Bloodlines 2 ain't dead yet!

 But maybe it should be.

It's been a while since I've had the chance to discuss anything Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 Electric Boogaloo here and for good reason. The last update anyone heard was the recent news that key management had been ejector seated from the company due to extreme disagreements with Publisher Paradox and as a result of that, not even accounting for the terrible year for productivity that 2020 was, and the subsequent drop of the development studio Hardsuit Labs, the game which already had a release window was delayed into obscurity. The way they all painted it made things seem like a game with a development outline was just totally jettisoned out the window and the remaining developers (whomever they may be) have since started from scratch, and I haven't heard a great deal since to dissuade me of that assumption. But at the very least, for whatever it's worth, I can say that right now, for the exact present moment, Bloodlines 2 isn't dead. Yet.

I talked a disastrous game last time about how certain I was this game wouldn't see the light of day, and have I completely shaken that perception? No. In fact a decent part of me feels that the game we saw advertised in that trailer that we loved is going to seem incredibly out of date if we ever do see the game, but Paradox want's everyone to know that the 'delay hammer' hasn't been switched for the 'cancel hammer'. But what that infomation is even worth when we're talking about a project that went from "Expect it around about this time" to "Expect it at some point- I dunno", is questionable. Does anyone have a handle on this project? Is there a person in charge? Do we have enough ancillary Vampire the Masquerade projects to keep the writhing masses sedated for this belated game of 'pass the buck'? All unanswerable queries, for the moment.

Legendary developer Chris Avellone was one of the names that was laid off from the project at the worst of the news cycle, but there's enough evidence to say that since then the entire development studio was essentially 'laid off'. (As in the project was nabbed from them, I don't think the studio has folded or anything) Not too long ago he himself was asking what the hell was happening with this game, as every avenue he had to development had been rooted out of Paradox too leaving him just in the know as the general public. That is to say, we haven't heard jack since the character reveal of Damsel. (Which was mid 2020, by-the-way) Chris seems to think that none of the work he done on the project is being kept, Brain Mitsoda (Lead narrative) left at around the same time so maybe none of his work is being preserved either. Now baring in mind that the game as we know was revealed when both of them were still doing their contributions, what even is this game anymore?

For all we know, Paradox could turn around and throw an isometric CRPG at us and call it Vampire The Masquerade. Now would I be totally opposed to that? Maybe not entirely, depending on what they would do with such a gameplay set-up, but the point I'm trying to establish is that this silence has been utterly perplexing from a fan's perspective. (Although I'm warming up to an Original Sin style turned based RPG) Unless we're expecting some sort of huge gate-crash reveal during the game awards, and I'm not, we're about to cross an entire year and a half without updates on this project. (Sans departures) But through it all the Vegas strip has remained open for business and Bloodlines 2 is miraculously free from the chopping block. Again, that fact amazes me. Although that doesn't mean it's always been immune.

During a recent interview we actually heard a bit about the higher level management decisions that were being made on this project, curtsey of a Mr. Direkt through Avanza. (They're not some bold newcomer to the game journalism field, they're a stockbroker firm from Sweden. So this update on the game wasn't even meant for us: Paradox sure have a strange relationship with marketing) Apparently after they pulled the premature foetus-of-a-game from it's incubation, they toyed with the power of life and death they wielded in that very moment, drunk on the godlike control over eternity. That would have been the end for our little undead abomination, if it weren't for the plucky intervention of some unknown saviour who swooped in with an apparently tantalising pitch. This mysterious benefactor then wisped the babe away to the tall towers of Candlekeep, to start many years of tuition in hopes that the child's destiny may never come back to darken it.

Hmm? Sorry, I just started playing Baldur's Gate 3, I got a little confused for a time there. What was I on about? Ah, that's right: The mysterious guys who snatched Vampire's development. Some incredible-how they've managed to remain anonymous, but by the way this interview sounded it was almost as if Paradox themselves were approached on the matter, so one can assume it's a company they've worked with or are trusting of. Whatsmore, our little tattletail executive bigged up this pitch in saying that it sounded like it would live up to the 'expectations of fans', namely the expectations that they provided fans with the concerted marketing efforts before they decided they didn't like it anymore. So I guess that means I can abandon my dreams of a topdown CRPG for now, this game will at least attempt to imitate what we've seen thusfar. 

