Bloodlines 2 Fails to Meet Fans Expectations — A Mixed Reception from Critics

The road to the release of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has been fraught with challenges and setbacks. However, Paradox and the developers at The Chinese Room managed to bring it to launch. Did the teams manage to create something worthwhile from the remnants of the version by Hardsuit Labs? Initial press reactions are mixed and rather ambiguous.

As of the time this article was written, Bloodlines 2 is not receiving favorable ratings: it holds a score of 64 on Metacritic (PS5 version) and 66 on OpenCritic, with only 40% of critics recommending it. Let’s start with the game’s positive aspects. It has been praised for its atmosphere, storyline, engaging characters, appealing environment design, and an enjoyable soundtrack. Some reviewers also noted their appreciation for the abilities of the elder vampire.

On the other hand, critics have pointed out numerous flaws. Player choices in Bloodlines 2 seem to have little real impact, creating merely an illusion of choice. Side quests are considered dull and overly simplistic, the open world is perceived as empty and unengaging, character customization feels limited for an RPG, combat is unbalanced, and the flashback segments featuring Fabien lack mechanics. Adding to these issues is poor performance on both PC and consoles.

Charles Harte from Game Informer

Below are summaries from several reviews included in the published assessments.

Fraser Brown

Jessica Cogswell

Robert Purchese

Jasmine Gould-Wilson

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is set to be released on October 21 for PC (Steam, GOG, Epic Games Store), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series, complete with Russian subtitles.