2 is currently developing for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: PC Gamer
