Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 Interview

If you’d like to learn a few things about Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, and in particular the game’s vampire-infested Seattle setting, the developers’ post-launch plans, and all the areas where it improves upon its cult-classic predecessor, then you should check out this Dualshockers interview with Hardsuit Labs’ lead UI/UX designer Rachel Leiker and Paradox Interactive’s producer Nikhat Ali.

Here are a few sample questions:

DS: Nowadays, the original game feels a bit dated in some aspects. What area of the first Bloodlines do you think you’ve most improved here in the sequel?

RL: It was definitely a product of its time. We’ve obviously improved the look of it. We’re using Unreal Engine 4 which is very, very cool for us. We’ve spent a great deal of time sort of maturing the content if that makes sense. Brian and Cara have done an excellent job of bringing more modern sensibilities into the game.

As you know, Malkavians were announced for the game as a playable clan. Malkavians were very complicated in the original game and were used a lot for comedic effect. The idea around Malkavians has sort of shifted in recent times and they have done a great job to be more sensitive and respectful of representing that in this game.

I also like to think that our systems have matured quite a bit from the first game. We worked in parallel with the World of Darkness, both the pen and paper Vampire: The Masquerade and our game, to make the systems very cohesive. If you’re playing the pen and paper, a lot of that will translate into our game as opposed to these two wildly different systems for the same IP. That brings a lot more cohesion to both the gameplay and the game as a whole.

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DS: I know you’ve mentioned clans and such will have different routes in the game, but will Seattle as a whole change based on your choices throughout?

RL: Not exactly based on your clan choice. We have some other things that will change the complexion of Seattle. Masquerade is one of those things. If you are a very good vampire and you don’t break masquerade at all, Seattle is a very safe, healthy place for you. If you are a very crazy vampire and you go around willy-nilly murdering people left and right, Seattle will change accordingly. Basically, if you break masquerade one too many times, it’s not just the human forces that are going to come after you. I’ll just say that.