https://www.youtube.com/embed/TrAVDT7maJE?si=PY7WsmrMUsU0A5Dn
From what you can see in this trailer, this is not an RPG, and predetermined characters with their own backstories does not a custom character, make. This inspires zero confidence. It looks to be little more than Dishonored with a vampire skin. Instead of Bloodlines 2, they're giving us Dishonored 3: Vampires.
Dishonored is cool, and I enjoy the series, but when I’m thinking Bloodlines, I’m thinking character sheets, making my own character (since this is something they were totally introducing five years ago), and exploring a new world. When I’m watching this trailer, I’m seeing … again, absolutely none of that. It legitimately looks like you're literally on rails in a vampire amusement park.
I’m seeing a game that’s destined to flop as soon as it launches, and maybe that's what Paradox is hoping for? After years of development hell, maybe they made the exact opposite of what fans of the first game wanted, so that they'd never have to do it again.
Whatever happened to the version of the game that was being touted during the simultaneous development of Cyberpunk 2077? I realize the game's switched hands a couple of times, but just watch this gameplay reveal from 2019 (where whoever's playing seems to be on a mouse sensitivity of 2).
https://www.youtube.com/embed/_oYJAnhvgNk?si=lho4Kfvhokrnt2Wk
Where is this game?!
As you can see, from the gameplay, the player is obviously a character of their own choosing, and this is much more in-line what what you'd expect from a sequel to Bloodlines. Even if it's janky. Even if it's not that great, in the long run, this is what people were asking for. Sure, you're probably wondering, "Where the heck was the masquerade violation when this dude climbed buildings in full view of the public multiple times?" But I'll jot that down to the game simply being unfinished.
And from what I can tell, or find through searches, it looks like this version was tossed out by the current studio.
Which is a damn shame.
Everything else in 2025 has been mostly a disappointment. Politics, life, the regular day-to-day, and yeah, a lot of the releases we’ve seen in gaming so far this year. Yeah, I'm talking about the incredibly weak sequel to Dragon Age Inquisition that took your entire past through all three of the original games, and put it in the dumpster. Or game after game deciding that they need kernel level access to your system in order to "prevent cheaters."
In fact, I think the only really cool game so far has been Path of Exile 2, and that's more just a rehash of the first game.
But … it looks like we’re being treated to more disappointment, rather than a breath of fresh air in an otherwise really annoying year.
Because that's what we needed.
We can't have the actual Bloodlines sequel. Instead, we're getting some doofus who named themselves, "Phyre" as our playable character.
At this point, if you want a semi-modern game where you can make your own vampire, influence the characters around you, build a life in something of a supernatural sim, and wreak havoc throughout different towns and cities ...
You may as well just play The Sims 4.
Admittedly, a lot of this information has been available for a while, but it's only surfaced on my own personal radar as of recently, because of the backlash this new trailer is receiving, and my membership on the ResetEra forums. And, while some in the linked Paradox forum post above might say that the original Bloodlines wasn't exactly an immersive sim, either, it is what the original studio set out to make for BL2
Source: https://mkultra.monster/gaming/2025/08/21/bloodlines-2/
