Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 was announced back in March 2019 and, since then, the status of this long-awaited sequel has left fans in a perpetual state of concern. Updates on its development have been rather sporadic and several of them were to say that the game had been delayed. Work on the title has been so rough that, only last month, publisher Paradox Interactive admitted that Bloodlines 2 was on the verge of cancellation.
At the moment, all anyone knows about Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is that it won’t be releasing by the end of this year and that Hardsuit Labs (which Paradox owns a minority stake in) is no longer working on it. This was revealed back in February, with Paradox adding that a new studio would be taking over development.
More recently, during Paradox’s Q3 interim report, the publisher was asked if there was any news regarding Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 or its mysterious new developer. Chief financial officer Alexander Bricca bluntly said that no, there isn’t but, perhaps to throw fans a bone, assured that development is progressing well.
He added that it will still be some time until Paradox can offer a new release date. As for why it’s keeping the new developer’s identity a secret, it’s because Paradox wants it to be in a situation where it can focus all its energy on game development and not worry about having to address fans.
To say Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2’s development has been tumultuous would be something of an understatement. While Hardlight was in charge of the project, both the Bloodlines 2 creative director and narrative lead were abruptly fired. After Hardlight was taken off development duties, the studio suffered further layoffs, which affected the entire narrative team.
The original Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines game released in 2004, developed by the now defunct Troika Games and published by Activision. Despite mixed reviews, poor sales, and technically releasing unfinished, the game garnered a cult classic status. The sequel will once again be an action RPG and offers a similar premise, with the player taking control of a newly transformed vampire.
Fans of the series have had other games to keep themselves occupied. Last year saw the release of two Vampire: The Masquerade visual novels, Coteries of New York and Shadows of New York, as well as a battle royale spin-off Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt is available in early access, with the full release scheduled for 2022.
Vampire: The Masqeurade – Bloodlines 2 is in development for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.