Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 review – an interestingly toothless piece of noir fiction

PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox (version tested); The Chinese Room/Paradox InteractiveArriving more than two decades after the original, this sequel was mired in development disaster – resulting in an interesting almost-failureYou are an ancient and powerful vampire, and you wake up in the basement of some decrepit Seattle building, with no recent memories and a strange sigil on your hand. The first thing you do is feed on the cop who finds you, before smacking his partner into a wall so hard that his blood spatters the brick. A violent fanged rampage ensues, where you beat up and tear apart rival undead and their ghouls while currying the favour of the local court of vampires, and trying to keep your existence hidden from the mortal populace of this sultry city.But this is also a detective story: there’s a younger night-stalker sharing your brain, a voice in your head named Fabian, who talks like a 1920s gumshoe (presumably because he once was one). Fabian isn’t violent at all; he evidently works with the human police and the vampire underworld, snacking on consenting volunteers’ blood and using his mind-delving powers to solve murders. These two stories are two entirely different games in the same setting, but then everything about Bloodlines 2 feels stitched awkwardly together. It is unfortunate that I happen to be playing this right after bingeing AMC’s Interview with the Vampire TV series, because the contrast is stark. One is a masterful, frightening, sexually charged and deftly comic reimagining of vampire mythology. The other is OK. Continue reading…Technology | The GuardianRead More