The Chinese Room explains failure in making "Bloodlines 2 for real"

The development of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was fundamentally hampered by the inability to meet the expectations of the title, as revealed by Dan Pinchbeck, former creative director of The Chinese Room, on the Goth Boss podcast. The Chinese Room, which inherited the problematic project from Hardsuit Labs, knew that they would not be able to deliver a direct sequel to the beloved 2004 RPG by Troika.

Pinchbeck shared the initial frustration of the team: "The tricky bit was Bloodlines 1. Are you doing a sequel to Bloodlines 1? We used to sit there and have these planning sessions of how do we get them [publisher Paradox] to not call it Bloodlines 2? That felt like the most important thing we were doing here, getting to that and saying this isn't Bloodlines 2. We can't do Bloodlines 2; there's not enough time, there's not enough money."

Publisher Paradox pulled development of Bloodlines 2 from Hardsuit Labs in 2021. The original version from Hardsuit Labs (revealed in 2019), seen by Martin Robinson at GDC 2019, featured a more traditional RPG structure of "zero to hero" in Seattle. The Chinese Room, however, transformed the game into a more linear and action-focused format, with the player assuming an ancient and powerful vampire from the start. As reflected in the analysis of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, the final game demonstrated a lack of depth and character development.

The former director explained why they couldn't replicate the original formula: "Bloodlines 1 came out at a really interesting time in game development," alongside games like Stalker and Shenmue, when you could release an ambitious game "full of bugs and holes, completely flawed, but the ambition was really exciting". He concluded: "Trying to recreate that magic in a different environment felt wrong. No one would be happy. You wouldn't make the people who liked Bloodlines 1 happy, and you wouldn't make the people who didn't know about Bloodlines 1 happy, because they'd never get Bloodlines 2 and would always have a flawed game that was built really quickly with little money."

The Chinese Room took on the project as an opportunity for a transition to triple-A development, despite the studio's reputation for original titles like Dear Esther and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture. Pinchbeck made it clear to Paradox that he didn't want to "just finish someone else's game."

The inherited project was "a fractured thing", with the dated engine and unfinished ideas, leading The Chinese Room to approach it as if they were working on an original IP. With limited time and resources, the team decided to focus on what was possible: "We can't do Bloodlines 2, we can't do Skyrim, but we can do Dishonored," said Pinchbeck. The goal became to deliver a Bloodlines title "really focused and true to the mythos, and it's a good ride".

Pinchbeck wrote most of the story for the new direction, but left the studio he co-founded in 2023 due to intense burnout, stating: "Priorities change. You look at things and say, 'This is what's going on out there; I'm killing myself at work, I'm working stupid hours, I'm working seven days a week, I'm trying to keep multiple projects afloat.' The clock was ticking. You leave before you collapse."

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was released in late October and, despite some wonderful characters and performances, struggled to impress, resulting in a perceived experience as empty and commercially unsuccessful, casting a shadow over the future of the Bloodlines series. This suggests that the focus of fans may turn to other games based on the theme, such as the upcoming The Blood of Dawnwalker, an RPG in development by former developers of The Witcher.