Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 hasn’t had the best of luck. Fans once assumed it had been quietly cancelled, only for it to be revived under new leadership. Since then, it’s gone through major changes, from removing core systems to shifting its entire narrative direction.
Now, just over a month from launch, the game’s narrative director is asking fans to temper their expectations.
This comes not long after fans on Reddit highlighted how much content has been stripped away from the game’s original vision following its move to new developer The Chinese Room.
Narrative director addresses expectations
Unlike its predecessor, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 aims to deliver a more intimate, focused story. It places an emphasis on a structured experience rather than an open world.
Ian Thomas, the game's narrative director, said recently in an interview conducted by Lauren Bergin with PCGamerN, that it differs from titles like Baldur’s Gate 3, which is built entirely around player choice and complete role-playing freedom. Instead, Bloodlines 2 is designed more like a “roleplaying module” — smaller in scope, and more tightly knit.
Thomas went on to explain:
If you’re telling a specific story, I think you need a shape to pour the story into, like a mold. If you completely open up all of the options and throw somebody into a space, how do you make that character the pillar of the story?
Ian Thomas, Narrative Director at The Chinese Room
In Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, players will take on the role of a preset character called Phyre. Customisation will be limited, with the narrative instead focusing on Phyre’s own unfolding story.
Additionally, Ian Thomas explained:
It does make it hard when people see [Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2] and go, ‘Oh I thought this was an entire setting, I thought this was GTA where we could do anything!’ While we’re trying to go, ‘No, it’s this slice of time and place.’
Ian Thomas, Narrative Director at The Chinese Room
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but much of the criticism seems to stem from how different Bloodlines 2 now appears compared to what was initially promised. With that in mind, what exactly is the community saying?
Community reactions and growing skepticism
Community sentiment has been a bit sour for the past year, and the recent call to temper expectations hasn’t helped. The Reddit thread sharing the news received over 600 likes and 400 comments, with many fans surprised that the narrative director even mentioned Baldur’s Gate 3, as people weren’t expecting a game on that scale.
What fans seem to have wanted instead was a true sequel to Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines with all the modern advancements in gaming that have been made since its release.
As one fan (u/cupio_disssolvi) said, “Nobody expects BG3. People just expect VTMB1 after 20 years of technological progress.” Another fan (u/Trivo3) responded, “Pretty much. Prettier, less janky VTMB1. And people want that. As far as expectation goes, probably most have 0 of that at this point.”
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is set to release on October 21, 2025, after a lengthy development period. Many fans have been disappointed by the removal of character creation, core RPG systems, guns, and more — something I covered last month.
Still, I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with creating a more confined story set in the World of Darkness universe. It just feels like this project should have used a different subtitle, and the Bloodlines 2 name should have been reserved for a true successor to the original.
Only time will tell whether it reviews well and wins fans over. Until then, let’s hope nothing else surfaces that could temper expectations further.
