Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Review: A Weary Wanderer’s Disappointment

“So weary is the wanderer that treads upon the fertile soil.” This evocative line perfectly encapsulates the journey of Bloodlines 2. After navigating one of the most tumultuous development cycles in recent memory and changing hands multiple times, The Chinese Room’s interpretation of the World of Darkness is finally here. While its presence in my Steam library still feels surreal, it shoulders an immense legacy.

The developer has described Bloodlines 2 as a “spiritual successor,” and it’s evident that Seattle, despite its snowy charm and occasional echoes of Troika’s Los Angeles, lacks any significant narrative ties to its predecessor. References to the original Bloodlines are mostly fleeting lore snippets, often forgotten as quickly as they’re collected for XP, or confined to the Santa Monica Memories DLC, separate from the main game. If a shared vampiric essence flows between these titles, it remains elusive.

Seattle, though possessing a grimy underbelly, quickly becomes monotonous. Compare this to the original Bloodlines’ relatively compact Santa Monica, where nearly every building was explorable – from your apartment to the medical center, Gallery Noir, and The Asylum. Seattle, conversely, is largely composed of inaccessible buildings that serve as little more than scenic backdrops. While the city’s design hints at growing political tensions as the story unfolds, it often feels like just another generic, sparsely populated Unreal Engine 5 metropolis.

Despite its flaws, the environmental design occasionally shines. Wake the Dead, Mrs. Thorn’s cozy Tremere coffee shop, exudes elegance. Aurora Pawn, operated by Banu Haquim primogen Niko, boasts a fascinating collection of oddities. And then there’s the bizarre bone sculpture created by Toreador leader Patience. However, these highlights are often overshadowed by blandness, such as the Hole in the Wall bar, owned by Anarch leader Katsumi, which features generic ‘SPORTS!’ signs and repetitive assets.

While reusing assets and animations can be a clever way to build expansive game worlds, Bloodlines 2’s implementation often shatters immersion. Lou Graham’s penthouse, for instance, features identical pictures placed too close together. Similarly, an image said to depict a relative of Katsumi’s in a lore entry appears on multiple police station walls. Character animations also suffer from short loops; Lou, the former prince, repeatedly toys with her hair during our initial conversation, making her seem more like an automaton than a living regent.

This is truly a pity, as the game’s primary characters are generally well-written and expertly voiced, each personifying their unique clan values without resorting to clichés. Lou, the Ventrue, embodies raw ambition, her blue blood seething with a magnificent malice. Ysabella, the flamboyant Toreador, is pure artiste, with an alluring drawl and high-fashion sensibilities. Safia, Graham’s despised Tremere Warlock, is cloyingly sweet, clinging to your Elder in a truly authentic Tremere fashion. Together, they form an engaging cast that players will want to interact with, whether through flirtatious Toreador banter or power-hungry Tremere sparring.

However, the supporting cast, including various Primogen like Mrs. Thorn and Niko, receives insufficient attention. Their side quests are largely repetitive, uninspired busywork. Mrs. Thorn might send you on package retrieval missions, while Niko hands you an artifact, shares its history, then tasks you with assassinating its previous owner. These quests offer minimal lore or unique rewards, rarely feeling worth the effort. The game also features a rudimentary romance system that merely requires persistent flirting to reach a rather bland conclusion.

The true standout is Fabien, the Malkavian residing in protagonist Phyre’s mind, brought to life by Ronan Summers’ exceptional voice acting. Playing a Malkavian in the tabletop RPG is notoriously challenging, involving visions and voices. The original Bloodlines’ Malkavian path was a masterclass in game design, with every voice line altered to reflect the clan’s unique perspective. While Bloodlines 2’s interpretation of ‘playing as a Malkavian’ through Fabien’s detective quests felt somewhat uninspired, his compelling story and performance more than compensate. It’s a brilliant blend of humor – some of which is frustratingly locked behind the Santa Monica Memories DLC – and dramatic depth, delivering a genuine sense of being an eccentric noir detective. Fabien consistently shines, even when his later investigations feel like narrative bottlenecks, delaying the rush to the final levels.

