There’s a lot to object to Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodline It was released back on this day in 2004. No one wants to launch a game as highly anticipated as Half-Life 2, let alone have it be pushed half-baked because of a weird corporate mandate. same day As said the game – by the way, it uses the same brand new engine built into V:TM-B, but as proprietary in-house technology rather than licensed through a third party, thus getting a better deal out of it.
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Ultimately, looking back at the launch failure of Bloodlines only serves to show you how drastically the gaming industry has changed over the past 20 years. If the same situation happened today, you might see a publisher overseeing a video game tie-in to a relatively niche TTRPG and pulling out all the stops avoid Launched on the same day as such an obvious GOTY candidate. In fact, the release was likely delayed by several months to minimize the conflict for audience attention, which, ironically, is exactly what Bloodlines developer Troika Games wanted and needed but never got.
But there’s also the fact that, despite its immature launch status, Bloodline quickly gained quite a bit of popularity. Even before it achieved the cult classic status it is best known for today, this was not a game that required re-evaluation by subsequent generations of gamers, its reputation originally stemming from the persistence of fans who were already there.
Then again, this won’t happen in 2024, when a game that’s theoretically good if performance issues aren 217;t fixed on day one will tend to be viewed as ” mid-term” and treated as a minor historical footnote. How much they care about any of the dozens of other games launching this week. Honestly, who can blame them?
The world was a very different place twenty years ago: fewer games were in circulation, and access to them was slower and slower (digital distribution was still in its infancy, remember: Steam was only a year old at this point, and Still only selling games produced directly by Valve) means that a game like Bloodlines can still come out with an average rating of 80%, quickly become a fan favorite, and even win some end-of-year awards despite launching mid-year. November on top of everything else it has to deal with.
Sadly, the Bloodlines IP’s purgatory status continues to this day. Given that Troika Games shut down shortly after Bloodlines launched, most fans know not to expect a sequel. So when a game is announced in 2019 (initially roughly coinciding with the original game’s 15th anniversary, but potentially also coinciding with the then-scheduled release date of the much-anticipated and highly regarded Cyberpunk 2077 Conflict), a pleasant surprise tempered by tense jokes about a generational curse.
Of course, five years and countless delays later, Bloodlines 2 still hasn’t launched, and has changed almost beyond recognition, from a precision-crafted direct sequel developed by Hardsuit Labs to a re-imagined remake by The Chinese ‘s loose spiritual successor. Room. It sounds like 2025 might be the year we finally get our hands on the V:TM-B2, but it’s fair to say those tongue-in-cheek predictions about the troubled production proved more accurate than the prognosticators themselves expected.
But the truth is, as someone who still thinks Vampire: The Masquerade is quite possibly their favorite video game of all time, even twenty years later, I can honestly say that I’m not that worried about Bloodlines 2 》.
It’s not that there have actually been 11 official VTM video games released over the past two decades (plus numerous sanctioned VTM game riffs), none of which are sequels to Bloodlines, but it does prove that IPs are versatile enough to support a steady supply of quality games, even if most of them don’t have the scope and impact to set the world on fire. Not that I believe The Chinese Room can deliver a decent World of Darkness-style Dishonored sim that has little to do with the original, but it’s good enough in its own right – though, for what it’s worth Well, I do think that’s it.
I’ve already mentioned this in my 2023 year-end video roundup, but last year’s blockbuster Game of the Year winner Baldur’s Gate 3 has in many ways satisfied my thirst for a modern follow-up to Vampire: The Masquerade. As an engaging RPG based on a popular tabletop setting, with its stellar writing, world-building, and acting (and even featuring a hot-but-beleaguered vampire), BG3 has proven that the V:TM-B formula can be on video One of the most successful concepts in gaming, if a developer can get enough time, space, and (most importantly) the money and resources needed to make a game that realizes all its potential for true excellence.
From this fuller perspective, Bloodlines’ legacy has come full circle. A similarly styled retro game became the first video game ever to win all five major GOTY awards; if ever there was a point that could be fully proven in a field as subjective as art and entertainment, it’s this one now. Bloodlines 2 can be what it needs to be – whether it ends up being loved, reviled, or quickly forgotten – in the end, the original Bloodlines will still be the chaotic but brilliant cult classic that was designed for an RPG. Set the standard for storytelling in video games.
