After years in development hell, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is finally set to launch on October 21. While that announcement at Gamescom Opening Night Live 2025 should've been cause for relief among fans, the simultaneous reveal of pricey add-ons for day one DLC with new playable clans has been cause for substantial backlash.
"It's not uncommon for games to come out with additional content," a PR rep for publisher Paradox tells PCGamesN in response to the controversy, "and given the nature of the game as it stands, where it's been through a lot, this is a way to get additional players in that have been asking for that content, and asking for those clans, on day one."
A quick glance at the Bloodlines subreddit, which is currently filled with posts like "I'm just not paying 34€ extra for a 60€ game that shows no respect for the long-time fans" and "Is Paradox smoking crack?" will show you the general tone of the community's response to the DLC reveal. I doubt the assertion that "a day one upsell is simply giving players what they want" is going to be accepted.
Paradox has a reputation for extensive DLC releases across games like Crusader Kings and Cities: Skylines, but while its aggressive expansions have been criticized, there's also a key difference here: Those are sandbox games you'll likely come back to over and over again, which constantly benefit from new gameplay options no matter how deep in you've gotten.
The day one DLC for Bloodlines 2 includes a pair of new clans, which are effectively classes. The pressure to pay more for those options feels a lot more difficult to ignore when you're going to be making decisions about your playstyle at the very start of the game – especially since this is an RPG many players are likely to play through just once or twice. Hardcore fans may want to keep coming back to see how every clan plays, sure, but locking those options behind a paywall seems to be a sure way to push them away.
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