Vampire: The Masquerade® – Bloodlines™ 2

I feel compelled to leave a review for this game even though I rarely do that.
First things first: you shouldn't buy this game full price. It's not worth it. Get it on a huge discount if you must have it.
Second: It's a profoundly average game. 2.5-3 stars out of 5. There are worse and less fun games out there, and if you must spend about 40-60 hours (absurdly short for an RPG) somewhere, I guess here is fine. There are satisfying things about it and some interesting concepts, but most of what it seeds never comes to fruition and it lacks a lot of life, which is something you want out of a vampire, but not an RPG.
Third: I would not call it a sequel to Bloodlines. I would barely call it associated with VTM, the setting. It's a profoundly average vampire game.
I'm going to address the third point first.
Because they booted Mitsoda, the original creative behind Bloodlines, it obviously does not have his creative DNA in it, or that of Troika's spirit in general, which is a huge loss. The impression I have of it is rather than studying what made the original a cult classic, they took surface level details and tried to repeat them in the hopes that it would achieve the same result. It did not.
It's a very sanitized game emerging from a setting that is notoriously about counter-cultures and people who exist in liminal spaces. Even in referencing prohibition-era underworlds, instead of creating the obvious link to modern underworlds, the content of the game felt invasively corporate in a way that was repellent (under the guise of "modernizing kindred society") instead of making a statement, which I guess is just an echo of what happened to its development: invasive corporate control that scrubbed the game of identity. Bloodlines.io, if you will. And yet there were only two cell phones in the entire game. Go figure.
My pettiest gripe is that despite having access to Rik Schaffer's music, it was hardly used. The original game was very musically rich, and while you didn't have to play music constantly, his or anyone else's, a few solid bangers at the clubs and bars could've taken the auditory environment very far.
The tension and terror of that which hides in darkness that underscored the original does not exist here; any moments where TCR could have made us afraid (this IS a horror setting!) were blown immediately by persistent combat. Ocean House Hotel is resolved entirely without combat yet remains scary even as graphics decline, even when you know what happens. The Tzimisce plotline questioning what it means to be a monster among monsters did have combat, but it was selectively placed, and the real horror was in the videos. There was no moment in 2 where I felt threatened when I should have given that I was playing a powerful elder vampire who wakes up in a strange new era, deprived of powers I've had for centuries. That SHOULD feel intimidating.
There wasn't much freedom to explore, there was little variety in locations, despite being the SHERIFF you get ONE craphole of a haven where you can't even clear out the remains of a dead animal, the side quests were repetitive and dull, and you were funneled into one solution for everything. It was stale. Tolly felt like a stereotype in the worst way when leaning into the punk, emo, scene, metal, and overall goth communities that inspire this setting would've brought in queer diversity in a natural way.
And it takes itself way too seriously. Part of the charm of the original was ridiculous elements juxtaposed with horror. Dancing terribly at a club. A serial killer trying to kill you with someone's arm. Bondage gear as armor.
Now... as a stand-alone?
It's alright.
I found myself wishing that rather than labeling itself a sequel, it had purposefully pursued its own angles and interests so that I wouldn't feel like I was comparing it to the original constantly. It could've been a really fascinating noir approach.
The quests were limited and repetitive, but the characters along the way could've become real gems if given the chance to shine. If they hadn't been pared down in development hell, who knows what could've been. There were really potent storytelling moments, and they were the ones that were least interested in imitating the original (eg Willem's warehouse, diving out of the window, Latoya).
I think I'm in the minority, but Fabien was a charming take on a gumshoe detective AND on a Malkavian. The departure from "ooh crazy people are so scary" was a healthy pivot for Malkavians. Likewise, the opportunity to experience the same NPCs across time as both Phyre and Fabien added an interesting layer of understanding.
The visuals would've been beautiful if they weren't glitchy and laggy no matter what settings you have. I'm BEGGING developers to optimize games better so that they don't suck up all your RAM (that's expensive now!!) and shut down correctly when I close the game.
But the lighting was pretty damn good across the entire game. Everyone was very beautifully rendered, even if you turn off AI.
The combat and mechanics... solid. The creepy crawl the Banu Haqim get was very entertaining. Scampering around the rooftops and gliding around began to feel second-nature. I can see they were trying to take cues from Arkane's model of spatial awareness (magical parkour) + powers, and it wasn't 100% there, but it was a great try. The telekinesis was truly fun. Taking people out at a distance with bricks is definitely something I could do for hours.
You know what I can't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ do for hours? Chase melancholic blood type prey across the city. The blood resonance mechanic sucked ass, I'm sorry to say, and is a big artificial inflation of how long the game actually is. Mod it out. It added little to nothing to the story.
The lack of persuasion/seduction/intimidation mechanics was noticeable and made it feel less like an RPG. There was only ever really one path to success, and you didn't even get the chance to fail out. You were always funneled to the correct answer.
This happened in the environment and exploration, as well. Being trapped in one corner of Seattle for the whole game was dull, even accounting for the rooftops. A pretty but bland depiction of the city, and a pretty awful lack of ambiance.
In terms of messaging, I think the game was trying to say things about corrupted forms of love, but I came away with many more questions about what bodily autonomy means in kindred society - as people who can only remain people by taking something from others (even if they beg you!), as a society with very little means of enforcing laws except by violence. The most impacted members of the community are the thinbloods but the person representing them is still a full blown and respected kindred, so do they HAVE a voice? I did enjoy Katsumi as a character but it's an interesting narrative choice. And in the end, learning about how Fabien outwitted everyone, including himself, again brought me to the question of autonomy under compulsions. I don't know that they knew they were making this point, though.
And if they wanted to be esoteric, they really shoulda just leaned right into it and brought Tremere to the fore but we were stuck with Ventrue once again. That corporate air swept away anything interesting.
Again my pettiest gripe is the sound. There's very little sound design to speak of. Very little music, but also very little that made Seattle sound like a city, either. It felt really empty. Thus Fabien's commentary became essential to keep the game from feeling devoid of personality at all.
So. If you wanna kill 40-60 hours, you could do worse. There were strong points in the main story, but that's really all this game is: one main story with some fetch quests in between.
I did have fun but I am going back to the original now. I don't think I'll be playing 2 again.