Fabien, for me, was the driving force of the story, more so than Phyre, a protagonist who, while not outright offensive, is generally unremarkable. Narrative fatigue begins to set in as the story progresses, with a multitude of disparate events occurring simultaneously. Though these eventually converge into a coherent whole, the sheer amount of information to track can lead players to lose their will to unlive. As noted in my preview, the game starts strong, sinking its fangs in quickly, but as complexity mounts, it struggles to deliver on its many intriguing setups. The major reveals often lack impact, leaving me longing for a connection to the original that never materializes.

These narrative shortcomings might be overlooked if the core RPG mechanics and action combat were robust. Sadly, this is not the case. It’s well known that combat in the original Bloodlines was notoriously clunky, especially for players without firearm skills facing the mandatory Ming Xiao boss fight. While Bloodlines 2 has made improvements, the combat is still not enjoyable.

My first playthrough as a Toreador highlighted many issues. Toreador, like their tabletop counterparts, manipulate minds and move with incredible speed. While The Chinese Room’s attempt to translate this into action is commendable, the execution is messy. The absence of a lock-on ability is particularly problematic, especially when you’ve charmed an enemy into becoming an ally. Your new friend often suffers collateral damage as you blink rapidly across the battlefield. Crucially, you cannot block. While every clan has a relocation ability – Blink for Toreador – there’s no defensive maneuver other than dodging, which felt inconsistent, almost as if a hidden stamina meter was slowing me down. Enemies, however, can block, requiring a charged heavy attack to break through. Attempting this while swarmed by foes and with a rapidly dwindling health bar is literally and figuratively painful. To compound matters, the game struggles to keep up with the Toreador’s speed, leading to frequent frame rate drops and performance issues in almost every fight, transforming engagements into chaotic, blurry click-fests. Mercifully, these issues were less pronounced when playing as a slower, range-focused Tremere.

Combat also scales with your level, ensuring fights remain challenging. Boss battles are fairly routine; my Tremere’s long-range blood magic easily countered much of what Sheriff Benny Muldoon could dish out. Later encounters are more interesting, with one removing your disciplines entirely and forcing hand-to-hand combat, but none are particularly memorable. The game also leans too heavily on guns in later stages. Phyre can telekinetically wield weapons and unleash them on enemies, which feels more like a fun gimmick than a core mechanic. If the fantasy is to embody an Elder capable of tearing through mortals and weaker Kindred, relying on firearms feels out of place. As a Toreador, my lack of damage-focused abilities began to impede my progress, and while sniping foes from a distance offers a stylish slow-motion finisher, I yearned to engage with vampiric powers up close, not play an FPS.

Despite these criticisms, there is a silver lining: the distinct playstyle of each Bloodlines 2 clan, including Toreador, Tremere, Lasombra, and Ventrue, effectively mirrors the TTRPG. Players can further customize their builds by integrating skills from other clans, creating unique vampiric chimeras that suit their preferred combat style. This progression system also reflects the tabletop experience; disciplines outside your chosen clan’s three core skill trees cost more to acquire. For instance, as a Toreador, I shared the Celerity tree with the Brujah, allowing me to learn Celerity powers at a reduced cost. When playing as a Tremere, which lacks Celerity in its base tree, that cost would increase. New powers are funded by Resonance Points, gained by consuming specific blood types, a clever system reminiscent of Bloodhunt that provides a subtle mechanical link to its sister titles.

Ultimately, it’s difficult to shake the feeling that Bloodlines 2 is overshadowed by its predecessor in nearly every aspect. The original launched with a comprehensive humanity system, imposing real consequences for actions, along with hackable computers for disabling alarms and uncovering vital information, and feeding mechanics that required careful management to avoid accidental deaths. Moreover, its world felt remarkably alive for its age, brimming with hidden secrets and vice around every corner. Bloodlines 2, however, largely lacks this emergent storytelling and interconnected mechanics; instead, it often devolves into a series of forgettable fetch quests. It appears The Chinese Room has amplified the original Bloodlines’ weaknesses – primarily its janky combat and performance issues. Bloodlines 2 is neither a satisfying sequel nor a robust enough RPG to deliver the impact the franchise desperately needs. Dedicated Vampire: The Masquerade fans might find some enjoyment in its characters and certain handcrafted areas of Seattle, but those hoping for a game that captures the unique magic of Troika’s classic will be left wanting.