Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 “Banu Haqim” play style revealed

Developer The Chinese Room and Paradox Interactive has revealed the Banu Haqim play style for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2.

According to the official blog post, the Banu Haqim are “cursed with a third for the blood of other vampires”, and they “stalk the night as judges and lawbringers”. That said, they have a strict code of conduct, and are only allowed to feed on those who breach their code of conduct. It sounds a bit like a stealth class, as there’s a lot of talk about “using the shadows to their advantage”, and about how the playstyle is a “predator on a hunt”.

Here’s the abilities for the play style:

“When you choose your clan, you will start out with a passive ability unique to each clan. You are then able to unlock abilities from the Ability Tree, starting with your chosen clan. Each ability requires spending Ability Points (AP) to unlock which are earned from completing missions, combat and exploration. At the peak of the Ability Tree, you can unlock the clan Perk, a reward to those dedicated enough to unlock all of the abilities for a clan, giving a permanent passive upgrade.”

• Silence of Death: Clan Passive: All your actions become entirely silent for a period after feeding.
• Mute: Silence an enemy/civilian. Any sounds they produce, from screams to gunfire, are completely undetectable to others.
• Split Second: Move so fast that time appears to stop around you.
• Bladed Hand: Slash swiftly in front of you, beheading mortal opponents.
• Unseen Aura: Become temporarily invisible to enemies and civilians. Note: You can still be heard unless combined with Silence of Death.
• Prowl: Clan Perk: Can remain crouched whilst sprinting.

We also now have a good screenshot of the skill tree that’ll be in the game, too:

Judging by the image above, the Split Second skill is a fairly late unlock, though The Chinese Room confirmed that “The activated abilities and Clan Perk can be learned from the other clans, but the clan passive can not”, adding: “Because of this, you combine the clan powers in hundreds of different ways, but a Banu Haqim playthrough will remain its own gameplay experience.” It seems you can use other clan abilities.

Abilities from other clans may cost more AP depending on how well they align with your clans Disciplines. The Banu Haqim Disciplines are Celerity (speed enhancing abilities), Blood Sorcery (the ability to control blood with your arcane knowledge) and Obfuscate (abilities to easily hide, move without being noticed, and cast illusions.). If a Banu Haqim wishes to unlock a Blood Sorcery ability from another clan, it would cost less AP to unlock than an ability for a Discipline Banu Haqim don’t have. Those who unlock all abilities from a clan and get the Clan Perk, are able to stack them and have the effects of them all, elevating your power.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is expected later this year.