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Does anyone have more information about the development of the game? I've been looking and the latest from 2021 is that they shut out Hardsuit Labs. I don't want to ask for a refund, as I bought the Blood Moon edition in presale, but I would like to know if the game will ever exist...
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javarq: Does anyone have more information about the development of the game? I've been looking and the latest from 2021 is that they shut out Hardsuit Labs. I don't want to ask for a refund, as I bought the Blood Moon edition in presale, but I would like to know if the game will ever exist...
They swapped devs, which set the project back a bit. It's kind of in limbo right now, but not officially canceled. I'm looking forward to it, myself. We're just going to have to be patient.
I also pre-ordered the Blood Moon edition, but ended up refunding it once I heard the developer was dropped.
New people haven't even been able to place a preorder in a year. You should refund if you can and wait until dev hell ends.
Word is the game was in a total different state than what paradox was lead to believe and then there is HR mess with the former lead. A different studio got handed a bunch of code they didn't write and have to pour thru it and the internal dev reports to try to figure out where they need to start work. Its like you own a garage and someone rolls in a custom car with custom engine and asks you to not only fix it but to finish it and then throws you whatever blueprints or notes the other garage made.
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javarq: Does anyone have more information about the development of the game? I've been looking and the latest from 2021 is that they shut out Hardsuit Labs. I don't want to ask for a refund, as I bought the Blood Moon edition in presale, but I would like to know if the game will ever exist...
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J Lo: They swapped devs, which set the project back a bit. It's kind of in limbo right now, but not officially canceled. I'm looking forward to it, myself. We're just going to have to be patient.
and then probably another "Cyberpunk 2077" quality :)
Everything surrounding this game has been a complete dumpster fire since the start. Everything from general development hell to shafting mitsoda to nixing the development studio. I doubt it will ever be finished. After how everything has been handled I'm not sure I would want it at this point anyway.
How long has it been since VTMB2 was added to GOG and Steam? 2019?
I'm trying to remember the hype surrounding it, the gameplay reveals.
It's been quite a while.
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AtrazineFrog: How long has it been since VTMB2 was added to GOG and Steam? 2019?
I'm trying to remember the hype surrounding it, the gameplay reveals.
It's been quite a while.
March 2019
I'm very optimistic about VtMB2.

Paradox is simply a good company with many great games. I dont own them for various reasons, but I know they're good.

And the fact they switched developers simply means they care about the quality of the end product. Which is a good sign.

And yes getting handed a project somebody else did is no fun as a programmer. At all. Theres a good chance you throw it all away and start from scratch because thats actually faster to do.

In this case thats probably not happening because artwork aint code, and the majority of any game project is always artwork.

About the release, I am all for the old pre-EA Bioware motto "its done when its done".

I dont think theres much of a chance I will like VtMB2 as much as I like VtMB1. Unless Wesp5 makes fanpatches for now two decades straight for VtMB2, too ! ;-)

But I'll probably enjoy VtMB2.

Who knows, I might even like it better than BG3. I already have two points I dont like about BG3 - all the party NPCs we have already been told about - and it seems to be all that are available - are dislikeable and the group size is just four. My group in BG2 is usually Sorcerer Protagonist, Keldorn, Minsc, Jaheira, Imoen and Aerie. Only Jaheira is true neutral, as a Druid, everyone else is a goody two shoes. And even in Biowares BGs I would prefer a group size of seven. With six you're stuck with 2 warriors, 2 priests, 2 wizards. No space really for an oddball character.

On the plus side, the rulesystem implementation of BG3 seems rock solid.

Group size in VtMB2 will be one of course. I'm aware. And there are no goody two shoes, really, except possibly the protagonist. But quite a lot of characters in VtMB1 are actually quite likeable.
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AtrazineFrog: How long has it been since VTMB2 was added to GOG and Steam? 2019?
I'm trying to remember the hype surrounding it, the gameplay reveals.
It's been quite a while.
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4815162342: March 2019
It's a soured sense of schadenfreude to see big funded studios push out disappointing products, back when I was spending most of my teens learning how to program and design a game all on my own, thinking I would beat a large team's deadline and match their quality, this is not something to be excited by anymore; It is alarming now that most studios have to overcome a design problem regardless of how good your hardware is, how powerful your PlayStation 5 Pro Series X is, it does not matter if the game is poorly designed and engineered, or how large or well funded your team is.

In addition to the internal dramas between the VTMB2 team and the few delays we have heard, firing the writer from the first game, now radio silence.
Think of what Mankind Divided and Cyberpunk 2077 could have been, if our culture of production had been much different.

"He who makes the gold makes the rules"
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4815162342: March 2019
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AtrazineFrog: It's a soured sense of schadenfreude to see big funded studios push out disappointing products, back when I was spending most of my teens learning how to program and design a game all on my own, thinking I would beat a large team's deadline and match their quality, this is not something to be excited by anymore; It is alarming now that most studios have to overcome a design problem regardless of how good your hardware is, how powerful your PlayStation 5 Pro Series X is, it does not matter if the game is poorly designed and engineered, or how large or well funded your team is.

In addition to the internal dramas between the VTMB2 team and the few delays we have heard, firing the writer from the first game, now radio silence.
Think of what Mankind Divided and Cyberpunk 2077 could have been, if our culture of production had been much different.

"He who makes the gold makes the rules"
Unfortunately, he made terrible rules……
BG3 has been in development for six years, and three years in early access.

