Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 Review. A Gothic Noir with Superhero Parkour

Looking at the development hell that both the original Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines and its sequel went through, it’s easy to believe in a real vampire conspiracy — as if the undead themselves sabotaged production to preserve the Masquerade. More than six years have passed since the sequel’s announcement, and at one point it seemed we would never see it released. Yet Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 turned out to be as unkillable as the bloodsuckers it portrays. And though it ultimately became a fundamentally different game compared to the original, both share a surprisingly similar set of strengths and weaknesses.

VTMB2 essentially features two protagonists: the ancient vampire Phyre and the detective Malkavian Fabian. The main one is Phyre, who awakens in modern-day Seattle after a century-long slumber. He (or she) rises from the grave on the wrong side — angry, hungry, marked with a strange sigil on the hand, and haunted by the voice of Fabian inside the head, whose presence there is a mystery. To make things worse, the magical mark has drained part of Phyre’s powers and bound him to Seattle: he can’t leave until the curse is broken.

In the World of Darkness, where the series takes place, vampires rarely sit idle — they constantly fight for control over major cities. Conflicts often arise not just between factions, but within them, as the undead aren’t fond of sharing power.

Seattle is particularly unstable in this regard. The city is ruled by the Camarilla — a coalition of vampires who strictly follow the Masquerade. For the uninitiated, this is a code meant to ensure that mortals never discover the horrors stalking them at night. Because if the truth got out, humanity would swiftly put an end to the problem.

Coinciding with Phyre’s awakening, a storm hits Seattle’s Camarilla: the city’s vampire prince has been murdered, and the sheriff, who was supposed to keep order, starts a war against the Anarchs — another major faction of kindred. The newly awakened protagonist immediately becomes a key player on this chaotic chessboard, as everyone tries to use him for their own gain. Moreover, Phyre is something of a legend among vampires — known as the Nomad, a half-mythical figure and a living omen of coming change.

Phyre has roughly a week to uncover the truth and restore order in Seattle. Helping him navigate the city’s politics is the voice of Fabian. And when Phyre lies down to sleep before dawn, the player takes control of Fabian, experiencing his flashbacks. The detective investigates an old chain of murders directly tied to the main plot of Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2.

The story is arguably the game’s strongest aspect. Whether through the writers’ skill or some bloody sorcery, The Chinese Room managed to maintain intrigue from start to finish without resorting to artificial mystery. The player constantly learns new details that shed light on events — only for each revelation to spark fresh questions.

The storytelling itself is another highlight. Among fans of the tabletop Vampire: The Masquerade, it’s often said that the best way to roleplay a vampire is as a crime boss. The Chinese Room seems to fully embrace that idea. Bloodlines 2 dives much deeper into intrigue and power struggles than its predecessor — it’s essentially a story in the vein of The Sopranos or House of Cards, infused with a heavy dose of noir, especially during Fabian’s segments.

The script also benefits from strong supporting characters. Since you spend the entire game trying to figure out who’s pulling which strings, it was crucial for the cast to be layered and morally ambiguous. And here, the writers succeeded. Each character has a distinct voice and personality. It’s only a shame that most of them are vampires — a few more mortals could have helped highlight the duality of the World of Darkness, where the mundane coexists with the supernatural.

Among the colorful personalities, Fabian stands out most. He constantly switches from seasoned detective to something of a charming fool — often within the same conversation. Being a Malkavian, a vampire clan of seers gifted with insight into the unseen, he’s also cursed with madness. In-game, this manifests as the ability to interrogate inanimate objects for clues. You can, for example, have a chat with a knife or a billiard table — and Fabian even voices their lines himself in different tones.

The problem with Fabian’s sections, though, is that they sometimes disrupt pacing. Just as an important revelation unfolds in Phyre’s storyline, the game abruptly switches you to Fabian and sends you on a round of dialogue errands across the city.

Moreover, his missions are extremely linear: you can’t freely choose which objects to question or whose thoughts to read — everything is heavily scripted.

Even as Phyre, the sense of freedom is limited. Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 tries to create the illusion of choice — for instance, NPCs react differently to Phyre’s dialogue options — but it rarely affects anything substantial. Whether you’re polite or rude to a powerful vampire matriarch, the story barely changes. Some decisions impact the ending, but not many. To be fair, that’s a flaw shared with the original Bloodlines, where the only meaningful choice came in the final taxi conversation.

The lack of real branching paths is a downside, but it only becomes an issue during replays. The story itself is gripping enough that you’ll want to see it through at least once, despite its illusion of freedom.

One narrative element that feels underdeveloped is Phyre’s awakening after a century-long torpor. The world has changed beyond recognition, yet he barely seems fazed by modern technology — at one point he even finds the power button on a laptop instantly, which is impressive for a 400-year-old from the Ottoman Empire.

One of the original VTMB’s defining pillars was its atmosphere — and the sequel mostly lives up to that legacy. Bloodlines 2’s Seattle has a distinct charm that’s nothing like Los Angeles from the first game but is equally memorable.

