Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2
Tags: Urban Fantasy RPG, Mystery, Thriller, Vampire, Open World Exploration, Linear Storyline, Multiple Endings, Parkour
Brief Summary
A 300-year old Vampire elder.
A 21st century Vampire detective.
The Nomad and Fabien Laguna meet in contemporary Seattle under bizarre circumstances and find their lives irrevocably intertwined. They awake to questions, dream of riddles, and revisit century-old cold cases. Above and below, factions and players offer and demand allegiences as they vie for control of the city. By the time the mysteries are solved, Seattle’s midnight landscape might be forever transformed.
General Impressions
The game has gotten a lot of mixed and poor reviews on Steam. IMO it’s not as bad as the bad reviews make it out to be? There are two huge missteps, but my experience of the game has been mostly good.
As always, expect spoilers from below – especially in the Foreshadowing and Characters sections.
- Storyline: IMO, the story is decently engaging! It’s divided between plots unfolding in the present, information disseminated by friends and foes, and clues from Fabien’s flashbacks. Lots of codex entries, too, but who’s got time to read through every article, lol. Plenty of twists and turns and a red herring or two. Anyone that enjoys The Vampire: The Masquerade lore and / or noir fiction will probably enjoy the plotline.
- Horror / Thriller: No jumpscares that I remember, but dawning horror starts to creep in during the second half of the game, when the Marked / Sabbat enemies and Unbirthed are introduced. The marked ghouls still function like armed humanoids, but the abominations – the Unbirthed are not only visually disconcerting, they’re invisible to the Nomad’s supernatural senses. Verrry creepy when the player is in an extremely dark and narrow corridor or sewer space, and can only rely on the sound of the Unbirthed’s erratic breathing / whispering / growling to detect them.
- Characters: Very colorful cast. Vampire clans from Banu Haqim, Brujah, Lasombra, Malkavian, Nosferatu, Toreador, Tremere, and Ventrue are represented. Anarchs, thin-bloods, and ghouls also play important contextual roles. Since the setting is largely urban and the plots revolve around Seattle’s political / societal landscape, expect Ventrues to play a larger role than any other. Add in a dash of Malkavian influence to spice things up.
- Clan Abilities: Unlike in the first Vampire: The Masquerade game, plot-relevant characters do conspicuously display their clan abilities in plotlines and on characters (even on Fabien). Ventrues be dominating. Nosferatus and Malkavians be obfuscating. Tremeres be thaumaturg… izing.
- Relationships: The Nomad’s dialogue choices and some decisions will affect how other characters perceive them, but I think quite a few are red herrings and don’t affect the epilogue too much. The important ones I immediately see are Fabien, Lou Graham, Katsumi, and Tolly. Benny, Max, Ysabella, Nix, and Willem don’t seem too pivotal to me. Ryong’s opinion is largely moot because of plotline reasons. Maybe Safia’s relationship score affects the endgame conversation with her in Weaver Tower? Uncertain.
- Open World Exploration: Innate telekenesis, unlimited stamina, dashing, gliding, parkour, stealth, and super strength, only restricted by the Masquerade mechanic (can’t reveal supernatural powers and abilities to mortals in public). Makes exploring Seattle’s roottops, alleys, and dungeon areas exciting – maybe even nostalgic, for the ones that played the first game. Most areas the players will explore are urban or in disrepair – it’s a story about Vampires, gotta have some creepy elements in there, right?
- Character “Customization”: Players can choose their character’s gender, facial features, skill trees, and dialogue responses. Clothing choice is locked into specific outfit sets. The Nomad’s history has been largely predefined (they are a drifter, hence their title), and any the details of their origin (explored during that one conversation with Safia) are irrelevant to the main plot. there’s not much choice when it comes to the Nomad’s personality – their responses are always direct and curt, they are determined to break free of the mark’s influence, and they remain aloof to Seattle’s political influencers but respect or at least tolerate the Camarilla’s Masquerade.
- Lack of Manual Saves: For whatever odd reason, there’s no manual saves baked into the game. Only autosaves, which start the player off at the beginning of the chapter or last checkpoint. Already a terrible and non-intuitive decision for an RPG, but for a game built on open world exploration, it may hurt a lot of first-time players that are unaware. Want to save after making some collectibles progress after the open world exploration session? Start the next questline.
- Multiple Endings: Main flags for the epilogue are the Nomad’s relationships with the main characters, and a few questline decisions, I think. The catch is, it’s not immediately discernable which relationship scores and which decisions lead to each of the six endings, and the only-autosave mechanic really dissuades me from replaying the game.
Foreshadowing
Most of these, I had an inkling of before the reveal. The big one that I didn’t see coming was Safia.
- Fabien’s Final Death by the Nomad’s hand was easy to spot.
- I suspected Campbell’s beheading was by the Nomad’s hand, and done in their initial bloodrage after waking from torpor. Didn’t expect it to be set in motion by Fabien, however.
- The sunlit visions screamed Malkavian influence to me, and aside from Fabien, the only other Malkavian in entire story was Gideon, so I connected the Gardener to Gideon very early on. The Gardener’s appearance reveal only cemented my theory.
- I dismissed the 1920s Rebar Killer being a Hunter fairly early – impalation via rebar required supernatural strength that humans didn’t have. Daylight murders from a supernatural entity, one that could even approach a Prince, would point to a ghoul with an influential domitor, and Ghoul-Campbell fit the details and timeline.
