YYou awaken as an ancient and formidable vampire in the basement of a crumbling building in Seattle, with no recent memories and a peculiar seal on your hand. The first thing you do is provoke the cop who spots you. In a swift movement, you slam him against the wall, blood painting the bricks. A frenzied display of fangs follows as you seek favor with the local vampire court, while viciously battling hostile undead and their ghouls, all while attempting to remain hidden from the unsuspecting mortals in this sultry city.
Yet, this is also a detective narrative. Young night stalkers share your mind, including a voice named Fabian who speaks like a 1920s gumshoe, likely because he once was one. Unlike you, Fabian isn’t violent. He collaborates with human police and the vampire underbelly, extracting the blood of willing donors and wielding his mind-reading powers to uncover murders. These two narratives present distinctly different gameplay experiences in the same setting. Unfortunately, Bloodlines 2 feels awkwardly pieced together. Having just indulged in AMC’s Interview with the Vampire series, the juxtaposition is striking. One provides a thrilling, sexual, and clever adaptation of vampire lore, while the other is lacking.
Notably, this vampire tale appears to be under a curse. The original Bloodlines game, a cult classic RPG released in 2004, took more than a decade to spawn a sequel. Development for Bloodlines 2 commenced in 2015 at Hardsuit Labs in Seattle, led by writers from the first game. However, the creative lead was dismissed in 2020, and another writer was involved in a now-resolved cheating scandal. By 2021, a new developer, The Chinese Room, took over the project. The outcome is an intriguing patchwork, with The Chinese Room integrating elements from Hardsuit’s version into a coherent 25-hour narrative that, while not entirely resolved, is mostly understandable.
For instance, the vampire abilities you can acquire are displayed on a large screen, intended to offer multiple approaches to gameplay, such as seduction, coercion, and manipulation. Nonetheless, there’s little incentive to learn more skills as you begin immensely powerful, gaining some of the most enjoyable mind control and dark powers within the first few hours. When I attempted to utilize these abilities creatively, such as possessing dangerous prey on the street or probing someone’s mind for interrogation, the game frequently denied my attempts.
While the vampire interactions held intrigue, the encounters with Seattle’s humans were utterly baffling. Walking down the street, I heard sex workers yell, “I have to pay my school fees!” to no one in particular. A businessman on a bench initially asked, “Do you want to start a business together? A sexy business?” before he commenced following me around, exclaiming, “I can’t wait to have sex!” until my annoyance grew and I ended up consuming him. Although vampires may view mortals as inconsequential puppets, this felt excessively bizarre.
This odd and misplaced behavior from non-player characters further amplifies the feeling of Bloodlines 2 being a product of the late ’00s. Not only does the animation appear dated, but it also conjures memories of the clunky yet captivating first-person games emerging since Deus Ex in 2000. While gliding across Seattle’s rooftops at unnatural speeds is entertaining, much of the gameplay entails traversing the city and speaking with various characters. However, when facing ghouls—of which there are plenty—you’re thrust into some of the most awkward first-person combat I’ve experienced in years. I found it so tedious that I opted to lower the difficulty after a few hours to expedite the monotonous skirmishes.
Hidden within is an acceptable vampire story. Engaging conversations with dangerous fellow vampires represent the most compelling aspect of Bloodlines 2. I appreciated several locations in Seattle, particularly the dive bars pulsating with goth music. The Chinese Room has managed to transform a troubled game development saga into something playable and somewhat engaging. However, as time passed, my motivation to continue stemmed more from curiosity than genuine enjoyment.
Source: www.theguardian.com