I of course dont know how good the developers of VtMB2 are, but in general peoples idea about how long game develpment takes is way too optimistic.
So, fresh from the trailer* shown earlier at PAX West 2023, we have the following:

The new developer: The Chinese Room
The new release date: "Fall 2024"
Platforms: PC (GOG, Steam, Epic Store), Consoles (PS5, Xbox Series X & S)

*[I would post the trailer that's up on IGNs Youtube account, but GOG won't allow links, so...]

Here we go again...
Just might not have reached the post quota required for linking urls yet?

From the official pre-order thread over in General discussion: https://www.gog.com/forum/general/preorder_vampire_the_masquerade_bloodlines_2_2d247/page16

The Chinese Room confirmed as the developer.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 | Studio Reveal

"Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is very special to many, and we can finally reveal that we've been embraced by this adventure. We're crafting something incredible here, and are bloody excited to share more at last!

In Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 both long-standing fans and the newly-embraced will play the central role in deciding Seattle’s future in an action-RPG set amid a three-front siege on the City. The old meets the new in a struggle for Seattle; will the most ruthless win, or is the third actor playing for an entirely different prize? For the first time in a Vampire: The Masquerade video game, players will take on the role of an elder vampire.

The Chinese Room is an award-winning game development studio based in Brighton, UK. Since 2012, we've built a reputation for innovative first-person gaming. Their titles include the ground-breaking Dear Esther (2012); the cult horror Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs (2013); the internationally acclaimed Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture (2015), the highly-anticipated Still Wakes the Deep (2024), and Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 (TBA)."

Bloodlines 2 - Official Announcement Trailer

"Embrace your inner Kindred and join us in Seattle for the long-awaited Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. Find your place in the battle to come, and try not to let the city bleed you dry. Coming fall 2024."

https://www.paradoxinteractive.com/games/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2/about

"Fight your way through a modern-day Seattle on the brink of an open war as an elder Vampire. Meet the power-players, ally yourself and decide who will rule and what the city will become.

A three-front siege on Seattle, a power vacuum in the vampire court and an awakened elder at odds with the voice in her head, realized by BAFTA award winning studio, The Chinese Room.

You are the Monster

Blood sustains you and powers your vampiric Disciplines. You’ll stalk and feed on the city’s population by night. Use your supernatural powers or raw persuasion on civilians and lure them into deep, dark alleys to sate your Hunger. Beware of breaking the Masquerade though: do not reveal what you are or you risk reprisals - at first from law enforcement and then, well, remember you are not all that goes bump in this night.

Explore visceral, immersive combat rewarding entirely different playstyles and approaches based on your choice of vampire clan. Will you wade into the fray with supernatural fists, harangue from afar or rebalance your odds by thinning the herd like the apex predator you are? Clan choice supports these playstyles and more.

A World of Darkness

Enter the World of Darkness and rise through vampire society or rail against it. Experience Seattle - a city full of alluring, dangerous characters and factions, not to mention the mortals at stake in the clash of powers beyond their knowing. In this sequel to the cult classic, your choices, plots and schemes will determine the balance of power and what becomes of the city and its people.

...

Clans

Between today and the end of 2023, we will reveal all playable clans in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2. In the opening months of 2024, we will reveal gameplay and go into depth on disciplines, playstyles and the experience of playing the game as each clan.

Gameplay

We will be back with a full-length gameplay video in January, 2024.

Launch

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 will release Fall 2024. We’ll be back with a precise date when we open pre-orders."

https://www.pcgamer.com/vampire-the-masquerade-bloodlines-2-has-been-quietly-rebuilt-by-dear-esther-developer-the-chinese-room-with-different-gameplay-mechanics-and-rpg-systems/

"Skidmore seemed to share my initial reaction: "This isn't what I was expecting the Chinese Room to be working on," he told me. "And really, it was a big reason why I joined, because these are the kinds of games I love working on." Skidmore brings some serious, crunchy RPG bona fides to the project⁠—before serving as lead designer on Gears Tactics, an XCOM-like spinoff that we loved, he spent many years at Lionhead Studios working on the Fable series.

The Chinese Room has kept Bloodlines 2's initial planned setting of Seattle, and while Greaney noted that they "have been able to reuse a significant amount of art and level design" from Hardsuit's project, Skidmore was quick to clarify that The Chinese Room is using "a new code base with different gameplay mechanics and RPG systems." Bloodlines 2 is also still set at yuletide, but is now in the grips of a historic snowstorm, and Bloodlines 2's new trailer and concept art remind me of the OG Max Payne's grimy, modern NYC Ragnarök.

We're also getting a completely different sort of protagonist than Hardsuit Labs had planned. Bloodlines 2 was to originally star a recently-turned "thin blood" vampire. In World of Darkness rules, older is better, and the legendary bloodlines of Antediluvian vampire patriarchs have diluted over the millennia⁠—they just don't make new-gen vamps like they used to.

"We don't want it to be just a sort of poor homage or pastiche of Bloodlines 1. We want it to be its own thing," Skidmore explained. "We're not doing what Bloodlines 1 did, which is a traditional RPG game start: the very first day you're a vampire. The actual character you are has been a vampire for quite a while. And that was to create something different from Bloodlines to give a different experience."

Bloodlines 2 will now star an "Elder" vampire awoken from an indeterminate torpor (read: long-ass vampire nap), and going off old Vampire: The Masquerade rules, you get Elder status after 300 years of undeath. Since Bloodlines 1's days, a joint Vatican-global intelligence "Second Inquisition" has hit the vampire underground hard, culling its ranks. An ancient, supremely powerful big boy vampire waking up in Seattle is a bit of an event.

Skidmore seems keen on striking a balance between having this ancient be an established character, and letting the player sketch out their vamp of choice: "You have enough that you can fill in the character a bit as you go and roleplay, but they're also an established thing that you understand as aspirational.""