Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a game defined by the enormous shadow of its cult classic predecessor. After a chaotic and long development cycle, the final product delivered by The Chinese Room is, in itself, an intriguingly written, atmospheric action RPG. However, for many fans of the original, it ultimately lands as a very good vampire game that fails to live up to the promise—and the name—of Bloodlines.
Despite its flaws, Bloodlines 2 excels in two key areas that make it a compelling experience: Atmosphere and Narrative, and Visceral Combat. The game successfully crafts a visually stunning, streetlight-soaked Seattle deep in winter. The environments, particularly the detailed and moody interiors of vampire court locations, are beautifully evocative of the World of Darkness. The central story—a murder mystery and political thriller involving your elder vampire protagonist, Phyre, and the amusingly anachronistic Malkavian detective Fabien (who resides in your head)—is exquisitely written. The voice acting is superb, and the cast of characters, from the sarcastic Nosferatu Tolly to the city’s self-indulgent queen Lou Graham, are genuinely memorable and capture the complex, dramatic flair expected of Kindred society.
Moving away from the janky first-person RPG combat of the original, Bloodlines 2 is first and foremost an action brawler. The system is fast-paced, fluid, and focused on using your vampiric Disciplines. Abilities are unlocked via a skill tree and can be mixed and matched from the six main clans, though abilities aligned with your chosen clan’s Disciplines cost less to acquire. This allows for diverse build options and rewards players for weaving together melee strikes, parkour-like traversal, and blood-fueled powers, successfully selling the feeling of being an ancient, super-powered predator.
The Six Clans and Their Power Playstyles
At the start of the game, players choose from one of six clans, which dictate their starting passive ability and which Discipline trees are cheapest to explore.
- Brujah (The Rabble): Focusing on brutal melee combat, the Brujah suit players who prefer direct confrontation. Their Clan Passive, Brutality, temporarily increases the power of all melee attacks after feeding. Signature abilities include Lightning Strike, a hail of quick punches, and Earthshock, a powerful ground slam that flings enemies into the air.
- Tremere (The Warlocks): The blood mages, the Tremere specialize in ranged combat and debuffs. Their Clan Passive, Corrosive Touch, conveniently causes bodies to dissolve after you feed on them. Key powers include Blood Curse, which causes a target to explode the next time they take damage, and Cauldron of Blood, which boils a person’s blood, drawing others to their agonizing screams.
- Banu Haqim (The Clan of the Hunt): Master assassins, the Banu Haqim excel at stealth and precision killing. Their passive, Silence of Death, makes all your actions completely silent for a period after feeding, perfect for silent takedowns. They wield deadly abilities like Bladed Hand (an instant mortal beheading) and Split Second, which temporarily slows time, allowing for rapid repositioning or silent strikes.
- Ventrue (The Clan of Kings): These aristocratic tyrants are masters of crowd control, defense, and mental domination. Their passive, Flesh of Marble, grants high damage resistance after feeding, turning them into temporary tanks. Their Discipline, Dominate, allows for powerful control, such as Terminal Decree (forcing a mortal to take their own life) and Possession, where you take control of an enemy to use them against their allies.
- Toreador (The Divas): Using charm, speed, and seduction, Toreador are agile fighters who can turn enemies into allies. Their passive, Cat’s Grace, increases movement speed after feeding. Their Discipline, Presence, features powers like Entrancing Kiss to temporarily turn an enemy into a friend, and Beckon, which puts a target into a trance, forcing them to walk to the last place they saw you.
- Lasombra (The Night Clan): Masters of shadow and fear, Lasombra use Oblivion to manipulate darkness for isolation and tactical kills. Their passive, Shadow Cloak, makes them harder to see after feeding. Signature abilities include Arms of Ahriman, which traps opponents with a shadow, and Shadow Step, which teleports you into an enemy’s shadow for a quick attack or silent feed.
Why It’s Not a True Bloodlines Sequel
The reason Bloodlines 2 falls short of its title lies in its structural and mechanical design choices, which diminish the role-playing, freedom, and consequence that defined the 2004 classic. The original Bloodlines offered unparalleled freedom and often had unique quest paths and dialogue for each of the seven clans. In the sequel, most conversational paths largely lead to the same destination, and the narrative, while well-written, is noticeably linear. Reviewers have noted a profound lack of payoff for mechanical and story choices, with big decisions sometimes resolved in a brief, anticlimactic voice-over rather than through complex, branching consequences.
Furthermore, the Seattle map is an open hub, but it feels largely empty and lacks the dense, reactive quality of the first game’s environments. The most damning criticism is reserved for the side quests, which are often described as dull and repetitive, boiling down to two or three basic archetypes.
Previous World of Darkness games, including the original Bloodlines and its spiritual predecessor Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption, delighted in throwing vampires into the deep end with encounters involving other supernatural entities like Werewolves, Wraiths, and Mages. Bloodlines 2 keeps the supernatural world strictly focused on Kindred politics, making the setting feel smaller and less threatening than the broader World of Darkness should be.
The game also lacks key RPG customization features, such as a traditional inventory system or item-based progression, focusing entirely on cosmetic outfits and ability points. Finally, the core mechanic of the Vampire: The Masquerade universe is the penalty for revealing your nature. While cops may shoot at you for breaking the Masquerade, the threat is fleeting, often resetting after just a couple of minutes of hiding. The original Bloodlines made the Masquerade a constant, terrifying threat that could end your game; here, it feels like a minor inconvenience, stripping the game of its essential high-stakes tension.
Conclusion:
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a stylish, well-written action game with a fun power fantasy, a solid 8/10 experience on its own merits, especially for players who enjoy the fluid combat and dark atmosphere. However, by sacrificing deep RPG mechanics, true player consequence, and a truly high-stakes Masquerade for a more streamlined, combat-focused structure, it fails to capture the unique magic and depth of its namesake. It is a good game, but one that perhaps should have been launched under a different title to avoid the baggage of expectations it simply could not fulfill.