- The 2020s Rebar Killer, I concluded was Fabien recreating the 1920s scenes as some macabre message sent by his Malkavian unconsciousness needing to remind himself of the wiped memories. The only other suspect was Safia, and if she had a motivation for the 2020s recreations, I can’t see it. Only Fabien cared about the Rebar Killer – perhaps to the point of obsession – and Safia didn’t even know Fabien was diablerie’d by the Nomad.
- The entire Conservatory quest / dungeon was extremely reminiscent of the first game’s Hallowbrook Hotel quest, for me, at least. Character with a romantic interest in the player (Heather / Safia) is abducted by the antagonist faction to their stronghold (or just filled with enemies), and the protagonist breaks in to find them, but it’s too late. I expected it, since I played the first game, but I held on to a smidgen of hope, and discovering Safia’s drained corpse double was tragic.
- Safia nudges the Nomad to seek Willem – Willem dies. Safia asks the Nomad to obtain forbidden ritual texts for her, from Lou’s stash. The mark, binding the Nomad via inscriptions drawn in blood / skin – Safia is a Tremere, a thaumaturgist. Safia the mastermind makes a lot of sense in hindsight, but Safia’s demure, likeable, and almost side character personality concealed it so well.
- After the final battle of the game, Safia bites the Nomad in a last ditch attempt to kill them, but the Nomad retaliates by draining her dry instead – diablerie? So… Safia now lives in the Nomad’s head…? That would be an interesting turnabout.
Characters
There’s a plenty of other major and minor characters, the below are the ones that were memorable to me.
- “Phyre”, The Nomad: “Phyre” is such a stupid name. That’s it. Other than that, IMO make a decently likeable protagonist.
- Name: Since the Nomad adopts the name from a random poster in some abandoned warehouse, I keep expecting the actual Phyre to make an appearance, or to come into conflict with the Nomad, but that doesn’t happen. No one comments on Phyre’s uncommon name either.
- Safia: I love Safia’s character. She begins as an endearing, socially-awkward, and enthusiastic if somewhat subservient scholar, then does a 180° and evolves into an extremely pivotal character by the endgame. I don’t even care that she was manipulating the Nomad the entire time? Superb plot twist, great mastermind, excellent villain – didn’t reveal the cards until the very end. Her Tremere bloodline also ties in to beautifully to certain plot reveals.
- Infatuation: For those that aren’t into Safia, I suppose her infatuation might come across as mildly annoying? Unfortunately, it’s kiiind of tied into the core of the story and might sour some people’s experience of the game (i.e. forced romance?).
- Epilogue: Couldn’t tell by the end of the game whether her emotional attachment to the Nomad was genuine, or if it’s misdirected from her existing feelings for Gideon. Plot: Safia intended for the Nomad to perform diablerie on (i.e. consume the personality / memories) of her missing-in-action, old love Gideon. I was under the impression that the infatuation was an act of flattery (how better to ingratiate yourself to a more powerful Vampire than to appeal to their pride?), but she kept up the narrative 'til her dying breath, and she didn’t strike me as an egotistical or theatrical performer (again, her bloodline is Tremere, not Ventrue or Toreador). My other theory is she could be polyamorous, and have genuine feelings for both the Nomad and Gideon?
- Fabien: Great partner for the story. Found his inquisitive and logical detective personality agreeable, so I treated him amicably and didn’t mind his disembodied voice and advice in the Nomad’s head. Maaaybe a bit of a snowflake? He’s the most down-to-earth and understandable Malkavian I’ve come across, lol. The only symptoms of Malkavian insanity that I could see would be the sunlit visions and the 2020s Rebar Killer recreations (if that was actually him).
- Ryong: Calculating Asian woman in a sharp business suit, running Seattle’s Camarilla scene as Prince? Siiign me the hell up. Not as cold as she initially comes across as – it becomes quite clear that she has a good working relationship with / trusts Tolly and Safia, and has a tense, perhaps slightly resentful, relationship with Lou Graham, her Sire. That last part hits close to home.
She… reminds me a bit of my current Manager-san, if she were a bit more socially detached. So many irons in the fire, but stays focused on current tasks. Same last name, too. 
- Tolly: Very crude, but some of his comments are so frickin’ funny. Beneath all the cynicism, I’m convinced he has Seattle’s good interests at heart.
Closing Comments
I already love The Vampire: The Masquerade premise, but this game’s given me a great story on top of that – very memorable and enjoyable experience. The only dings I would give it would be the restrictive game saving and the ambiguous multiple endings aspect.
Again, Steam reviews of the game are extremely mixed (maybe they’re all salty from Safia, lol). I’d recommend it for anyone that likes the World of Darkness setting, or is looking for a noir fiction / mystery spanning the 1920s - 2020s with vampires.
Ahhh, Safia’s going to be in my brain for the next couple’a days. Amazing plot twist, I love and respect that emotional manipulation game.
Not sure whether the two of them are officially a thing (nothing explicitly depicted during the epilogue), but they’ve shared several meaningful moments together and one of the NPCs does refer to Emily as “Ramona’s girlfriend” (or, could’ve also been an attempt at a snide remark).
