Some Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 Gamescom footage showing an extended look at the upcoming immersive vampire sim was just released. However, the community isn’t reacting in the way that the developers were surely expecting.
The 28-minute Gamescom 2019 playthrough (via IGN) takes you through the same city that was previously shown during E3 2019, but comes with additional footage.
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Most comments are questioning the slow and excruciating pace of the game, but that is probably down to who’s playing, and not the game itself. But it does a disservice at highlighting the gameplay, especially in a game where you play as an extremely agile and resourceful supernatural creature. There is a silly bit of disco dancing near the beginning of the video, with a decidedly overexcited player character showing his moves. But viewers have buckled down things that are far more damning.
Many users “couldn’t unsee” Elif’s giraffe neck, while others went as far as criticizing a barely noticeable detail — where a car that took a 90-degree turn — by saying that it reminded them of a PS2 game. Nitpicking aside, combat is one of the aspects that is subject to most criticism, with one user saying that it is “hot garbage (animations, AI, collisions).”
The consensus from these critical remarks is that the title should be delayed from its Q1 2020 release date. Posts reading “you need to work on that ambiance,” or “still a few years of development at best” are just a few examples from a community that is willing to wait longer for a better game.
The original Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines was a hot mess and had bugs that severely impacted on the experience. Players are obviously concerned about the state of the sequel, hoping that the same mistakes won’t be made. The Bloodlines 2 Gamescom footage is from a pre-alpha build, so hopefully it won’t reflect the final version.