Which could mean anything, to be honest, because Paradox's whims and wants are apparently so unknowable that Hardsuit Labs managed to make this game to freakin' E3 gameplay demo level of developed before the publishers realised they didn't like the direction. Heck, we don't even know if the original narrative, which I think it's fairly obvious was going to make big moves in exploring the coming apocalypse 'Gehenna' destined to descend upon the World of Darkness, it going to be kept at all. Certainly that demo has been scrapped. A lot of characters and world elements are gone. Maybe even the small cast we already know to be in the game aren't there anymore. Damsel might be totally up in smoke.

All of this leaves me in the peculiar position where I'm not entirely sure if I'm excited for this game anymore. Back when I first heard about the sequel to Bloodlines, my gut reaction was of fear that a flawed strange little RPG would be sullied by a crappy sequel. That trepidation didn't really leave until that trailer which made me fall in love, but know I'm right back to that awkward stage of club-footed flirting just before the first date. By refusing to impart any knowledge to their fans, Paradox are wantonly obfuscating the fact that this game has most likely undergone a total reimaging and revisioning behind the scenes, which I find to be quiet disingenuous and exploitative, truth be told. Still, at least we've got Bloodlines 2 still in the pipe-line, whatever that even means anymore.

Vampire: The Battle Royale

 The Camarilla are just going to love this...

So when I last talked about this Vampire the Masquerade Battle Royale extravaganza, I'll admit I had some pretty unfavourable things to say about it, or rather just a single thing. I said it was guaranteed to be an absolute trainwreck but I wanted to see it anyway. Now in my defence the game isn't out yet so that could 100 percent still be the case and I was totally on track, but we've actually been given a trailer now which means I have to be more objective now. The hardwork and sweat of the developers have coagulated into actual pictures and video, so it feels just that bit more pigheaded to say "Meh, it's a dumb idea" and wave it all off. Everyone deserves at least that solid first chance to prove themselves, if not a second. So in efforts of not being a total ass for nothing, I present Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt.

Sharkmob really came out of the blue with the news of this project, and if we weren't all just starving for Vampire content I suspect this reveal might not have gone done nearly as well as they wanted. But we are and it did, because any excuse to badly dance in the nightclub-drenched universe of the World of Darkness as another shady Kindred is nectar to our ears. Even with that anticipation, however, I'll admit that I didn't take it seriously. What would a vampire Battle Royale even look like? How would it differentiate itself from the plethora of offerings on the market today? How would they ensure not to miss out on that inexorable darkly humorous spirit that defines this world? And in a Summer Games Fest full of surprises, revelations and a final game reveal which seemed like a concerted from Geoff Keighley to supplant E3 itself: We got ourselves a reveal that doesn't look too bad.

That is to say, graphically the game looks much better than it has any right to be. Not to say that VTM is a series known for shoddy graphics or anything, back when Bloodlines 2 was still looking like something that would ever be released it was rather a looker all on it's own. But Bloodhunt practically shimmers with it's nightime rooftops dripping with shadow and gloom, bled with neon abundance from the street level. Your typical gothic inspirations decorate each corner of the city of Prague, around puddles of atmospheric rain which, to my laymen's eyes, look like they're somewhat accurately refracting light. This game looks really pretty, is what I'm trying to say. For a Battle Royale game that spawned out of nowhere behind a studio that doesn't seem to have any large publishers behind it, (but some impressive veteran coders at least) it's actually kind of impressive that it looks almost AAA quality. Even if the trailer that accompanied was mostly cinematic angles, it did appear to be in-game footage so the thing apparently runs looking this good. That's quite the achievement off the bat.

