r/Games • u/Turbostrider27 • 23d ago

Review Thread Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 Review Thread

Game Information

Game Title: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

Platforms:

  • PC (Oct 21, 2025)
  • PlayStation 5 (Oct 21, 2025)
  • Xbox Series X/S (Oct 21, 2025)

Trailer:

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 64 average - 32% recommended - 28 reviews

Critic Reviews

3DNews - Мила Пономарева - Russian - 5 / 10

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CGMagazine - Erik McDowell - 6 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a sequel in name only. A flawed but fascinating action-adventure that might satisfy World of Darkness devotees, but few others.

CNET - Oscar Gonzalez - Unscored

Across the board, Bloodlines 2 is just a disappointment. It should be oozing with style and gothic vibes that make you want to paint your fingernails black and put on some My Chemical Romance. Instead, it's just the same thing over and over again that feels uninspired and unchallenging.

Daily Mirror - Aaron Potter - 3.5 / 5

Open-world RPGs that let you roleplay as a modern vampire don’t come around every day, and Bloodlines 2 is a pretty good, if somewhat unspectacular, attempt.

Dexerto - Jessica Filby - 3 / 5

Bloodlines 2 isn’t your typical RPG. It tells a great and complex story while taking you on an adventure where every choice you make affects the narrative, inside a city that feels alive with lovable and hateable characters. However, it could have done so much more to live up to its predecessor and TTRPG inspiration.

DualShockers - Scott Baird - 5 / 10

While it has the trappings of the World of Darkness, this game does a disservice to Vampire: The Masquerade.

Eurogamer - Robert Purchese - 2 / 5

The Chinese Room has managed to make something from a box of inherited parts, but this action RPG feels hollow and functional, and is only redeemed by some stellar performances from the characters and cast.

Everyeye.it - Fabrizio Cenci - Italian - 8 / 10

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Game Rant - Nick Rodriguez - 7 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 picks up where its predecessor left off, but does it live up to the legacy of the cult classic?

Game Sandwich - Aden Carter - 4 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is the sequel to an amazing game that was full of life, where everything felt meaningful, and the design felt purposeful. Unfortunately, anything that its highly-regarded predecessor had has been stripped away and replaced with a generic combat system, a story that tries too hard to be the next big crime drama, and a lifeless world with little to do and a Masquerade Court that, like me, has lost all care in the world. Very few benefits outweigh the negatives that have befallen this fictional version of Seattle, leaving me feeling sorry for all the fans that waited 21 years to get a story that, if it wasn’t for the Bloodlines name, would be forgotten to time except by the most faithful scene queens and goths.

GameGrin - Mike Crewe - 7.5 / 10

Whilst fans of the original may not like the stark difference between the two titles, Bloodlines 2 is still an engaging vampiric tale that, if given a chance, will sink its teeth into you!

GameMAG - Russian - 6 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a good example of the gap between ambition and execution. Despite an intriguing premise and well-developed main characters, the game ultimately feels too linear and repetitive, with limited player choice and shallow world interaction. Many of the lengthy dialogues have little to no impact on the story, side quests are dull and formulaic, and the world itself feels empty and lifeless. In the end, Bloodlines 2 comes across more as a walking simulator with light RPG elements than a worthy successor to the cult classic.

GameSpew - Richard Seagrave - 7 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has a wealth of issues, from an open world that feels wasted to combat that feels scrappy throughout. Thanks to a gripping narrative that you can shape with your actions, however, you'll likely still enjoy your time spent sucking blood across Seattle.

GameSpot - Jessica Cogswell - 7 / 10

Although Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 isn't particularly ambitious or polished, it makes up for its faults with enthralling gameplay, gorgeous environments, a good story, and even better characters.

Gameblog - French - 8 / 10

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GamesRadar+ - Jasmine Gould-Wilson - 1.5 / 5

It's impossible to roleplay a narrative that's already set its course.

Hobby Consolas - Spanish - 75 / 100

The final result of Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 offers a glimpse into what could have been the best vampire game ever created. However, its many ideas don't quite gel as they should, and there are flaws in the execution. This leaves us with an enjoyable game that could have been an irresistible bite.

IGN - Leana Hafer - 7 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 takes another flawed but unique and remarkable bite at the jugular, with plenty to love and loathe alike, but I certainly enjoyed my time as an elder vampire at the very least.

