The people waiting to return to the shoes of a Kindred will have to wait a lot longer than planned, as Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has been delayed outside of 2021 and its development will be handled by a different studio. Bloodlines 2 has been the source of a great deal of behind-the-scenes drama over the past year, some of which has filtered out to the public via social media.
Bloodlines 2 was originally announced in 2019, with a launch date of Q1 2020. The game wasn't going to be a direct sequel to the original Bloodlines. It shares the World of Darkness setting, where supernatural creatures live in hiding among regular society. In the case of Bloodlines 2, the story follows vampire politics in the city of Seattle, during a tumultuous time when the Second Inquisition is hunting the undead down in droves. Bloodlines 2 was delayed to 2021 and it was later said that it wouldn't launch until the second half of the year.
Paradox Interactive dropped a bombshell today on Twitter when it announced that Bloodlines 2 won't be released in 2021. Developer Hardsuit Labs is also no longer working on the project, and progress on the game will be continued by a currently unknown studio. It's unclear if this studio will be finishing the development of the existing game, or whether production will start over from scratch, much like Metroid Prime 4. As there is no longer a release date for Bloodlines 2, Paradox won't be accepting any more pre-orders for the game until further notice.
It has been clear for a while now that all was not well with Bloodlines 2. The creative leads were fired without warning, with Brian Mitsoda (the writer of the original Bloodlines) off the project. Mitsoda has expressed his disappointment about the decision in interviews since leaving the project. Alexandre Mandryka was hired as a creative consultant, but it's unclear if he's still working on the project.
It wasn't surprising to learn that Bloodlines 2 was being pushed back into 2021, as a number of video games have been delayed due to the pandemic. The absence of any release window, coupled with a brand new studio working on the game suggests that Bloodlines 2 won't be released for a while. The famous Shigeru Miyamoto quote about delayed games comes into play once more, but we're not sure what is going to be more exciting - the release of Bloodlines 2 or the eventual reveal of the drama that upended the game. Maybe the Sabbat are causing problems behind the scenes?
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is currently in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Paradox Interactive