Then there's the game itself which, true to fashion of any Battle Royale game ever made, comes down to shooting guns at one another across the streets. The added bonus this time around is that the soldiers of this little war are decked to the nines in stylish nightclub wear and seem to wield the odd vampiric power to aid the hunt, though I wonder exactly at what we're going to have access to. Super jumping is a given, but the trailer literally just showed one vampire charge another and explode into a prism of light. What the heck vampire ability was that? Isn't light the kind of thing that vampires don't usually look to embrace? In theory there's actually quite a lot of variety one could go through when adhering to the vampire clans and transforming them into character classes, but envisioning that and implementing it is two different acts altogether. I just want to be sure the team over at Sharkmob didn't miss their opportunity to make the Toreador able to attack their enemies through the power of romance. The Gangrel would get claw attacks, the Brujah would get... the power of punk? Okay, clearly I'm not a game designer. I'm just saying that Sharkmob still has a lot to show.

So the game actually looks like some form of fun, much to my utter surprise and amusement, alls well that ends well, right? Well no actually, because there's actually a few folk out there who, much to my surprise, seem surprised and disappointed about the amount of shooting in this game. (And I'm not talking about the Camarilla) Yeah, there's guns. What did you expect? It's a Battle Royale game, which means long-form matches where death needs to be ever present and punishing, where you need to have random-luck upgrade paths to keep each match feeling dynamic and should be finishing in a 10-20 minutes. Of course it has guns. It's not like the concept of firearms is alien to the Vampire the Masquerade universe; they're usually high-level killing implements for the more connected vampire out there, everyone else has to slum it up with metal pipes and the like. So why the surprise and chagrin?

Some outlets who have already gotten their hands on this future title have spoken of it's features and to be honest the game sounds pretty cool and different from what other Battle Royales are doing right now. There's this whole lore behind the game of the Masquerade being shattered because of some breach by the NSA or something; (somehow in my shotgun research for the last blog I totally missed all of this) meaning that the current Vampire populace of Prague need to whittle each other down until they establish the predominate group who can restore order, and thus the Masquerade. That premise almost makes it sound like players will be hunted as they hunt each other, with this organisation known as the Entity looking to eradicate the vampire menace altogether. (Most Battle Royales wait until their 6th month before adding in depth building stuff like that.) There's also this whole thing about hunting and eating civilians for buffs on the battlefield that have an almost MOBA-esque vibe to them. Actual thought went into making this Battle Royale a reality and I'm actually rather chuffed by it.

Whatsmore, in the weirdest Battle Royale admission I could ever possibly make; I'm actually drawn by this game mostly for the lore as well. My first thought when I saw this was "Vampires shooting holes in each other all over Prague? The Camarilla are going to have a field day clearing all of this up." but the whole setting of a betrayal within the ranks, the possibility of vampires being revealed to the human world, all of that comes together to form a surprisingly engaging premise. Of course that's unlikely to paint the majority of playtime, what with Battle Royales being typically more focused on quick bouts of violent action; but as a Dark Souls fan I'm well adjusted to slowburn narratives placed in the background, and this story is shaping up to appeal directly to that part of me.

Bloodhunt has adopted a rather heavy role on its shoulders right now, becoming now the sole piece of AAA VTM content on the market right now, and as such has inherented some unfair criticism. People who say this is too action oriented and that they expected the franchise to stick to it's RPG routes were the same folk waiting from Bloodlines 2, which this is not. This was always going to be a bombastic, blood soaked affair, and comparing it to a game it was never pretending to be seems a little reductive to the conversation. Personally, and putting aside my ever burning desire for Bloodlines 2, I think Bloodhunt has a lot more to offer than I originally thought it did and am honestly on board for this ride at least long enough to see where it's all about, I just hope that other VTM fans out there are openminded enough to share the same courtesy. (And considering the thing will be free-to-play; you might as well, no?)

VTMB2 isn't coming out. Is it?

Facing the hard truths.

I've mentioned it before, but 'Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2' will forever have a special place in this blog as literally being the very first game that I wrote about. There's a special reverence reserved for your first foray, and though I'm typically not a sentimental person (Or at least I try not to be) VTMB 2 seems somewhat personal for me. Silly though it seems, considering that the I was never really too attached to the VTM franchise despite adoring the original, I've been pining for this sequel for a hot minute now. I had no idea about the other old school Vampire the Masquerade game, 'Redemption', which literally took my ideal concept for a vampire game and bought it to life. (Following your vampiric character through several periods throughout history) I had no idea about the Worlds of Darkness source material beyond it's name, and I didn't know about the sheer bevy or related franchises branching off onto all manner of supernatural beasties. I was a casual fan at best. (Heck, I still am. I just know about all these other branches of fandom; I still haven't had the chance to explore them.) And yet, whenever news comes our way about VTMB 2, positive or otherwise, I take it to heart like a parent adhering their child. (Or I suppose, a friend adhering their friend would perhaps be more appropriate.)