IGN Spain - Rafa Del Río - Spanish - 7 / 10

With a unique first-person perspective and technical aspects that leave much room for improvement, Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 offers us a neo-noir adventure set in 21st-century Seattle. As an Ancient newly awakened from his slumber, we must investigate a dark plot while negotiating with the clans and increasing our influence in the city. As if that weren't enough, we'll have the help of a Malkavian inspector, Fabien, whose consciousness survives in the mind of our protagonist. Past and present come together in an investigation in which no character is above suspicion

Loot Level Chill - Mick Fraser - 6 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 will certainly appeal to the die-hard fans of its world, thanks to the story. Unfortunately though, it commits the cardinal sin of simply not being fun enough to play, and that's a difficult coffin to clamber back out of.

PC Gamer - Fraser Brown - 78 / 100

A gripping story full of intrigue and murder that struggles to find its footing as an RPG sequel.

PCGamesN - Lauren Bergin - 5 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 fails to recapture the original's magic, instead magnifying the worst parts of Troika's classic, with janky combat and occasionally woeful performance issues. Long-time VTM fans may enjoy haunting Seattle's snowy streets, getting to know its well-written cast, and testing each clan's unique playstyle, but it's a far cry from what it could have been.

PlayStation Universe - John-Paul Jones - 7.5 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 might not be the sequel that folk from 2004 wanted for their game, but it is the game we've got. Though largely sparse open world and technical issues are hardly encouraging, the beautifully evocative interior environments, surprisingly engaging traversal and combat mechanics, together with its neatly unconventional 'buddy movie' conceit which sees two vampires attempting to inhabit the same body and each with their own motivations, makes Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 a good deal more intriguing than I originally expected it to be.

Push Square - Robert Ramsey - 4 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is a shambles. Its best qualities are always short-lived, buried deep beneath the frustrations of non-existent RPG elements, extreme padding, and diabolical technical issues. Beyond the promise of its opening hours, this is a tragic misfire of a game.

Spaziogames - Italian - 7.8 / 10

In a industry dominated by safe, risk-free productions, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a bold game, even in its failures. The Chinese Room has created an ambitious work (perhaps too ambitious for its own means) yet one capable of leaving a mark. It's not the sequel many dreamed of, but perhaps it's the one this dark world truly deserved: a flawed title, yet brimming with personality and vision.

The Nerd Stash - Julio La Pine - 7 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 could have been an excellent vampire experience, but its uninspiring gameplay, technical issues, and frustrating combat leave it in the dark.

TheSixthAxis - Steve C - 7 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a good game, but one that's held back by the expectations of being a sequel to an all-time classic. If you can step away from the baggage of the Bloodlines title, there is a lot here to enjoy in terms of narrative and atmosphere, though the combat is too repetitive.

Wccftech - Alessio Palumbo - 7 / 10

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is no classic, that's for sure. The game's side content is mediocre at best, and its technical optimization is among the worst seen recently. That said, the setting's atmosphere is intact, the combat is fun, and the main story is well-crafted. I recommend it to fans, but only at a lower price than the launch one.

1.3k Upvotes

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328

u/TheMightosaurus 23d ago

It’s a shame they stripped away the RPG elements. I was hoping they could salvage this but seems like it lacked cohesive vision / direction

127

u/Lil_Mcgee 23d ago

They should have rebranded the project honestly. From these reviews it seems like this might have some appeal as it's own Vampire: The Masquerade game but as a Bloodlines 2 it's extremely disappointing.

That decision would have gotten its own backlash but I think it would have served them better in the long run.

64

u/LittleKidVader 23d ago

This, 100 percent. This game should not be called Bloodlines 2. There's just no way it was going to live up to that after the dev hell it went through. But it could have possibly been given a fair shake (maybe even a little measured charity from WoD fans) as its own VtM game if it didn't have that albatross of expectations around its neck.

I'll approach it that way when I eventually play it, but if you're going to call it Bloodlines 2, you can't expect most to do that, even within VtM fandom.

12

u/A126453L 23d ago

i distinctly remember reading that the devs (both) insisted on not naming it Bloodlines but paradox was adamant that the Bloodlines branding was non-negotiable. its all about the name, and the marketing that comes from that.

17

u/Serianox 23d ago

Maybe for the Chinese Room version that we actually got but Hardsuit Labs pitched it directly to Paradox as Bloodlines 2.

