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After two long decades, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, the 2004 vampire RPG classic, has gotten a sequel. It only took 21 years, two studios, and ground-up rewrites, but Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is now here. If you haven't played the first game but are still impressed by everything you've seen for Bloodlines 2, you won't be alone. After all, the first game could legally purchase and consume alcohol today, while the sequel itself requires you to be just seventeen. Now, you don't need to go all the way back to play the first game, since the sequel isn't tying its story into a game most of its new player base might never have touched. However, there are some crucial things you should know about the world of this game that are simply non-negotiable prerequisites before you hit New Game. The game is based on a table-top RPG World of Darkness has more supernatural creatures than the games let on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, as well as the first game, and many of the offshoot games in between, are all based on World of Darkness, a tabletop RPG created in 1991 by Mark Rein-Hagen. One of the original tabletop games was called Vampire: The Masquerade, which served as the major inspiration for the 2004 game and now, the 2025 sequel. The overall setting across all the World of Darkness games, however, is about supernatural creatures like Vampires and Werewolves existing in the modern world in secrecy. Much like Baldur's Gate or Cyberpunk 2077, Vampire: TM: Bloodlines 2, too, is a tabletop-inspired RPG. Sure, it takes its fair share of artistic liberties because the gaming medium is vastly different, but the roots of the game lie firmly in the tabletop games. All the stories in these games share the same world, which is a dark and gothic reimagining of the modern world teeming with corruption. Here, supernatural creatures like mages, werewolves, and vampires exist in secret societies and cults, shaping society and humanity in different ways, while always warring with each other. What is "The Masquerade"? The mask must never fall off In Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, you'll notice that the world you see and play in is similar to our own. Modern cities, nightclubs, politics, and crime are present everywhere you go, but look under the surface, and you'll see secret societies co-existing, but barely. These secret societies, the Kindred, keep their existence hidden, and so do all other supernatural creatures. This pact or understanding, that the societies and their wars must be kept hidden from human eyes, is what is termed "The Masquerade". It's the most important rule to being a secret supernatural creature in the World of Darkness. In modern-day Seattle, which is the setting of Bloodlines 2, there are multiple vampire clans operating in the shadows, and you will have to pick one of them when the time comes in the campaign. There's the Ventrue clan, which is powerful to be a part of and offers abilities easy to master. Then, there are others like Banu Haqim and Lasombra, which are trickier to master, but offer more rewarding and strengthened abilities. There are a total of six clans in Bloodlines 2, with the Brujah, Tremere, and Toreador clans making an even six. Each clan offers your player different disciplines, abilities, and affinities, which means your overall gameplay will vary according to the clan you choose to align with in the game. Breaking or jeopardizing The Masquerade will never end well The hunter will become the hunted pretty fast The temptation to break The Masquerade will follow you from the very start of Bloodlines 2. After all, you're a powerful vampire, and that means you need to feed. You can do it by charm, by force, or by luring an unsuspecting human victim into a quiet alley, but no matter how you do it, you can't be seen. Every drop of blood you take, every supernatural ability you use, and every unnaturally high leap you make — it all has to happen in the shadows. Because the moment a human witnesses you for what you truly are, The Masquerade begins to crumble. When that happens, things will go south fast. At first, it might just attract a bit of human suspicion, with the police or a few overzealous hunters stepping in. Keep flaunting your powers with reckless disregard, and you'll find other vampires hunting you relentlessly. The vampire authorities of Seattle won't take kindly to those who risk exposing their secret world, so if you break The Masquerade one too many times, you will be staked through the heart before you can even press the Pause button. Alliances, conversations, and even your clothes matter Prepare for a dialog-heavy game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is not a game you can just button-mash your way through. As a powerful vampire with some insanely rewarding abilities, you'd be inclined to do just that, but every conversation, every choice, and even the alliances you form with other Kindred can reshape how the story unfolds for you. The clan you align with gives you unique powers, sure, but it also defines who you are in the social hierarchy of Seattle's dark underworld. The game also has multiple endings, which will hinge heavily on your decisions and the relationships you nurture (or destroy) along the way. If you're new to the World of Darkness, you don't really have to worry, because the NPCs in Bloodlines 2 are more than happy to let you in on the lore when you ask the right questions. From clan rivalries to vampire politics, they'll be eager to talk, but you have to be patient enough to listen. This game thrives on dialog, and there are long, branching conversations that are the backbone of the storytelling. If that isn't exactly up your alley, then, well, don't say I didn't warn you. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 gives you a ton of freedom The vampire fantasy of it all is breathtakingly deep Bloodlines 2 is an immersive sim in the truest sense of the world — a playground of choices, consequences, and endless possibilities. Every mission and encounter in the game, down to the very act of feeding on humans, has multiple approaches and even more varied outcomes, depending entirely on how you decide to go about it. You can brute-force your way through fights, stalk your prey and pick them off one by one from the shadows, or lean heavily on your supernatural abilities to dominate minds and bend situations to your favor, like making enemies fight each other or using telekinesis to throw things in the distance to lure enemies away from you. The game gives you the reins, and from then and there on, it's up to you to see how far you can go with them. You could hunt for humans of a particular blood type, sneak into restricted areas to learn new clan abilities, or talk your way out of a fight using seduction, because Bloodlines 2 constantly rewards creative thinking. Heck, even your clothing in this game matters, because if you're wearing something more revealing, it'd become easier to lure the right human victim to the nearby dark alley or seduce them before you suck them dry. With such varied and branching gameplay options and endings, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 offers over 40 hours of an impressive sandbox like the modern Hitman games, or even something like Deus Ex: Human Revolution. If you liked playing those games, chances are high that Bloodlines 2 will be right up your dimly-lit, secluded alley. You don't need to interact with the first game at all to play Bloodlines 2 The game does come with its fair share of flaws from a gameplay perspective. At this point, you know exactly what kind of game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is. It's dense, it's dark, and it's definitely lore-heavy and complex. You could sink your fangs into it and live with it for a couple of weeks at the very least, but fair warning — it does come with its fair share of flaws from a gameplay perspective, and you'll have to read XDA's review on it to know more. Still, it isn't like you have to watch 30–40 hours of gameplay of the first game to know what's going on. With these basics, you should be all caught up to experience a brand-new adventure in The World of Darkness.
