In the wake of Fortnite's enduring appeal, battle royale titles are seeing an explosive surge in popularity among developers seeking to put their own stamp on the genre. Several new properties like Ubisoft's Hyperscape have been purpose-built for this format, while others, like Square-Enix's recently announced Final Fantasy battle royale, are retrofitting franchise hallmarks to suit a massive multiplayer tournament structure. Now, London-based developer Sharkmob is pulling back the curtain on Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt: a battle royale set in the World of Darkness universe's most popular, bloodthirsty subfranchise.
The mix is sure to cock a number of eyebrows, and fans of the original source material might be particularly skeptical. Vampire: The Masquerade is often regarded as the reference standard for vampire-themed pen and paper RPGs, for its focus on deep, narrative-driven roleplaying over the more combat-oriented Dungeons and Dragons. It also must be acknowledged that Vampire: The Masquerade has had a somewhat fraught relationship with video games despite its popularity. The long-awaited Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was recently delayed beyond 2021 following a change in developers.
But Bloodhunt could offer aspiring vampires a surprising respite while they wait for the next RPG to arrive. Even though its urban combat tournaments solely focus on the gravity-defying, bloodletting action aspects of VtM, Sharkmob clearly has a solid, affectionate grasp on the source material, and employs the RPG's existing ideas and mechanics in a way that make sense for a last-man-standing free-for-all . Those who relish characterful roleplaying above all else may be understandably underwhelmed by a battle royale title, but vampire fans who also enjoy action owe it to themselves to give Bloodhunt a try when it releases later this year.
That Masquerade Mood
From the brief tutorial, which teaches fledgling Kindred how to hunt their prey, scale buildings, and acquire weaponry, it is clear that Bloodhunt nails VtM's aesthetic. The color palette is moody and broody with generous sanguine accents. Prague makes for a grim and gothic arena, pelted by rain and shrouded with fog accented by the neon signs of seedy businesses. The sound and visuals channel Bladerunner more than they do Underworld, though both influences are keenly felt. Those with fond memories of the original Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines will find the atmosphere familiar in a good way.
Once players finish their tutorial and enter the sanctum/game lobby known as Elysium, they can choose between different vampire classes that are themed after archetypes from VtM's clans. Each class possesses a passive and two active abilities—the first usually being a movement ability like a gravity defying leap or teleport, and the second being something more flavorful, like a titanic punch, radial blind, or healing ability. This is on top of baseline vampiric abilities, such as bounding up the sides of buildings, feeding on mortals, and sensing weapons and threats with a sixth-sense-like filter.
The outfits for the different playable classes all have a distinguishing motif that squares with the themes of their respective clan, but they all operate on a similar bandwidth, and could stand a touch more thematic variation. Admittedly, this is an easily-remedied deficiency, and the pool of available cosmetics is guaranteed to expand before release, as skins will serve as the cornerstone of Bloodhunt's monetization.
More importantly, the game looks great, runs smooth, and feels solid. All these qualities are crucial given how chaotic firefights can become.
Satisfying Power Plays
Bloodhunt is a game that lends itself to impressive dueling. While weapons are essential to succeed, simply shooting a gun or swinging a sword will not win players the day. Kindred who want to stand supreme will need to skillfully use their active abilities to escape, engage, and secure kills. And finishing off opponents is absolutely vital.
After a player takes enough damage, they will be downed, reducing their movement speed to a crawl and preventing attacks of any kind. But those who escape death for a certain amount of time will eventually regenerate, becoming a force to be reckoned with once more. Attacking an enemy in a downed state, or using the brutal, up-close and personal "Diablerize" finishing move will take them off the board permanently. If you are playing with teams, (thematically christened "coteries,") there is still hope even if you are gunned down, as a limited number of resurrection spots are littered across the map.
The weapons scattered across the map are a mix of shooter staples (assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, and so forth) and some flavorful additions like dual hand crossbows or heavy crossbows, which fire single shots for meaty damage before requiring reloads. Like other battle royale titles, these weapons come in color-coded grades, and are sequestered in various corners of the map. There are also various businesses that can be raided for caches of weapons and consumables, like health-restoring blood bags and body armor.
It is far too early to know what Bloodhunt's meta will look like, but Vampire the Masquerade fans who are new to battle royale titles should give the Muse a try. In addition to a teleport with a quick cooldown and a healing spell ability that will also benefit nearby teammates, Muses have a particularly useful passive for survival that allows the player to use those vampiric abilities once they have been downed.
Blood Streams
Bloodhunt also boasts a limited, but very clever form of character building by doing what vampires do best: feeding on humans. Mere mortals roam the streets of Prague, and while most of them are essentially walking medkits, some have specially empowered blood that will increase kindred's different attributes, such as melee damage. Kindred can play the field and get small bonuses in a number of different stats, but it is usually more advantageous to seek out humans with the same type of empowered blood to get a bigger boost for a specific vampire build.
Players need to take care not to completely drain their human prey, as killing a civilian will result in the player being "bloodhunted," which allows other players to see them on the map for a long period of time. Not all humans are harmless, however. Entity commandos stalk the map as well, and they put up a fierce enough fight to bring down even experienced players. And like most battle royale titles, a caustic blood-red mist gradually closes in on the map, tightening the play area and forcing survivors into final confrontations.
Even though the narrative elements appear light, and the opportunities for roleplaying are limited, Bloodhunt feels solid and looks surprisingly polished despite its alpha state. Even if it cannot court over World of Darkness fans, Sharkmob's first title may just have what it takes to go the distance in the crowded battle royale genre.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt is currently in development.