So in the ever immortal words of- quick google search- Barry Manilow? (Ew) "I feel sad when you're sad". And today I'd imagine that the video game branch of 'Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2' feels very sad because, as much as I rage against my very core to admit it, this game has finally completed every single possible checkbox to be considered 'a title with troubled development.' How many games have made it through this sort of nightmare and turned out decent? Even with my overbearing knowledge of gaming I had to look this up for clarification and ended up in the darkest recesses of the Internet for sources. (That's right; I went to Whatculture. May the Lord have mercy on my freshly damned soul.) And to be honest; a lot of the games that I saw there were 'maybe good depending on your taste', thus not spelling out a very hopeful road for VTMB. I mean LA Noire was good, FFXV was liked by me but hated by a lot out there and I'm sorry but I just did not like Alan Wake at all. Unless there's a clear cut- wait, DOOM? 2016's DOOM was so far gone into development hell that work on it had to be rebooted in 2011? And now it's an undeniable masterpiece! Okay than; VTMB 2 just needs to be completely restarted and undergo another 5 years of development to be good; that's no biggie, right?

Yes indeed, it seems we have a development cycle of shock layoffs, mass development studio shifts and everlasting delays; such to the point where I find myself asking that most lamentable of questions: Is VTMB 2 ever going to come out? Is this going to end up one of those unreleaseable projects like Chaos Walking. (In all fairness; that trailer did look terrible) I mean what's worse; just cancelling the game outright and letting us all imagine the greatness it might have reached, or committing to releasing a bad game and dispelling that illusion in a manner that might hurt future efforts from your company through sheer reputation knock-back? Is the sweet lie better than the terrible truth? I think 2020 rather handily showed us that gamers will no longer flock to your game if it's terrible unless you've already been grandfathered into the yearly customer subscription like the Madden games have or COD and AC. Maybe that's an indication that the vestigial limb is best removed in situations like these. >Sigh< Look at me, arguing for why VTMB 2 should be cancelled. What has led me to this place?

Well maybe that has something to do with the entire development studio being unceremoniously jettisoned. That's right, Paradox Interactive, the folk behind the curtain, have made the dual decision to kick Hardsuit labs to the curb and delay the game itself indefinitely. (Although that second decision is more just the automatic shockwave of doing something as crazy as firing your development team just under a year before your prospective launch) This comes after the lead writer, Brain Mitsoda and the game director Ka'ai Cluney; were kicked off the project for undisclosed reasons. Brian, by-the-by, was lead writer on VTMB 1 and Mr Cluney worked on Quake and F.E.A.R; meaning there must have been some serious, earthshattering direction disagreements going on behind the scenes to justify all the turbulence that Paradox has been going through. If I didn't know that Jason Schrier isn't currently kicking down doors over at Hardsuit in order to get this story, I'd be tempted to speculate.

For their part, Paradox wants to paint the picture that this is an amicable parting between the two, taking time in their announcement to 'honour' the work of Hardsuit and mention how their work on the game will be instrumental to it's coming out. But if that's the case then why were they fired? Now I don't wanna act like I know more than I do or anything, I'm sure there could be entirely normal and sane reasons for this breakup like... umm...I'm drawing a blank here... Oh, maybe Hardsuit took on another job and couldn't spare staff! (Yeah I know that's a dumb excuse; I'm trying here!) I just can't shake this underlying fear that either the game is in flames or Paradox are absolutely disgusted with the direction. (The latter would certainly explain the high-level firings better.) Yeah, I'm pretty sure that PR-speak departure note isn't going to age particularly well when the whole story inevitably lands.

