Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 dev diary explains traversal mechanics
While it seems we’re still no closer to a date for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, the latest dev diary has updated fans on a few things.
A few things stand out in the latest blog post from the studio, one of which is from Technical Director Nick Slaven, who says that “We’ve also been extending the combat system to allow many NPCs to fight, and for pedestrians to fight too with a just-in-time switch from the MassAI system to regular instanced characters, and we’ve made them able to fight each other when the circumstances are right – it’s very entertaining”, before adding: “Other than that we’ve been working hard on optimising the game to run on consoles and keeping the framerate solid on PCs, and the memory footprint small.”
The Chinese Room’s Junior Level Designer Jack Goddard talked about traversal, saying: “When designing our spaces, we consider numerous factors to allow you to make the most of your Kindred abilities. Many of our environments would have been built for humans in Seattle, but you are a powerful Vampire, and our spaces need to support this. We have created multiple paths, some that are accessible by humans and some of which are only accessible through using your unique movements, enhancing both gameplay variety and immersion. However, using these vampiric abilities can risk breaking the Masquerade, so these paths are designed to be used discreetly, ensuring you remain hidden from prying human eyes.”
Goddard also said: “In summary, our level design philosophy revolves around maximizing the potential of your Vampire abilities, tailoring spaces to their intended purpose, and maintaining a balanced and engaging pace throughout the game. We can’t wait for you to experience the world we’ve built in Bloodlines 2.”
While the release date is something most people want to know, that wasn’t forthcoming, however there are some snippets that let you draw your own conclusions about how far along the game is. Producer Lee Clarke explained that the team is recording still, so there definitely seems to be a way to go on the game.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is coming to PC and consoles.