This world feels darker and more sinister, yet occasionally strikingly beautiful. Setting the story around Christmas was a brilliant move that allowed the artists to play with contrasts. Dark, grimy alleys, a snow-covered graveyard by a church, neon-lit bars, and a nightclub bathed in violent red light coexist with glowing garlands, festive trees, and colorful Chinese lanterns scattered through Chinatown. It’s remarkable that, besides Batman: Arkham Origins, few games have explored this “Christmas gothic” aesthetic so effectively.

The soundtrack amplifies the mood. Rik Schaffer — who composed the first game’s OST — returns here, but surprisingly, I found myself preferring the new dark-jazz compositions by the other contributors. The only pity is that in this sequel, the background tracks fade after a short while instead of looping like in the original during street walks.

If there’s one issue with the vibe, it’s that the setting doesn’t feel quite as mystical as before. This is partly due to fewer encounters with mortals, but also because the game focuses exclusively on vampires. The first Bloodlines featured ghosts, gargoyles, and Asian demons, making its world feel larger and more mysterious.

When it comes to gameplay, the two Bloodlines games couldn’t be more different. The Chinese Room deliberately avoided repeating the past and made VTMB2 a story not about a fledgling vampire, but about an elder. According to lore, the power gap between early-generation vampires and their descendants is so vast that they’re practically different species.

To convey Phyre’s supernatural strength and agility, the developers expanded on the parkour system from Hardsuit Labs’ canceled sequel. In the final version, the Nomad can climb almost any building in seconds, using pipes and ladders, sprinting at car-like speed, leaping across rooftops, and even gliding between buildings — like a superhero.

This parkour is fun to experiment with, though it eventually grows repetitive — especially once enemies start showing up on rooftops. The main issue, however, lies in how the city had to be scaled up to accommodate such mobility. While the map is larger, it’s sparsely populated with secrets or meaningful content. Seattle often feels like a backdrop rather than a living space — a smaller, denser hub would have suited the game better.

What’s more disappointing is the lack of substantial side quests. Outside the main storyline, you can only take on a few minor tasks from three named NPCs — usually simple fetch or assassination jobs. A rather menial line of work for an ancient vampire, isn’t it? This is doubly frustrating since the original Bloodlines had some of the best side quests in RPG history — many more compelling than its main story.

Bloodlines 2 also abandons traditional RPG stat progression. Again, this is a conscious choice: the developers wanted to make an action game with light RPG elements — a “vampire elder simulator.” After all, it would feel absurd for someone like Phyre to learn computer hacking or lockpicking when he can simply crush any lock with his bare hands.

Still, the lack of stats and skills limits gameplay variety. Most missions boil down to either stealth or combat. Like parkour, fighting — punching enemies or throwing them off rooftops with telekinesis — is fun at first but grows stale. Combat mechanics barely evolve across the game’s 25-hour campaign. Midway through, you’ll likely wish you could respec into a melee weapons build or specialize in other combat styles.

The only real gameplay variety comes from disciplines — supernatural powers Phyre can equip four at a time, freely mixing abilities from different clans. Your bloodline determines your starting skill set and influences certain dialogue responses.

I was pleasantly surprised by how NPCs react to Phyre’s clan affiliation. While not as nuanced as in the first Bloodlines, where Nosferatu and Malkavians were treated vastly differently, it’s still a noticeable improvement over how Brujah or Ventrue were handled back then.

Disciplines can be combined in clever ways, turning the game into something akin to Dishonored. For example, pairing Lasombra’s fear power with Ventrue’s mass domination lets you scatter entire crowds in panic.

However, every ability use requires replenishing blood — forcing you to engage in frequent melee combat and bite enemies. This quickly becomes monotonous, especially with limited enemy variety and weak AI.

To learn new disciplines, you must visit other clans’ representatives, then spend special Blood Points gained by feeding on mortals around Seattle. The key mechanic here is blood resonance — depending on whether your victim is angry, melancholic, or aroused. You can influence their mood — insult to enrage or flirt to charm.

On paper, this sounds more interesting than the feeding system in the original, but in practice it’s shallow and repetitive. Approach an NPC, say one line, lead them into an alley, bite, flee if someone sees you — repeat dozens of times. Eventually, I unlocked invisibility just to speed up the process and feed right on the spot.

Moments like this — where the concept feels unfinished — happen too often. The game’s quality is uneven: main characters look great, but many side NPCs are rough. There are small bugs, subpar PS5 performance, and underdeveloped mechanics. The Masquerade meter, which kills you when full, feels tacked on. To be clear, Bloodlines 2 is far from disastrous — this isn’t the buggy launch of the first game. But minor annoyances pile up.

Ultimately, Bloodlines 2 diverges from the original’s formula in many ways — yet both share the same core dynamic: lackluster gameplay and technical roughness are somewhat redeemed by engaging storytelling, memorable characters, and a distinct atmosphere. And like its predecessor, Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 will likely earn own fans through its strengths alone.

But if the narrative doesn’t grip you — if you value refined mechanics and replayability over tone and worldbuilding — this vampire house of cards might collapse within the first few hours.

Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines 2 releases on October 21 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Are you looking forward to it? Let us know in the comments.