The Chinese Room has released a new trailer for upcoming vampire-themed RPG Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2. The trailer is part of a new series of videos that the studio plans on releasing every week until the October 21 release of the title. The first one of these, titled the Fabien trailer, focuses on the titular Fabien – a Malkavian detective that is stuck in protagonist Phyre’s head. Check it out below.
The character of Fabien is explored in depth whenever the player decides to rest after sunrise. In these times, the player gets taken back to 1920s Seattle and in the shoes of Fabien, who is out on his own to solve the mystery of his own murder. During these segments, players will get to experience a past version of the game’s main setting of Seattle, while also interacting with characters that, owing to the nature of vampires, might still be “alive” when Phyre wakes up after sunset to go have a chat with.
Since Fabien is a vampire of the Malkavian clan, some of his more unique quirks are showcased. The clan is well-known to often be downright insane, getting into conversations with inanimate objects and even having entirely separate conversations than what an NPC might be saying to them. This can be seen in the trailer with Fabien talking to a tape recorder, asking it what it has been eavesdropping on. Along with this, the trailer also gives us a glimpse a the mind manipulation abilities that Malkavians tend to have.
Unfortunately, unlike the original Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, the upcoming Bloodlines 2 will not feature Malkavians as a playable clan. Rather, the title will feature six distinct clans: Brujah, Banu Haqim, Tremere, Ventrue, Toreador, and Lasombra. Adding further problems to this, the studio has also confirmed that Toreador and Lasombra will only be available for those that buy the Shadows & Silk add-on pack, which also happens to be included in the $89.99 Premium Edition of the title.
For context, Clans are a key feature of the Vampire: The Masquerade universe ever since the first tabletop RPG rulesets were published. A good way to describe the concept would be to compare them with classes in fantasy RPGs. Clans typically represent where a character stands not only in vampire society, but also what kinds of abilities the characters have as well. Brujah vampires, for example, are defined by their brute strength and speed, and often tend to be frontline warriors and bodyguards. Ventrue, on the other hand, focus more on manipulating those around them, and can often be found in penthouse suites ruling over their own feifdoms.
After Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 saw an incredibly rocky development, with even the development teams for the game changing at some points, The Chinese Room, along with publisher Paradox Interactive, finally confirmed that it would be coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on October 21 earlier this week. The announcement was made with new trailer that also confirmed that pre-orders were live.