Image credit: Paradox
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has been delayed yet again, pushing the troubled RPG into the first half of 2025. Publishers Paradox Interactive and developers The Chinese Room say the delay will allow them to continue to polish the game, respond to feedback, and expand on its story.
Paradox announced the news with a video featuring Alex Skidmore, creative director at The Chinese Room, and Mattias Lilja, deputy CEO at Paradox.
“Earlier this year, Paradox reaffirmed our commitment to delivering high-quality games to our players, and the launch update is a proactive decision derived from this commitment,” said a statement accompanying the delay. “Though the game is in a good enough place that we could have maintained our planned release window, Paradox and The Chinese Room collaboratively decided to prioritize polish.”
The announcement seems designed to reassure the waiting public that the game is on the home stretch, with only “polish” to be done, but in this case polish isn’t limited to bug fixes but also seems to include additional content, more story, more endings, diversified clan combat, and more.
Paradox have had a rough year, stretching from the $22 million flop of Lamplighters League, the buggy launch and rushed DLC of Cities Skylines 2, the last-minute cancellation of Life By You, and the indefinite delay of Prison Architect 2.
Those stumbles led to Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester to admit the company had made the “wrong calls” in several major projects, while reporting falling profits.
Bloodlines 2’s history isn’t any happier. Originally aiming for release in 2020, its creative lead was fired, it was taken off its developers, and it resurfaced only last year at The Chinese Room after a supposed period of secret development. It continues to look barebones in every trailer in such a way that any delay seems inevitable.
For more of the latest news and previews from Gamescom 2024, head to our Gamescom 2024 hub.
