After over 20 years of waiting, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines finally has a sequel. Fans hoping for a deeply interactive narrative will be disappointed, however, as I was let down by my ability to affect the story until the later hours. Still, the game that remains includes decent action, stealth, and an engaging story, which I enjoyed seeing through to the end. Bloodlines 2 doesn’t live up to the modern standards set by other open-world role-playing games, but once you get past that, it’s an acceptable vampire experience.
In Bloodlines 2, you play as a 400-year-old vampire known as Phyre or the Nomad. After waking up in Seattle after 100 years of torpor (a coma-like vampiric sleep), Phyre finds a brand on their hand that saps their powers and traps them in the city. They’re also joined by Fabien, a disembodied vampire who’s mysteriously ended up as a voice in Phyre’s head. The game’s neo-noir storyline has you investigating both of these mysteries, and it’s an effective hook that kept me invested. It starts slower than I’d like, but ramps up significantly in the later hours, and I welcomed the fast-paced finish.
My biggest issue with the narrative is the player’s lack of impact on the story, especially with regard to factions. For example, one of the first major decisions has you choose whether to obey orders from the Camarilla Court (Seattle’s main body of power) or do a favor for the Anarchs and face the consequences. I side with the Anarchs, and upon my return, the Camarilla angrily… promoted me. They said it would be a restrictive role that allows them to keep their eyes on me, but I assumed I’d be shunned and have to join the Anarchs like I wanted. As I progressed through the story, I realized this promotion was an unavoidable plot point. Much of the interactions with the Camarilla are framed as choices, but despite my constant attempts to disappoint and anger them, Phyre is locked to that faction whether they like it or not.
Actions later in the game have much clearer, more tangible consequences, which is partially why I enjoyed the latter hours more. I made big swings, betraying characters and allying with others, and could easily see how it affected the story. But despite constant feedback from dialogue choices saying “Tolly loved that” or “Lou hated that,” my relationship with characters never seemed to come into play. If it was subtly relevant in ways I didn’t pick up on, I wish it were more telegraphed; I want to know exactly how I’m influencing the story. Ultimately, I did enjoy the twisting plot and voice performances, especially from my female version of Phyre, but I wanted more agency.
The game’s other main issue is its open world, which quickly reveals itself as more of an obstacle than a fun place to explore. There’s no fast travel, so you’ll have to move around on foot. Your vampiric super speed is thrilling, but The Masquerade, a rule that vampires must stay hidden from mortals, prevents you from using it on the streets. You can sneak onto a rooftop to move quickly instead, but they’re peppered with enemies, who attack on sight and reward minimal XP, making them both hard to avoid and not worth engaging with. Most importantly, there isn’t much reason to actually explore the open world; blood resonance quests are repetitive and spawn everywhere, sidequests are all given by a handful of stationary NPCs, and the few collectables you can find aren’t rewarding enough to warrant dedicated searches.
In flashback sequences, you play as Fabien when he still had a body, and the open world is even more of a chore. Fabien has no combat abilities or movement skills, and his portions play more like an adventure game. You talk to people, use psychic Malkavian abilities to solve simple puzzles, and try to track down a serial killer. It’s tolerable, but slowly paced, and the amount of walking you have to do from one spot to another adds up. I wish his sequences were more mechanically interesting, or that fast travel had been an option here, even if Phyre couldn’t do it.
Bloodlines 2 does have its highlights, though. Combat, for one, is mostly a positive. By draining foes of their blood, you recharge your powerful vampire moves, and I enjoyed optimizing my feeding in aggressive combat encounters. You can also use telekinesis to wield enemies’ weapons against them, which is especially exciting against one particularly well-armed faction near the end. That said, I wish there were more combat options that didn’t require blood as a resource, as encounters against bloodless foes can get frustrating and tedious without the ability to recharge powers.
I played as a Banu Haqim, which means I inherit stealth-focused abilities, a playstyle I enjoy. Feeding on someone makes me silent, and a high-level ability allows me to turn invisible, so I can pull off unstoppable feeding combos as an unhearable, unseeable force of chaos. I was able to unlock other clans’ abilities as well, but some need a lot of resonant blood, which you have to grind for in the open world. The rewards, especially the passive perks, are too good to pass up, but I didn’t enjoy spending an hour of gameplay saying the same two voice lines dozens of times to coax NPCs into an alleyway.
On PS5, Bloodlines 2 also has some distracting technical issues. In performance mode, I frequently experience stutters and dropped frames, especially in the open world. In one sequence, when the streets have more people than usual, I couldn’t use my super speed because the game crashed if I went too fast. Facial animations are also lacking. Bloodlines 2 has stellar character design and voice acting, but most characters’ faces are stiff, not matching the nuanced emotions the voices convey.
Bloodlines 2 is a let-down, but not irredeemable. Despite a sparse open world and a story that’s inflexible until the later hours, there’s fun to be had here. Action and stealth gameplay help fulfill the vampire fantasy, and strong performances from the voice cast make the noir narrative one that I didn’t mind revisiting each session. My 22 hours with Bloodlines 2 were mildly entertaining, but like an insatiable vampire, I’m left feeling a little empty.
