I’ve lost count of the nights I spent hunched over the 2004 classic VTM: Bloodlines, losing myself in the world, creating new characters and exploring all the possibilities in dialog and story. This was the game that shaped my love for that strange, sticky mixture of gothic roleplay and urban noir. And of course, vampires. When Bloodlines 2 was announced, multiple times, with multiple cancellations and delays I knew it wouldn’t live up to the original masterpiece. But I had to give it a go.
Admittedly I went into Bloodlines 2 expecting a disaster which did the game a favour because I was pleasantly surprised. It may not be on the way to be a critically acclaimed RPG but it sure is a good vampire power fantasy.
How does if compare?
Let’s start with the writing and the characters who are often well written, interesting as well as a great addition to the Elders story. Conversations are often sharp, realistic and with vampires who drip personality. At its best the game channels noir and gothic melodrama in ways that feel genuinely of the World of Darkness, and the voice performances are frequently excellent. Those late-night bar conversations and the chilling one-on-ones with powerful figures are the moments when the game remembers what made the original special and actually doubles down on it. The narrative and character work are highlights.
However the character building suffers greatly. This is where the disappointment bites. In the original Bloodlines, the character sheet, stats, and skill spreads mattered, they were how yours to adjust and create the vampire you wanted to play. In Bloodlines 2, you can choose a clan (Which hardly matters) , and within an hour or so players will max out their starting clans abilities. But then with the lack of more ‘powerful’ abilities but still throwing harder combat scenarios at the player Bloodlines 2 somehow makes the main character feel weaker as the game goes on. This is due to fewer branching systems, less granular skill specialization, and a much smaller feeling of consequence in spending skill points. You still have stealth options, and a choice of approaches to most encounters, but those choices rarely feel as mechanically meaningful as they used to. The game nudges you toward a handful of viable playstyles rather than letting you craft oddball builds the way the original did. For a fan who equates roleplaying with mechanical breadth, that narrowing is a real loss.
The gameplay.
Bloodlines 2 is split into two major gameplay sections which interchange every time the player rests. The main story including Phyre, and elder vampire nomad and Fabien, a detective reduced to a voice in your head.
Phyre is where it’s at for players to awaken their disciplines. Combat is serviceable in short bursts but rarely satisfying for long stretches. It’s often clunky, with repetitive encounters that don’t reward clever build decisions the way older CRPG systems did. The disciplines can be fun, there are neat, vampire-y tricks to employ but they’re boxed into a more action-oriented loop that sometimes undermines the feeling of being a cunning, ancient predator. If you liked pacing that pivots between tense social encounters and strategic fights, the balance here leans toward plain action in ways you might not enjoy.
One area where Bloodlines 2 surprised me was in its investigative bits. These are sequences that play like small puzzle-box mysteries , sifting through scenes, piecing together memories, and manipulating objects as well as kindred with disciplines. These detective moments can be interesting, blending the setting, the protagonist’s fragmented perspective, and the fiction’s darker intrigues into something that feels closer to the intellectual satisfaction of an RPG than the combat sections. They’re not always perfectly executed, sometimes leaning too heavily on guided solutions, but they genuinely recapture the investigative vibe that made the first game’s side-quests and main beats so memorable.
World and atmosphere
Seattle looks moody and neon-kissed in the right moments. The set-pieces, dive bars, snow-littered streets, opulent vampire dens are often gorgeous and atmospheric. But the city can also feel a bit sparse and recycled; there’s an intermittently empty quality to the world that diminishes the sense that your choices change the social fabric of the Masquerade. This is a visual and tonal success most of the time, but not always the lived-in playground the first game felt like
One of the most painful shifts for long-time fans: choices rarely land with the weight they used to. Dialogue choices can be brilliant and fun, and some branches do lead to distinct scenes, but overall, the scope of meaningful divergence is smaller. The feeling of shaping a personal legend in the city is reduced. That reduction is the core of my gripe: strip the mechanical meat and you’re left with a lovely theatrical body, but there’s less under the surface to role play with.
My conclusion
If you come to Bloodlines 2 purely for a moody, well-acted vampire story and some clever investigative beats, it’s worth the time. If you come for the old-school, systems-forward roleplaying that made the original a cult classic, you’ll have to make do with the first game. The mechanical scope has been narrowed, and the promise of freedom is more about moment-to-moment play than the long arc of building your unique vampire. In short, it’s a respectable vampire game with sharp writing and a few memorable moments, but it shouldn’t be wearing the “Bloodlines” badge.
