Vampire Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 (hereafter referred to as "Bloodlines 2") has had a tumultuous history. The original developer, Hardsuit Labs, fired the game's lead writer, Brian Mitsuda, and creative director, Kaai Clooney, in 2020. Later that year, senior narrative designer Carla Ellison left the company. And in 2021, Hardsuit Labs was kicked out of the project altogether.

A new developer emerged from the shadows in September 2023: The Chinese Room (TCR). to describe Bloodlines 2 as "out of their comfort zone" is an understatement. TCR had previously worked on Dear Esther, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs," "Everybody's Gone to the Rapture," and "Little Orpheus. An encore of an action RPG with a cult following is just out of place.

I was able to speak with the game's scenario designer, Alone Le Bray of TCR, about the project, and in particular about the game's newly announced protagonist, Fire. They will be fully voiced, in the vein of RPG protagonists like Commander Shepard from "Mass Effect," V from "Cyberpunk 2077," and Inquisitor from "Dragon Age Inquisition." This is a significant departure from the first game, which was more Dragon Age-oriented: this is a significant departure from the first game, which was more in the style of a fusion of Dragon Age: Origins and Bethesda.

"Ultimately," Bray says, "the choice was, 'How immersive can we make the story? Having a voiced protagonist and a few more established characters allows for more customization and a deeper experience of (Fire's) role: there are four clans to choose from in Vampire: The Masquerade (VTM) (Bloodlines 1, down from the first seven), which may be a bitter pill for some fans. Still, Le Bray said, "There is still a lot of control out there. And there is still a lot of personalization and player choice. But it's not the kind of thing that stops the story."

Le Bray is no novice when it comes to RPG storytelling. He has been with Bioware for 15 years, working on games with both silent and voiced protagonists. Much of what I did at Bioware was to listen to the inflections of the very talented voice actors," he says. And they incorporate that to a great extent in their acting and in their games. At least in my opinion, it draws the player in more." [As the huge success of Baldur's Gate 3 shows, I'm not alone. But I do understand Le Bray's point of view. I would be lying if I said that I have not enjoyed the recitation of lines from Commander Shepherd and V. In fact, when I played cyberpunk, V completely endeared himself to me. Le Bray argues that adding an actor's performance to the game brings a whole new dimension to the moment-to-moment conversation.

"You don't need to use an entire paragraph to say, "This character is sad." There have been plenty of games that required huge walls of text, but a little smile or furrowed brow can convey just as much." Having a voiced protagonist really makes it more immersive."

However, that doesn't address my clan's concerns. Two clans in particular from the first film, Malkavian and Nosferatu, completely changed your experience. The Malkavians enjoyed a completely different dialogue option, surrounded by the madness of the Clan, while the Nosferatu were so hideous that even showing their faces violated the vampire code known as the Masquerade.

Obviously, with voiced characters, there is little room to play in that space. Le Bray told me, however, that your Phyre starting clan will still have an impact on the story." As far as playing as Phyre, I can tell you that there are certain things that may be available to you depending on your clan: ...... When you are interacting with a character, you may be able to (appeal to and interact with) that character in different ways, depending on your clan's choices."

To my ears, that sounds more like a "V" situation. Incidentally, in "Cyberpunk 2077," V can choose one of three origins: corp, nomad, or street kid. I myself went with Street Kid, and while it didn't always come up, I was impressed with how V embodied the Street Kid when it came to these choices. I don't know if there will be a Malkavia equivalent in Bloodline 2 (the clan in particular has yet to be revealed), but I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle it.

I also brought up what Le Bray calls "the dreaded paraphrase mismatch." As an example I used, I cited the reporter scene in Mass Effect 1." From the "Time to shut you up." dialogue choice, Shepard says, "I've had enough of your snide remarks," and then punches the journalist in the face.

"Yes, I have. Le Bray says with a laugh.

"Whenever we ask players to make a choice, we want them to get the result we think they deserve. Pressing the B button to jump and the character doesn't jump is a problem. I wanted the character to yell at another character, and when I chose (that option), it became, 'Please, can you be nice to me?'

To avoid such situations, Le Bray talks about in-house playtesting. But he says he also experiments with subverting expectations. Because if they expect one thing, why don't we do the exact opposite?"

This may seem infuriating at face value, but there is a moment in "Star Wars: The Old Republic" where this particular knife is twisted to great results in the story of the Imperial agents. I won't spoil it for you, but if you've played it, you'll know what I mean. Le Bray responds, "I know exactly what you mean."

Fire is very different from the first film, being a vampire who has been kicking since the 17th century. In contrast, the player character in Bloodlines 1 is a newcomer. According to Le Bray, the studio is capitalizing on that starting point: "They are unreliable narrators of history and ...... what they choose to share, and what may be legendary: ...... There is a lot of play there and I love that."

Ultimately, Le Bray is "excited that we're telling people about this," and you can't blame him; Bloodlines 2 has long been shrouded in masquerade, subject to human turnover and development hell. It's] something we really wanted to work on behind the scenes, and we wanted to be in a really good, solid position to be able to share it: ...... Everyone in the studio wants to see people's reactions"

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Even if Le Bray's enthusiasm is contagious, I am only cautiously optimistic now. Narrative and story are TCR's forte, but the moment-to-moment gameplay and RPG elements are a risk the studio is willing to take on the flip side of the coin by taking on this project, which has been something of a curse. But I like losers, so I personally hope they pull it off.