Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is a darkly fascinating immersive sim

It launched back in November 2004, is one of the most cherished PC games of all-time and people have been clamouring for a follow-up the 15 years since – and today, at GDC, that finally became a reality. Yes, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines is getting a sequel, and it’s coming to PC and consoles in 2020.

You might have guessed as much from the recent teases made by publisher Paradox, or possibly hoped as much back when Paradox acquired the rights back in 2015, though it’s all come together remarkably quickly.

“When we as Paradox acquired the IP, we saw Bloodlines as the crown jewel,” says producer Christian Schlutter. “We wanted to do a new Bloodlines, but we also knew there were a lot of expectations connected to it, not just from the fans but also from us. We actually thought we’d hold off on doing Bloodlines 2, because we wanted to do it right – then these guys come along and have the perfect pitch, with the original writer on-board too. It all happened far faster than we expected.”

Those guys, by the way, are developers Hardsuit Labs, previously of Blacklight: Retribution fame but also assisted by none other than Brian Mitsoda, formerly of original Bloodlines developer Troika Games and who’s working alongside Cara Ellison (who, full disclosure alert, is a friend of Eurogamer) to pen the sequel.

“It’s great to come back to it,” says Mitsoda. “It’s of course a bit daunting because of the fan expectation over the last 15 years – but the way it came together, we developed the story really quickly. We started working on it as soon as we heard that Paradox had bought the World of Darkness IP.”