I didn't dare to dream, but playing Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has convinced me this gloomy RPG is still worth waiting for

"It's good to want things, but that dream is over," croons a gothic late-night radio jockey in Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. He's talking about holiday plans – a snowstorm has effectively shut down Seattle, trapping its unknowing residents within a supernatural turf war – but my mind cynically goes to Bloodlines 2 itself.

The sequel to Troika Games' gothic cult classic RPG has been delayed and passed around so often that I had long given up on playing it, let alone hoping it would hit the same highs as the first game. Which is why, having recently played Bloodlines 2's opening hours, I'm more than a little surprised to say The Chinese Room may have a bona fide winner on its hands.

Back from the grave

In the basement of a run-down apartment block, elder vampire protagonist Phyre has just woken up from a hundred-year sleep. I'm warned the slumber has left Phyre a little weak, but against the hapless security guards and Ghouls (humans who have had a taste of vampire blood) inhabiting the rest of the building, he feels anything but. Scuttling through grimy corridors and over rotting rafters, Bloodlines 2 points out all the things that vampires do better.

Phyre can double-jump, glide, and scramble up walls; with the added verticality proving incredibly handy. I'm forced to hide from a squad of cops who turn up to look for two missing security guards, as preserving the Masquerade – vampire society's rules for remaining hidden – is as important as feeding (speaking of which, check the basement for those guards). But away from prying eyes, Phyre can punch enemies halfway across a room, use telekinesis, and pulp heads with his bare hands.

It's all very gnarly, which sucks for the Ghouls I meet on the way out of the apartment block. However, combat is hard to get a read on at this stage. Phyre can use light and heavy punches to stagger foes to be fed upon or executed, and although it certainly feels powerful, it's all very one-note.

That said, it also seems like it's designed to be padded out as you level up, with powerful abilities locked behind skill point requirements. I suspect combat will be an entirely different beast when you've got more tools to use – even within an hour of picking the magic-wielding Tremere clan, I was using blood magic to boil enemies' insides until they turned into walking bombs.

One thing I do like, at least in these early hours, is how much the whole thing feels like Dishonored. You're a superhuman, yes, but can easily be brought down with pure numbers. Stealth, or at least picking your fights carefully, is crucial. There are a few fights I had to attempt multiple times after leaving the apartment, including one memorable brawl with a dive bar's Ghoul patrons.

After a few attempts that ended up with me being unceremoniously beaten to death with a baseball bat, I finally pulled it off through shock and awe – tearing out one Ghoul's throat while he was leaning over the jukebox, then rounding on the rest before they could organize. In a separate scrap, I used telekinesis to grab someone's revolver and remotely shoot it back at them. There are some excellent foundations here, so I sincerely hope I'm only looking at the early stages of a slower-burn RPG combat system.

Out and a bat

The true star of the show is Seattle itself. This isn't a "big, open world" as The Chinese Room has already outlined, and instead is more like the original Bloodlines' zone-based slice of Los Angeles.

Like combat, I don't entirely know how this will click with the broader game – I didn't spot any side quests available in this build – and while I'm hoping the smaller size means we'll get some real density, Seattle itself is incredibly impressive. Set during a snowstorm in the run-up to Christmas, the city is gorgeous and captures the same nocturnal melancholy as its predecessor. Nobody really wants to be outside in the storm – not the cop counting down the minutes until his shift ends, certainly not the office worker-turned-midnight snack – while most of the vampires I meet are tucked away, looking down on the city from glitzy skyscrapers.

There are ways to move around Seattle quicker – like climbing up walls to run over rooftops, or using your vampiric powers to run inhumanly quickly – but both break the Masquerade if you're seen, and on two occasions I had to lose cops down snowy back-alleys. I didn't see any punishments for breaking the Masquerade (though escaping from the police may have avoided that); but given it has its own stealth meter-esque UI and its importance is stressed by every vampire in town, it remains to be seen how it's going to be enforced.

Look past the glittering Christmas trees and oh-so cozy snow, and Seattle is a supernatural powder keg. Bloodlines 2's story opens with the city on the precipice, with Seattle's vampiric leadership reeling from coordinated attacks across the city. Meanwhile, Phyre has awoken with the voice of fast-talking vampire detective Fabien in his head, and they're both as keen as the other to work out why they're sharing a brain. Throw in the fact that Phyre needs to seek permission to stay in Seattle – hooray for vampire bureaucracy – and the opening hours are part noir detective thriller, half schmoozefest with the city's ruling vamps.

A surprisingly intricate dialogue system helps both halves shine. When picking conversation options, a message in the top-right corner of the screen perceives how the person you're talking to reacts to the topic. Asking Seattle's former Prince (ruling vampire) about why they handed the city's reigns over, and they'll get irritated. I refused to be intimidated by an aggressive Sheriff enforcing the Masquerade, and instead of becoming confrontational, he was impressed by my implied strength.

"Good job matching his macho," comments Fabien afterward. Later, while Fabien's briefing me on a vampire I'm about to meet, he mentions off-hand that they're also a Tremere. Closing out my hands-on with a flashback to one of Fabien's memories, I use a range of vampiric abilities – think mind-reading and using illusion to disguise my appearance – to interrogate and investigate my way through a night shift as a Seattle detective.

Even outside of conversation, similarly small details meant I slowed down my playthrough to relish it all. Examining a rotting cat identified an audible wetness suggesting larvae are flourishing in its mouth. I hung around in an apartment lobby to listen to a late night "confessional" talk show, which began with one caller trying to get the host to sell beeswax in a multi-level marketing scheme, and ended with another caller who suspects his dead wife might not be dead after all.

It's this commitment to narrative and worldbuilding that impresses above all else. The original Bloodlines became a cult classic thanks to its richly-realized setting and narrative, and to see The Chinese Room focus on those same hallmarks is deeply affirming. Are we back? It's still too early to say. I didn't see enough of Seattle's open world to get a feel for how lively it will be outside of the main story, or how much skill trees will improve combat. But the beating heart of Bloodlines 2 is already far, far juicier than I'd dared to hope for.

Look ahead to more future releases in our roundup of new games for 2025 (and beyond).