But this isn't quite the end of the road, not yet. Because Paradox are already in close discussion with their replacement which is- oh they haven't said yet. It's okay though, we wouldn't know them anyway; they go to a different school. It is time to start freaking out yet? Because this is sounding like a disaster on wheels right now. This is shaping up like the forbidden recipe for total unabashed disaster and there's nothing to do on our end but sit and watch it unfold. Actually, I don't even think Anthem's development troubles were this transparent, and certainly not Cyberpunk's, what hope is there that this might turn out as a worthwhile sequel? (Paradox has stopped accepting Pre-orders, man, this is serious!) My only hail-mary plan would literally be Paradox just selling off the project to Rockstar or someone to be made, cause otherwise this is gonna end up as nothing more than new-age vaporware.

What makes this all the more heart-breaking is the fact that around this game the Vampire The Masquerade franchise has appeared to be slowly coming back into fashion through way of smaller, yet still intriguing, titles. There's 'Coteries of New York' and 'Shadows of New York' which are both VN's, as well as 'Night Road', 'Parliament of Knives' and 'Out for Blood', which are all text based adventures. There's also 'Swansong' which is said to be a narrative-focused roleplaying game that follows three protagonists, although there's no actual word on what the gameplay is shaping up as. (Feel like that would help) And, apparently, there's also a Battle Royale being made. I'm thinking that last one is a joke, but Sharkmob (the new studio who are taking it up) certainly don't seem to be in on it. Every single game I mentioned either came out in the last two years or is due out this year, indicative of a new wave of VTM interest that very much should have been spearheaded by Bloodlines 2. But that's looking more and more unlikely as the development bombshells drop and I grow increasingly jaded.

Hey, best case scenario we are all wrong and this is also frighteningly good news. The game's been delayed for another year and every extra moment results in an even better game that lives up to every expectation raised since that trailer. (A trailer which I still think is brilliant by-the-by.) My favourite vampire game gets a proper sequel, and The World of Darkness continues is slow accent to more mainstream appeal. But that's the talk of fantasy, and unfortunately we don't live in one of those. If there's any lesson to learn after 2020 is that fairytales don't exist and redflags are there to curb expectations, so consider this me officially departing the hype train and marking that thing off for fumigation; I can get my vampire fix elsewhere. 

Werewolf the Apocalypse Earthblood

I am a Wyrm and not a man

So I inadvertently touch on a few vampire topics on this blog, huh? I mean there's 'Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines', pretty sure I've mentioned Vampyr a few times and... I mean I bring up Jojo every now and then...  What I'm trying to establish is that it's high time I gave a little love to their hairy antagonists in the humble Werewolf. Because when we really get down to it, that's the age old question, isn't it? Would you rather be a Vampire or a Werewolf. Similar beings cursed with opposite aversions and a bevy of different rules depending on who you ask, a least with the shaggier brethren no one's asking you to die first in order to join the club. (Then again, not all vampires are technically undead; Dio did famously choose to reject his humanity, remember... and then he was shot several times... but by that point he was technically already a vampire... does that count as undeath?)  It's hard to rightly say, however given that we have two video games coming out that settle on either side of the conflict, perhaps there's a gaming solution somewhere to the age old debate.

Announced earlier this year during what I guess we're just calling 'announcement season' now, a little title called 'Werewolf: The Apocalypse- Earthblood', and as far as naming conventions go they are certainly on their way to giving VTMB a run for it's money. As it just so happens, this here is yet another video game adaptation of an old school RPG that proposes an alternate earth filled to the brim with mythical creatures and monsters who live in secret beside humanity. (It's almost like this game and VTMB went to the same highschool.) The difference comes in that... well there is no difference, this is actually technically another part of the World of Darkness and I have spent the last 30 minutes trying to make sense of that. (FYI; I do not recommend trying to speed-read 20 years of RPG storytelling history) But to woefully oversimply things to a near insulting degree; this is essentially a game covering what's happening in the wider gothic-punk world whilst the LA vampires are busy getting all prissy about 'The Camarilla' and 'The Masquerade', whilst single-handily besmirching the very art of dance in their bloodbanks/nightclubs.

