grow bat-like wings, transform into
mist, and also wield objects from a
distance via telekinesis. At the end of
the tutorial, players will have to
choose one of these powers, which
has its own skill-subset.
Environments, meanwhile, are
built so that that you can navigate
them in multiple ways. Alongside the
original Bloodlines, Paradox cites
games like System Shock, Deus Ex,
and Dishonored as other primary
inspirations.“Thesearegamesthat
giveyoufreedomtoexplorethe
spill details, Mitsoda boasts that
Bloodlines 2’s voice cast is “maybe the
best of any game”.
Inside a building on the pier, our
vampire is attacked by a group of
thugs. Combat, particularly melee
combat, was one of the weakest
elements of the original Bloodlines.
Hardsuit wants to make certain this
is addressed in Bloodlines 2. “Ka’ai’s
been working on a first-person melee
combat system for years,” says Russ
Nelson, CTO and co-founder of
Hardsuit. “We knew we needed to
have that up-close and personal
feeling when you’re in a fight.”
Unlike the original, both melee
and ranged combat are viewed from
first-person. It’s a highly
improvisational system, with your
vampire using his fists, objects in the
environment and his powers to gain
an edge. For example, your thin-
blood can yank firearms out of enemycourse wherever there’s power and
money you’re gonna get vampires. It’s
like leaving cheese out.”
We first glimpse Seattle as we
emerge on the waterfront beneath
Pier 57, its iconic Ferris-wheel
illuminated in neon-lights (Bloodlines
2 ’s Seattle exists in perpetual night,
much like the first game’s LA).
Moving toward the pier, our vampire
encounters a man holding a mobile
phone, which begins to ring. On the
other end of the line is a mysterious
woman, who instructs us on the
basics of feeding.
This works much like the original
Bloodlines, with a sweet-spot between
getting the optimum amount of blood
and accidentally killing your victim,
losing humanity in the process. We’re
also instructed to meet someone up
on the pier. As with Bloodlines 1, the
game is fully voiced, and while
neither Paradox nor Hardsuit willABOVE: Hardsuit
Labs has plenty of
experience with
Unreal Engine 4.
MAIN: As in the first
game, public displays
of power will violate
the Masquerade.world but also to tackle different situations in the way
that you as a player want,” Schlütter says. “We bring your
playstyle to the table, that is something that of course, we
need to deliver with Bloodlines 2.”
Eventually, your vampire escapes from the courthouse
basement into what appears to be a ruined underground
city. Bloodlines 2 is set in contemporary Seattle, and the
ruins belong to old Seattle, which was almost literally
paved over after a fire gutted the city in 1889. In your role
as a vampire, Seattle’s underground will play a significant
part, although Paradox and Hardsuit won’t specify how
just yet. Hardsuit is happy to discuss the reason for
choosing Seattle as the setting, however. “One, we live
here, which makes it a lot easier to gather reference,”
Mitsoda says. “Two, the biggest thing about choosing
Seattle as a location is it’s under-utilised as a setting.”
VAMPIRIFICATION
Like other west-coast US cities, Seattle is undergoing a
period of radical and controversial transformation, largely
due to the presence of huge corporations such as Amazon.
Hence, themes such as gentrification and the divide
between the old and the new faces of Seattle will form
key parts of the story.
“One thing that we have in the city is this kind of
identity crisis. You’ve got how Seattle has been over the
last 100 years, and how it is changing due to the tech side
and the money side,” Mitsoda explains. “We have
billion-dollar companies, trillion-dollar companies. And of
LET THE RIGHT ONES IN
Characters who may return in Bloodlines 2
SMILING JACK
The smart-mouth vamp who
shows you the ropes,
Smiling Jack seems like an
obvious choice to bring back
from Bloodlines.JEANETTE/THERESE
We’d be very surprised if
Jeanette and her alter-ego
Therese didn’t crop up to
mess with your head at
some point.PRINCE LACROIX
Lacroix is killed at the end
of Bloodlines, so this one
seems a stretch. But
these vampires are
hardy creatures...