*Note:* 40 hours later: Even though I am a lot more positive about this game than some others, I will say this, it absolutely outstays its welcome. The latter part of the game just drags. For those familiar with the film industry technique 'padding,' that's basically the last quarter of Bloodlines 2 narrative.
I still like it, but the story drags and it gets asinine, it really, really do.
There are 6 Endings and in my opinion, they are all awful, short, and unsatisfying, considering what all you go through to get to the finish. I still say its a good game, but without a New Game plus for at least the cosmetics, I can't see any reason to replay it.
Final Verdict, get it on sale. A really good sale. That last quarter of the game sucked out most of my positive vibe I had for the narrative.
*Initial Review*
I was absolutely against the game for the longest time. After they removed the Day One pay wall for the two clans, I decided to give it a go.
First off, it's not Bloodlines. And that's okay, I did not expect it to be.
Honestly, if it had been called anything else, VtM: Seattle, VtM: Dishonored, VtM: 'Insert Phrase Here,' I think there may have been less hate. I'm having fun with it. I like the art, combat is cool, it runs well-for me anyway, and there absolutely are rpg elements in the game-just not as deep as Bloodlines 1. Still, I just had a long conversation with a former Prince of the city, and what you say does matter. I also tried seducing a random lady out in the world map and she started swinging on me! So, yeah, it certainly does have rpg elements. I'm sure I'll get a little heat for this, there is a lot of bad blood right now, but the game is fun. Fanboys love them digital torches and pitchforks though.
It certainly doesn't make me think of Bloodlines when I play it, and the lack of character customization is annoying. However, those are the only two things I can come up with off hand that are 'eh.' This is a very different game, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you go into this for a modern Vampire story with some Neo-Noir elements and fast pace combat and traversal, I don't think you'll be very disappointed as a player.
KEEP IN MIND, Steam has a really great refund policy. As always when I recommend a game, set an alarm on your phone for an hour and a half, and try it for yourself. At worse, all you are out is time. It won't take the full hour to see if the game is right for you. Steam refunds as long as your play time is under two hours. If you truly hate the game and want nothing to do with it, than my advice is to go do something else. Find something else to play. Something that makes you happy. Hanging around and groaning constantly is a waste of energy.

