Two months since the announcement of Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines 2 – developed by Hardsuit Labs and published by Paradox Interactive – features have been periodically teased. Since April 24th, there have been weekly confirmations of playable clans: Thinblood, Brujah, Tremere, Toreador, and Ventrue.
The player will start the game as a Thinblood, a vampire of a later generation that has no clan and lacks many of the features of a fully fledged vampire and more closely resembles humans. Later, there is a choice to become a fully fledged vampire of a clan, adopting their curse and powers.
Vampires of each clan are connected either by a common goal or their curse. Brujah vampires often seek to resist a status quo. In contrast, the Ventrue associate themselves with power, profit, and prestige. The Tremere seek intellectual advances and use blood bonds within hierarchies, whilst Toreadors obsess over beauty to sinister levels.
All four of the full clans announced were options in the original Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines. There has been much speculation from fans over what the final clan will be. Gangrel, Nosferatu, and Malkavian were other clans from the original Bloodlines that have not been included. There have been other fan predictions, such as Tzimisce and Lasombra.
Florian Schwarzer, senior project manager, spoke about the goals for clans in Bloodlines 2 in the Ventrue introduction video (see below). Schwarzer highlighted three reasons why clans already announced got a bit more priority – the main two being lore and gameplay. Firstly, he states that in Western cities, it is typical to mostly encounter these clans. Secondly, he highlights that one of the main objectives of developers is to provide players with multiple distinctive playstyles.
Vampire: The Masquerade- Bloodlines 2 is scheduled for release March 2020 on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
