After playing Swansong, perhaps Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2's voiced main character won't be such a bad thing

The playable character in Vampire Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 will be fully-voiced, and some would-be Kindred are already worried about it. Developer The Chinese Room announced this rather huge change to the Bloodlines formula on Halloween (via YouTube), and when I first heard the news, I'll admit I shared the initial set of concerns. I've long championed the fact that we need more vampires in video games, especially when it comes to creating a totally original character, and the tighter storyline implications of having a voiced lead in Bloodlines 2 risks shattering that fantasy.

But having finally started playing last year's Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong, though, I'll take what I can get. I didn't get any say over Galeb, Emem, and Leysha's traits at all, but their voice acting is arguably what keeps me interested in their stories. As much as I would've loved to design my own Bloodlines 2 character in more granular detail, having a preset archetype with thoughtfully-written backstories to color in sounds like the best of both worlds.

Bite me

After many years embroiled in the embodiment of developmental hell, Bloodlines 2 is finally on its way – hopefully for good this time. The Chinese Room expects the sequel to land in the coming year, almost 20 years since the first game. Given Bloodlines' cult following, it seems TCR is faced with a tall order – taller still for the fact that it seemingly won't be anything like the first game at all.

In many ways, that's a good thing. It's easy to look back with rose-tinted glasses, but the reality is that Troika Games' 2004 RPG was as flawed as it was groundbreaking. Sure, we got to choose our vampire clan, gender, backstory, and fill out our character sheets, but what felt clunky in 2004 just feels downright unpleasant today. Technological advancements and modern standards in mind, The Chinese Room doesn't seek to remake the original, but innovate and build on what made it great to begin with. 

One of Bloodlines' strong points has always been the voice acting of its NPCs, bolstered by a strong script. It's something we see again in developer Big Bad Wolf's more recent entry, Swansong. The game takes a more puzzle-exploration and TTRPG-based approach, relying on skill points and dice rolls to dictate the outcome of dialogue choices. It might not have the flashiest graphics or tons of swanky weapons, but the writing and voice acting more than make up for it. The dramatic inner workings of the Boston Camarilla are fascinating when told through the eyes of three different characters, and although created by a totally different developer, it gives me hope for Bloodlines 2.

Character building

Vampire: The Masquerade games are known for their dynamic characters, and that looks set to continue in Bloodlines 2. Our playable character will be an elder vampire named Phyre, recently awoken after centuries of slumber, as they grapple with the modern world. The Chinese Room is still letting us customize elements of Phyre's backstory, despite clearly having a specific narrative in mind.

Bloodlines 2 having a voiced protagonist is far from the biggest difference between The Chinese Room's sequel and Troika's original. We will be able to choose to play either a male or female Phyre, edit their appearance, and assign them to one of four clan backgrounds. The developer has so far only announced warrior clan Brujah as an option, but with thirteen very different possibilities on the table, it leaves plenty of room for four very different Phyres. In contrast, your clan in the original Bloodlines simply dictated your Disciplines in the framework of an overarching story.

Masquerade fans, I implore you: it's not the end of the world. 'Half-set' video game protagonists are nothing new, and at least in Bloodlines 2, there's a reason behind it. We're presented with the cosmetic illusion of choice between a male or female Eivor in Assassin's Creed Valhalla, for example, but the storyline remains the same regardless. Meanwhile, we can choose life paths and attributes for V in Cyberpunk 2077, but whatever you choose, they're still called V. Developers are aware that we like to have an element of choice when it comes to our RPG heroes, but roleplaying a pre-written character can still be incredibly fulfilling. I mean, just look at The Witcher 3. 

My brain might have short-circuited when I thought about it at first, but now, I'm actually excited to meet the fully-voiced Phyre. By giving us creative boundaries to work in, Bloodlines 2 is primed to reap the benefits of both the action and RPG genres to deliver well-written characters as well as player choice. Perhaps I'm overly optimistic, but after so many years in the making, I just want to see this game flourish – whether or not I get to create-a-vamp from scratch.