I don't know what to make of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 any more. After all the delays and development resets the game's been through, the long-anticipated sequel has landed on an identity between Dishonored and an action-RPG. That sounds great and everything, though at this point I wouldn't be surprised if the game launches in as rough a state as Stalker 2, or indeed the original Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines.
Thankfully, whatever becomes of the troubled sequel, the original game is—after nearly two decades' worth of unofficial patches courtesy of modder Wesp5—still brilliant. It's got a great mod community too, and one of its most interesting projects of recent years has been VTMB Prelude, an episodic story that charts the events leading up to the first game. Our Andy Chalk spoke to the devs back in 2019 when the first episode of Prelude launched, but now you can dive into the Early Access build of episode two.
The story sees you starting out as a human vampire hunter working for the Society of Leopold, a violently religious Inquisition-like faction dedicated to ridding the world of vampires, ghouls, and other supernatural entities. The first episode featured new levels, tons of dialogue, boss fights, and—from what I gather reading the community's feedback—a bit of a twist ending. The trailer for Prelude II shows off some lovely environmental work and level designs, and really reminds me just how ahead of its time Valve's Source Engine was. Those clean sharp geometries, the lovely lighting; it fills me with early 2000s nostalgia while still holding up beautifully.
Prelude is being developed by modders EntenSchreck and Hareishan, as well as Werner Spahl (aka Wesp5), whose Unofficial Patch for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines has turned the once-broken broken game into a complete and polished experience. The unofficial patch is pretty much a necessity to play the base game, and is also required to play Prelude.
Prelude II is still in Early Access, so expect some jankiness, but once that's all wrapped up then the team will get to work on the third and final episode, which will probably come out in a few years. It's a bit of a wait, but at least we'll have Bloodlines 2 to sink our teeth into by then… won't we?