Before I say anything, even though I recommend this game, do not get it unless it's on sale. This is a 30-40 USD game at best. If I could give this game a "mixed" review, I would, but Steam only allows me to give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down, and for all the problems I have with it, I don't think it's a game that nobody should play.
This game confuses me. It really does.
I've written and rewritten this review a few times because I do think that as a VTM 'experience' it does the job well, it falls completely flat as an RPG and is a complete dud as a Bloodlines successor.
The game is fun to play, the powers are cool to use and leaping from rooftop to rooftop at max speed is really enjoyable.
But there are significant problems with it if we want to view it as an RPG.
- (next to) No RPG mechanics. No stats, no inventory, no shops, no currency. Quest rewards are so underwhelming I didn't even realize they gave me anything
- Bad side content: Fetch quests, collect-a-thons, and "go here, kill x" missions. That's it. They aren't quests, they're activities you can do to pad your time.
- Weak character expression and dialogue options. When you want to play a nice character, you're still kind of a jerk. When you want to play as an unrepentant monster, there will still be things your character objects to on moral grounds. You're actively disincentivised to roleplay a specific character and make dialogue options that might negatively impact you.
- Low enemy and NPC variety. I think I killed the same enemy 7 times in the same encounter. It's really noticeable and annoying, nitpick though it might be.
- Entire walking section segments. Yeah, TCR couldn't help themselves. This is the biggest thing stopping me from actually playing multiple playthroughs.
There's two story dlc's coming, and I can't for the life of me possibly imagine what they could do to make this game better. So much of this game suffers by virtue of giving you this Elder character that can use all clan abilities, but that's also it's saving grace in terms of actual gameplay. Restricting your abilities to just one clan would require a level of RPG mechanics that this game just doesn't have .
I've seen comparisons to the initial 1.0 Cyberpunk launch, and I don't see a 2.0 revival in the cards for this game. There's just too much to do.
You would need to add well written, meaningful side quests that equal to at least the amount of side quests that are already in the game, as a bare minimum.
You would need to add in multiple RPG mechanics, and to rework and revamp the game to account for that.
You would need to add in so much in terms of dialogue and gameplay and interactions, and it still wouldn't be akin to Cyberpunk's 2.0 revamp.
The first Bloodlines is a game I love despite its many flaws. This game is one I... like... despite its many flaws.
The game is a 6 or a 6.5 out of 10 for me, and while I hope that post-launch updates can turn it around, I just don't see that happening.
Edit:
It's weird the number of people who apparently have never had the experience of recommending a game because you had decent fun with it, but not enough to the point where you recommend buying it full price.

I will try to judge this game for what it is, and not for what it isn't. Let me preface this by saying that Bloodlines 1 is my favourite game ever, that the World of Darkness is my favourite fictional setting ever, and that I waited for a sequel to my beloved gem for about 20 years.
With that being said, the main problem of this game is its title. It definitely does not live up to its predecessor's name, but not because this is a bad game. Because it's simply a different genre of game, that is not really comparable. If you expect a RPG on the scale of Bloodlines 1 you're going to be very disappointed. I mean, if you even expect a RPG at all, you're going to be very disappointed.
Bloodlines 2 is an action/adventure game with some very light RPG elements lost in the middle of it. And it does a great job out of it.
Combat and story are great and I had a lot of pleasure following the Nomad awakening in Seattle. It is a terrible Bloodlines game, but it is a wonderful Vampire the Masquerade game.
The game is imbued with a love for the WoD. The characters are great and are supported by an amazing voice acting job overall. The setting is dark, humorous, violent, political, philosophical, somewhat edgy, and is exactly what a game set in the WoD should be. The Chinese Room really tried to do justice to the source material and it shows.
Now, I waited 7 months after the release of the game to finally play it, because it gave me time to grieve about the fact that this is not the sequel of my favourite piece of media ever. it is not the game I waited for about 20 years.
With those expectations lowered, I was able to enjoy the game for what it really was. A great action/adventure game set in the World of Darkness, which is still the best fictional setting ever created.
Love you Fabioo, thanks for the memories.

Let's get the dislikes out of the way.
1. Not a RPG in the sense VTMB was. Not even close. There is a very real lack of options on how to solve quests. In short, if you are looking for a role palying game (in the sense where you craft a character with unique play styles), this is not that.
2. Decisions do not really matter. Side quests are repetitive, few in number, and barely add any value to the game world. If you are thinking of being a computer hacker seductress with high charisma, think again lol. The only real choices you're going to make are the order in which to acquire vampire abilities.

Now let's get to the likes.
1. It's sort of an action game like Dishonored. The combat is honestly pretty fun, and there are a lot of funny ways to kill enemies. You can order them to kill themselves, kill each other, turn them into blood bombs, or use shadow abilities to sneak around and pick them off. That part is really your choice. You can use telekenesis to toss them off buildings, or throw propane tanks at them too.
2. The story is pretty cool, as are the characters within it. There are funny moments and the same gritty unseriousness that was in the original game. If you can ignore the legacy of Bloodlines, it's a solid VTM tale.

Should you buy it? Depends. If you're looking for the Bloodlines experience and a RPG, this isn't the game. If you are a fan of VTM and open to a linear action/shooter? Absolutely. There is a lot of negative buzz about the game, but it's not because it's a bad game. It's just not the game people were expecting (or pre-ordering). That's not a small problem, and people are justified in their reactions.

I hope that was helpful for you. If you're still on the fence, I don't think you'd regret picking it up on a sale.

Not a 'bloodlines' sequel - ignore the name. If you are looking for a vampire game that plays a bit like dishonoured, this is the game for you.

It isn’t an RPG or a Bloodlines game.
It's a story-driven walking sim with action combat and parkour/city traversal, set in the World of Darkness universe.
I enjoyed what was there, but it feels like a missed opportunity, it could have been something special. What we have feels like the tip of the iceberg for what it could have been if it hadn’t got stuck in development Gehenna.
Waiting on the inevitable rise-and-fall from GVMERS, I suspect the real story behind the game will be even more interesting than the one the game tries to tell.