The Chinese Room has published a new Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 developer diary where Creative Director Alex Skidmore discussed the game’s visceral and immersive combat system.
The goal, said Skidmore, is to deliver a compelling action game experience that could hold up to modern standards. To do that, The Chinese Room has identified three different play styles worth supporting in Bloodlines 2, starting with the so-called Strategic Stalker. As you’d expect, this type of player uses the element of surprise to get their vampire predator fantasy.
Once your plan is ready, summoning the powers of the blood, sneaking up on an enemy, distracting them, feeding on them before a fight breaks out or hit and run tactics are options for people who love to play this way.
Then there’s the Action Brawler, for anyone who wants to go face to face with foes and kick their ass.
Any Clan can brawl but this is where the Brujah shine. You’ll see them in our January gameplay reveal video. Their powers are aimed at dominating close combat. References for this style are action-brawling games like the God of War series, Shadow of Mordor and Elden Ring. It is about being in the centre of the brawl and using your abilities to control the crowd so you can deliver as much damage as possible.
Skidmore then clarified Bloodlines 2 would let players choose any mixture of the two to find the preferred balance between stalking and brawling. The third play style is the Narrative Adventurer, which is for everyone who’d rather focus on the narrative and exploration elements without delving too deeply into the combat and progression systems.
To achieve that, The Chinese Room has prepared a streamlined control scheme. There will be only four active abilities (mapped to the gamepad’s face buttons); however, experienced players will be able to take advantage of their gameplay mastery. For example, dodge by itself is a defensive move to get out of the way. However, when used directly toward an attacking melee character, it will produce a counter-move and stagger the player’s foe.
The final developer diary will dive into the third pillar of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2: exploring the World of Darkness. However, it’ll have to wait until early February, as the developers will publish the long-awaited gameplay reveal next week. The game is scheduled for Fall 2024 on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.
