Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is nearing its release, a significant achievement considering its tumultuous development history, including near-cancellation, multiple delays, and staff layoffs at developer The Chinese Room. However, this long-awaited launch comes with a notable detail: while the base game includes four clan types, two additional clans will be available from day one, but only for an extra cost.
These two bonus clans, Lasombra and Toreador, are bundled in the `Shadows and Silk` add-on pack, priced at $22, with no alternative acquisition method mentioned. This raises concerns as clans are crucial to gameplay, influencing not only player style but also the overall difficulty. Notably, the first Bloodlines game offered a total of seven clans within its base experience.
During Gamescom, The Chinese Room addressed the decision to offer these clans as downloadable content rather than including them in the main game. Their explanation cited that these new clans represent additional development effort beyond their initial scope for the game. This extra work was sometimes requested by publisher Paradox, making the separate sale justifiable from their perspective.
Narrative director Ian Thomas elaborated, stating that throughout the game`s prolonged development and numerous delays, “a huge amount of changes” were implemented. He added, “Including a massive amount of story content and features and all the rest of it.”
He continued, “So we have been expanding it from where we originally planned to land it, I think, constantly, and Paradox have been really good when we go, or when the clients go, or when Paradox go, `We should add a bit more here. Let`s push the date back.` As you know, the date has pushed back, but that has been to fatten it out into something that we feel does land where the players want it.”
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is scheduled for release on October 21, and will be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.