I’ve sucked the blood out of innocents, embraced multiple vampiric abilities, and investigated the heck out of old crime scenes in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, and it has me quietly confident for the game.
The sequel has been a long time coming – more than 20 years – but there are definite signs that it’s going to be worth the wait, even if all the edges aren’t as sharp and well-dressed as the slickest of vampires.
Having spent time with the game in the past few weeks, playing as both playable characters, I’ve experienced a good chunk of what it’s going to serve up, and there’s an intriguing mix of vampiric action and abilities with good ol’ fashioned (literally) investigative detective work that I’m keen to dive back into.
Wonderfully vampirific
The first chunk of preview is playing the character Phyre (previously referred to as Nomad) – a vampire elder and the main character in the game. Waking up in the back end of nowhere with a mysterious voice chatting away in their head (more on that in a bit), my preview quickly introduces me to Phyre’s dormant abilities of quick traversal, visceral combat moves, and bat-like gliding.
The time I had with Phyre’s combat was definitely a standout. It’s visceral, bloody, and a fun combination of a vampire’s need (or option) to feed but also to finish off goons that are in the way. It’s slickly done and pretty fun to engage with, and I hope that a wider number of environments, encounters, and scenarios will fully unleash it when the game releases in full.
Phyre’s movement feels pretty fluid, though a bit imprecise at times when trying to scale walls vertically or clamber from fire escape to fire escape up the side of apartment blocks. I had a few times where the traversal was a bit tight. That aside, channelling your inner bat to glide across rooftops is very cool, the speed of the movement is generally exciting, and it feels like a well-executed vampire-meets-parkour-runner mix of moves in the hands when controlling Phyre.
Enhancing the combat and traversal are the abilities on offer. You can pick a clan at the beginning of the game, with each offering different traits and abilities, and thus a ‘style’ of vampire gameplay; some are more melee action-oriented, some focus on moving through the shadows, and some rely more on persuasion, domination, and so on. What struck me here is that there are a whole host of augmentations, and skills to – okay, I’ll say it – sink your teeth into.
I picked the Brujah clan, which focuses on brutal hand-to-hand action, and I had great fun with charging multiple enemies, slamming the ground to create tremors, and generally taking the fight to baddies head-on and obliterating them. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable way to play Bloodlines 2, I found, though I am very keen to dive back in and try a more stealthy approach.
Oldtimey investigations
Conversely, the gameplay and action of the other playable character is much more relaxed. The voice inside Phyre’s head is that of Fabien, a lesser vampire and one who lived in 1920s Seattle as a noir detective.
I played as Fabien for a bit in my second preview of the game, and carried out investigations into the murder of a woman in a dingy club. All in all, the investigation was engaging and well-written. While following the story of the case and talking to non-player characters (NPCs) is robust, it’s all rather straightforward and not difficult to find the clues – you just point your character and wait for the reticle to change, which will then indicate being close to a clue and follow that lead.
It’s worth noting here that whoever you play as, there do appear to be a vast number of conversation options in almost every chat you have, which is welcome. I enjoyed exploring all the conversation options and seeing what kind of responses or reputational change notifications popped up in the corner – though from what I played, I’m not sure of the impact of those in the wider context of the full game.
I’m deeply intrigued to see more of both playable characters’ stories, especially how they are tied together throughout the game. It’s a fun concept to merge the two, and there’s potential here for sure.
Seattle’s dark underbelly
The setting of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 makes for a pretty compelling part of the game, too, and if there’s anything it does superbly, it’s creating a rich atmosphere and sense of place and time.
Firstly, the locations are well-realized, within the game’s art style, of course, and offer a level of authenticity that couches all the conversations, investigations, and action in a wonderful setting that oozes character.
Seattle benefits a lot from that atmosphere, and is a blast to explore on the whole – though I wish its environments had a bit more population density. I realize that we explore the city at night as Phyre because, well, Phyre’s a vampire, but the low number of folk surprised me a little bit. But it didn’t stop me from singling out those with the right traits I wanted to feed on, and it does make tempting them into a dark corner easier, too.
The characters are well voiced, and for the most part interesting – despite some flatness in line delivery and script at times – and flicking between modern-day Seattle and the prohibition era underground of the city ensures there is a wide variety of folk to talk to, hear from, and soak up their personalities – sometimes literally.
All this does make for an interesting combination of elements that I’m curious to jump back into and try more thoroughly when the game releases on PS5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC on October 21, 2025.
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rob.dwiar@futurenet.com (Rob Dwiar)
