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Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 is now here, letting players take on the role of elder vampire Phyre and explore a version of Seattle within the World of Darkness setting. You'll need to choose one of the six available clans to join, all of which have their own distinct traits, before attempting to discover more about events happening around you and the strange disembodied voice in your head. We've got everything you need to know about it here, in our complete guide to Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 guides
We've prepared a number of guides for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, to help you navigate some of the game's more difficult decisions and puzzles while also explaining certain aspects that may be unclear to begin with.
- How long to beat: If you're considering whether you have enough time to complete the game or will get value for money from it, then here's the answer to how long is Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2?
- Clans: There are six Clans to choose from, who all have different abilities and interactions with each other, so to inform your decision we have an explainer for the Bloodlines 2 clans.
- What to do with Benny: After he goes on a rampage, you'll be faced with the decision of whether to hand him to Ryong or Katsumi, and we've got advice on who to give Benny to in Bloodlines 2.
- Pandora's questions: During an investigation you'll use the Mask of a Thousand Faces to try and get information from Pandora, but if you misspeak she'll shut you down, so get clued up on the questions to ask Pandora in Bloodlines 2.
- Painting puzzle: While attempting to infiltrate the Atrium to prevent a breach, you'll encounter a picture puzzle blocking your progress, which you can get past if you follow our instructions for how to solve the painting puzzle in Bloodlines 2.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 review
Our Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 review is here, and unfortunately it didn't live up to expectations for us. As judged by our own Jasmine Gould-Wilson, the game only received one and a half stars and was heavily criticised for falling short of the mark, citing clumsy writing and repetitive design as well as poor technical quality and unstable performance.
To quote from that review, "my dream vampire RPG has been staked – this blunt-toothed sequel is just a boring, linear action brawler instead." If you want to read more then click on the link above.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 platforms
In terms of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 platforms, it launched for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X on October 21, 2025.
It is not expected to launch on last-gen consoles (via Gematsu), with the publisher having scrapped that idea when the project changed hands to a new developer in 2020. Sad news for PS4 and Xbox One owners, but it's already an improvement on the computer-only restrictions of the first Bloodlines game back in 2004.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 gameplay
Early Bloodlines 2 gameplay showed us that the game plays out from a first-person perspective, with conversations and feeding animations zooming out to the third-person.
This was originally revealed in an extended deep-dive, showcasing an early mission sequence where a female Brujah-clan Phyre infiltrates a warehouse to investigate a strange mark that has appeared on their hand. Confronting Nosferatu vampire Willem, the reveal shows Phyre wielding her super-strength as a Brujah vampire to punch and feed her way through Willem's confusing illusion puzzle on a mission to get more intel out of him.
We saw more of the feeding mechanics in Bloodlines 2 in the above gameplay reveal, involving pushing down on both console controller triggers when biting into a victim. The main combat shown pertains to the Brujah's fists-first approach, with a targeting mechanic that looks reminiscent of Red Dead Redemption 2's Dead Eye.
According to studio design director Alex Skidmore, "Bloodlines 2 is designed with a balance of roleplaying game and adventure story. A compelling and rich plot you'd expect from an adventure game, but with RPG agency allowing you to act out your vampire fantasy." Something about it does look reminiscent of Arkane's Dishonored series, a reference cited by the developer in the accompanying Steam post.
The Chinese Room says it has reworked this approach, going for a more nuanced vampire roleplay experience, so now Bloodlines 2 has released we can expect "an action experience where players feel confident, almost trolling the enemies with their [vampire] disciplines." This confirms that, as in the first Bloodlines game, our chosen vampire clan and its associated strengths and weaknesses will inform how combat, feeding, and exploration works.
In another YouTube video featuring gameplay and dev interview footage, we saw Bloodlines 2's voiced protagonist Phyre having a conversation with an NPC, this time showing both characters in animated third-person close-ups. "We put in a rule that the non-combat gameplay should be about something only a vampire could do; keep it aspirational," says The Chinese Room. We see this in the extended gameplay reveal embedded above, where Phyre uses her vampiric senses to solve a puzzle in an abandoned warehouse by way of smashing through hidden gramophones to break Willem's illusion.
As well as those all-important vampire Disciplines, we know to expect four core features no matter which Kindred clan you choose: feeding, telekinesis, vampiric senses, and the voice of thin-blood vampire Fabien listening in on all Phyre does.
Stealth also comes into play, and it's left up to you to decide who you want to pick a fight with. As our features editor Andy Brown explained after playing the adventure, it does have some Dishonored vibes to it in terms of how it plays. For more, be sure to read our Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 hands-on preview.
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