Ever since VTMB, I've found myself vaguely drawn to this world for it's 'one size fits all' approach to horror. They don't just stick vampires in The World of Darkness, no you've got Werewolves, Mummies, Wraiths, Fallen Angels (apparently), and Changelings. (Whatever the heck that is.) Pretty much if you've ever had a childhood fantasy about a mythical creature, these guys have come along and shoved them into an dark, weird role-playing game for you. Thus it makes sense that Werewolf the Apocalypse caught my eye before I even knew it was part of this universe, there's just a universal style to these stories that I gravitate to apparently. (Maybe it's the overly long names... That would certainly explain it.) Plus this game is being made by Cyanide Studio and I already have my eye on them whilst they develop 'Blood Bowl 3', so I was gonna end up looking at this Werewolf game eventually.

Curiously enough there's not a great deal of gameplay out for this title just yet, so all we have to go on for the moment is a pretty stylish CG and a minute of very fast action, so I'm going to focus on the minute. This action adventure fighting title looks to be taking an almost beat-em vibe to the action, or at least that's what I'm seeing from the werewolf (or 'Crinos') form; but the game promises a variety in that there's also the intractability promised as a human and stealth as just a normal wolf; that's right, we're looking at three different forms to make up the gameplay. I can only imagine that this isn't as 'pick your poison' as it sounds, but if it is and you can switch things up to fit the situation, this might be a pretty cool gameplay system. (I always find that the challenges presented by giving players a choice of approach usually encourages some of the best in level design)

All these powers are available to the protagonist as a 'Garou' named Cahal who is apparently perturbed by the impending end of the world. (Hence the subtitle 'Apocalypse'.) From the gameplay trailer we've seen they seem to imply that this is a FFVII situation where unchecked consumption is sending the world spiralling into an abyss, but if I've speed-read the synopsis of the series' correctly then this is a much more biblical 'apocalypse' we're talking about. Also, it's something of an inevitability so I guess the game is being upfront when it tells us that Cahal is about to 'rage' over the situation rather than actively work to do something about it. (Also, this really reflects badly on those lazy asses over in VTMB. Do they even realise the world is ending or are they busy arguing about the quality of bloodlines and who's 'following the rules' correctly? Huh? They're dealing with an entirely separate impending apocalypse of their own? Rough luck for these World of Darkness guys, huh?)

I do get a very 'mother nature strikes back' out of this whole trailer, with the exception being that mother nature, in this instance, is about 8 feet tall and consumes flesh for a hobby. Although beyond the 'striking back at man' angle of the previews I am very interested by some of the more supernatural elements, because the brief glimpses we've seen so far look pretty interesting; as in interesting beyond what you'd expect out of your prototypical 'world of supernatural' affair. The cinematic trailer had all these strange fleshy growths that twisted around the human form and a creature that we spot for a split second of the action trailer looks positively like something out of a body horror. Of course, I don't think this will be the sort of game that'll have a particularly spooky vibe to it, but just plain gross out is fine by me in all honesty.

As someone who is a late comer to all this World of Darkness thing I find myself fascinated with the whole world and the way it plays out in the table top as well as gaming. But if there's one thing which confuses me, it's the way that ever single action game out of this story seems to play into the 'end of the world' storyline, I mean surely there are more aspects of the World of Darkness to delve into. As I understand it, the world as been officially 'ending' since about 2004, with a lot of videogames since have been delving into different signs of the 'end times' on the vampires end and for the Garou too. VTMB dealt with the impending awakening of an Antediluvian (Which is a sign of the endtimes) VTMB 2 will put players in the shoes of a Thinblood (who's overpopulation is another sign of the endtimes) and 'Werewolf The Apocalypse Earthblood' literal spouts about it's damnation in the trailer, who knows how that'll end up manifesting throughout the game? (And I forgive them for putting 'apocalypse' in the title, as that is from the source material, afterall)

But at the end of the day that's all just nitpicking, I really want to see what the Werewolves in this world are up to and am excited to see the World of Darkness come into the world of gaming more and more. D&D may be making it's slow return to the world of gaming but this is the role playing franchise that has me interested. (I just love alternate history Earth stuff, it gets me all conspiratorial!) As long as Earthblood can let me tear off some faces and be sneaky in the same package, then it's exactly what I'm looking for and ain't nobody that can tell me otherwise.