As done as I should really be with this topic in question, the truth is I can't really just ignore hearing more about Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2, nor can I skip covering it. Unfortunately for me, I started this blog covering Bloodlines years back and talking about my excitement for the, then just announced, sequel. I would be disingenuous to pretend that since I've not cared, just as I would be a fool to dig my head in the sand and not talk about the fact that we could very well have seen our first glimpse of the game that we will finally play. But... for the stupidest and most non-sensical reason I can possibly conjure: I feel bitter. I'm not excited as I should be. Not 'enraptured' by the possibilities. I'm just resigned, and tired, and bitter, and old. I'm really feeling that last one.
But here's where the stupidity starts. I watched the trailer without a hint of merriment or mirth because, try as I might, I didn't see a hint of the game that I saw all the way back during that first reveal. It shocks me how much that reveal whipped me off my feet. I mean sure, I watched the trailer over and over again with that foolish whimsy of a child enamoured, but I just assumed that was spurred by old warm dreams I had about the original game, not really for the content of the trailer itself. But when I think back I can't help but smile. At it's grim humour, it's pace, it's brutality, it's potential. Bloodlines 2 of today looks fine. Honestly from a systems level it looks more polished than that original game ever was. But it also feels like everything I would expect out of a Vampire game. People in shadows talking softly, musty intrigue, prominent dark shades of dark. I'm not impressed anymore.
Am I really going to be that guy? Am I really going to talk about how much more alluring the mock-up trailer for a game that no longer exists was? But it had some life to it! Ah- I'm making a fool of myself, I know. I owe the original devs of VTMB2 no real loyalty, I feel a little bad that the writer has been sacked off the project but I'm not torn up and boycotting over it. Perhaps I really have settled into such a curmudgeon that the very concept of being denied something I wanted at one point is another to sour my perception even with no idea if that completed concept would have even been any good or not. I'm just that circular in my headspace. No logic bouncing around in this old noodle! But bah, I can't mope for an entire blog, it's unseemly! Let us judge this new face for Vampire the Masquerade 2 for what it really is.
First, obviously, the developer has finally been announced after the old team were kicked to the curb for reasons as mysterious as the inner workings of the Camarilla itself. Now 'The Chinese Room' are the active developers. A Brighton Based team responsible for some of the most acclaimed narrative adventure games of the modern age, from 'Dear Ester' to 'Everyone's Gone To The rapture'. And they also made 'Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs'. (For some reason I always think of that first whenever I consider their company. I really am a pessimist, aren't I?) Now whilst this might seem like a blindly bizarre choice for an action adventure RPG game based on the World of Darkness- the pedigree of twisted layered narratives is actually a perfect fit for the franchise; in a vacuum I honestly buzz with excitement for what could become of such a force placed in a position like this one.
So no more Jesse Eisenberg looking vampire, what we have instead is a narrative and scenario clearly laid out in the trailer. One of the Elder Vampires has awoken and is active, an event of quite some significance given that was, spoilers, the big impetus for events around the first game. Given the visual clues it appears the woman on the front cover could very well be that Elder Vampire, which would mean a whirlwind of supernatural chaos would avail her coming as the awakening of Elders is said to predicate the last days of humanity before the end times. Fair assumptions would presume that will dictate the main character becoming a vampire and being thrust into a plethora of monstrous encounters similar to what the first game presented.
Yet my hope is that with the pedigree of the studio, and several years of narrative improvement, we might be able to explore perhaps a more in depth vampiric political melting pot as all the factions of the Coast struggle over the brand new super power that's entered their world. But that's all supposition, what I can say for certain is that The Chinese Room aren't going to turn this into an action-free walking simulator with Vampire make-up on. We can already see the action, kung-fu movie thousand strike attacks, blood spitting powers, head smashing finishers, floating through the neon streets of night-time Seattle- there's a promise of exciting kindred chaos to partake in. We can only assume that will come hand in hand with the typical moral compulsions and struggles against the monster within. We've seen this type of guff before.
And the game looks good. On a visual technical level, I mean. The VTMB 2 we saw before had some rough doughy looking character models outside of pre-rendered cinematics, whereas this game (provided the trailer we've seen can be trusted) has a slightly stylised colour palette that compliments the generally better character models particularly well. I harp on this because it's important from a artistic standpoint to draw out the colour in the dark, given that's where most of the game will be taking place. Although there's still room to impress, parts of the trailer felt a little monochromatic and dull to the eye- I can see the range they're working with- across an entire game I'm willing to believe they know what they're doing. (Besides, graphics has never been a stumbling point for The Chinese Room.)
I'm beyond feeling excited at this point. Like a nightwalker myself, excitement has been drained steadily out of my body leaving a lifeless and emotionless husk stumbling about lamenting the life he never got to live. This new face of the afterlife is going to have to continue to work to convince me to feel again, but I'm willing to be beguiled by The World of Darkness because I know that franchise has so much untapped potential in gaming just waiting to be explored. The Chinese Room are a solid team, a local team, and I'm willing to believe they've got a decent vision for the game. Whether that vision will be worthy of being called Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2- well, that I don't know. Everyone thinks their first RPG will be easy until they start making the damn thing, I just hope they know not just what they're getting into in, but who they're getting into the ring with. We've waited agonisingly long for a game bearing this title- and any weakness will signal the sharks to go frenzy.
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