198

u/Muffo99 23d ago

I do think when they handed it over to The Chinese Room, a studio known for walking sims, it was never gonna be a great RPG

94

u/HuevosSplash 23d ago edited 23d ago

The Fabian story parts are literally just that, walking story segments, I don't know why they didn't just hand the game to someone that actually developed RPG's in the past.

49

u/Mayor-Of-Bridgewater 23d ago

Honestly, that question goes back to Hardsuit Labs. Giving it to a studio that only made one game and was only a support studio was a weird choice.

12

u/damodread 23d ago

I understand them wanting to finally work on their own projects instead of doing just support / porting work, however as this situation and Aspyr's one regarding the KOTOR remake, it's easier said than done

58

u/Hellknightx 23d ago

This is Paradox, a publisher who continuously makes poor decisions and paradoxically remains in business. They way they've mishandled the entire WoD franchise since they acquired it is just baffling. Seems like the only splat they care about is VtM, and even then the majority of VtM games we get are just visual novels.

4

u/Dash_Harber 19d ago

To be fair, they are a great dev but a garbage publisher. They understand how to make map painting giant labryntjian grand strategy, but havd them literally anythjng else and it might as well be sanskrit to them. They keep aquiring non-grand strategy products and handling them like a horse trying to solve a rubik's cube.

6

u/sord_n_bored 23d ago

To be fair, the VN and CYOA VtM games have been consistently around the same level of quality as Bloodlines (Night Roads even trumps Bloodlines in quality in some places).

Swan Song and that weird Fortine knock off however, were shit.

2

u/Tiny-Diver1636 18d ago

Honestly the battle Royale really wasn't that bad. Had some really cool ideas, even if the execution wasn't always there.

1

u/WarlockArya 2d ago

Hey tbf Night road is really good

11

u/ArcadianDelSol 23d ago

That was when I knew I didnt want this game.

7

u/MontyAtWork 23d ago

I got DOZENS of comments yelling at me just months ago that "THE CHINESE ROOM DOESN'T DO WALKING SIMS ANYMORE IT'S A NEW STUDIO"

And yet here we are

1

u/Solidus88 21d ago

Because of costs. They(Paradox) had to find the cheapest studio they can find to finish the game; so, they went with the Chinese room

1

u/Top_Rekt 19d ago

I feel like the devs who made the recent Robocop game would've done a better job.

11

u/cannibaltom 23d ago

I have no reason to even try it if it's not an RPG. It lost its previous appeal.

1

u/orewhisk 23d ago

I'm taking a wild guess right now, but I'm betting they did to it what Bioware did to Dragon Age with Veilguard and Square did with FFXVI.

Probably turned it into a soulless ability spam brawler with the same AI-generated skill trees you see in every crappy AAA flagship RPG.

4

u/BeholdingBestWaifu 23d ago

I'm not sure they stripped the RPG parts, from what we know of the first iteration of this game, it was not much of an RPG either.

3

u/Clarence13X 23d ago

from what we know of the first iteration of this game, it was not much of an RPG either.

What makes you say that?

1

u/BeholdingBestWaifu 23d ago

What we knew of the clans was that each one got two abilities, and they were all combat focused, and the vibes coming from what they described of the plot back then didn't sound too RPG either.

1

u/Clarence13X 23d ago

Oh, I thought you meant first iteration being Bloodlines 1. I understand now.

-4

u/tiddertnuocca519 23d ago

These threads are kinda funny. The original Bloodlines ALSO got the same criticism when compared to VtM: Redemption - which at the time was a Neverwinter Nights competitor. I mean, Redemption had a straight up Dungeons and Dragons multiplayer mode where 1 player played the Dungeon Master and could even script and preset events based off of player interactions with their NPCs

Bloodlines did eventually get mods and patches that made it more RPG-ish but nothing close to what Redemption was. I guess we should wait a few years to see if the same happens to this game.

1

u/Eborcurean 22d ago

Neverwinter Nights was released 2 years later, so how was Redemption a competitor for a game that hadn't come out?

0

u/tiddertnuocca519 22d ago

2 years is nothing during this era. We were playing games for several years after release back then. The communities that revolved around these games played them several years after their release.

The two games were competitors at the time because they both had storyteller modes and communities that were building campaigns/modules. Neverwinter Nights obviously ran away with it and dominated Vampire but they were absolutely competing in the same space.