9 Upcoming Video Games You Need To Be Worried About
3. Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines II
Despite being released in an unfinished state in direct competition with the genre defining Half Life 2 in 2004, the scale of choice, effortlessly intelligent writing and luscious presentation of the original Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines was enough to garner it a considerable cult following in the decade and a half since its release. A hidden gem of the RPG genre, dedicated fans have been chomping at the bit for years to get a sequel made for this deeply flawed masterpiece.
Their collective dreams seem to have been realised back in 2017, when the CEO of Paradox Interactive, who own the IP, confirmed the possibility of a sequel, stating “When the time is right, I guess a sequel will find its place in the market”. However, since its initial announcement in 2019, behind the scenes mutterings have painted anything but a rosy picture of what is increasingly sounding like a troubled development.
Initially touted for a release date in Q1 of 2020, the game was pushed back to later in the year after developer Hardsuit Labs announced more time was needed so that the technical glitches of the original game were not repeated. This wasn’t the last stumbling block for the game though, as the studio would later have to distance itself from games designer Chris Avellone, following accusations of sexual assault, before firing both Brian Mitsoda, the narrative designer who worked on the original game, as well as creative director Ka’ai Cluney, whose pitch was the original impetus to get the game green-lit in the first place.
Following even more dismissals, Paradox pushed the release back again to early 2021, before removing developer Hardsuit from the project altogether. Although nowhere near the same timeframe, anybody involved in the development of such famous disasters as Aliens: Colonial Marines and Duke Nukem Forever can tell you that such significant behind the scenes shake ups with multiple teams can often be the death knell of a game, and with Paradox now describing the game as far from release, the idea of Bloodlines II being referred to as ‘upcoming’ grows increasingly speculative.