The Chinese Room has provided fresh details on one of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2‘s core pillars; its immersive combat.
In a blog post The Chinese Room’s Alex Skidmore, Project Creative Director, shared the three gameplay styles: The Strategic Stalker, the Action Brawler, and the Narrative Adventurer. With a focus on immersion, the blog outlines each playstyle’s approach and its unique player experience.
STRATEGIC STALKER
The 1st playstyle we at TCR call the Strategic Stalker: as the name reflects, fans of more strategic combat experiences where staying hidden and using the element of surprise is key will get their vampire predator fantasy. Did you enjoy the Dishonored series, or playing stealth-focused builds in Fallout or Elder Scrolls games? Me too! It gives you time to prepare what Discipline power you’d like to use and when. 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.
ACTION BRAWLER
The 2nd playstyle we call the Action Brawler: For players who prefer to jump straight into the action and rely on their fast reflexes and combat skills. 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. We see the above playstyles as two extremes on the same action spectrum, with players being able to play any mixture of the two to find the balance of stalking and brawling that works for them.
NARRATIVE ADVENTURER
The 3rd playstyle we call the Narrative Adventurer: For players who are less interested in combat and action gameplay and want to focus on the fantasy, narrative and exploration elements of the game. We envision that a core of the Bloodlines 1 fans identify with this playstyle and also fans of TCR’s titles to date (and a lot of the developers working on the game), so we’re making sure the gameplay pillar doesn’t add action at the detriment of these important players. You can still enjoy exciting battles without having to delve too deeply into the combat mechanics if things like characters and story are more important to you.
Bloodlines 2 is the long-awaited followup to the cult-classic Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. The game takes players to the dark underbelly of Seattle, where vampires struggle for survival and supremacy. The Chinese Room took over development from Hardsuit Labs, who had suffered multiple setbacks with the game over the past few years.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 will be released in Fall 2024
