It’s been a rough ride for Paradox Entertainment’s long-in-the-works RPG sequel Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, and now the publisher has admitted it almost cancelled the project after its original developer Hardsuit Labs was ditched earlier this year.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, a sequel to developer Troika Games’ much-loved 2004 cult-classic RPG, was announced back in 2019 with a PC and console release expected the following year. Sequel-starved fans were delights at the news, particularly after it was confirmed Troika’s Brian Mitsoda would assist with writing duties – but first hints of development troubles surfaced later that year when Hardsuit announced the first of several delays.
In June 2020, Paradox distanced itself from designer Chris Avellone’s work on the game following allegations of sexual assault, and a significant studio shake-up in August saw lead narrative designer Brian Mitsoda and creative director Ka’ai Cluney fired from their roles for reasons not shared. Then in October 2020, Paradox confirmed senior narrative designer Cara Ellison had left the project and was no longer working with Hardsuit.
Inevitably, all that upheaval had a significant impact on Bloodlines 2 development, and Paradox revised its release date again toward the end of 2020, pushing it into 2021. It was hardly a promising sequence of events, but then things went from bad to worse at the start of this year when Paradox announced it had removed Hardsuit from the project, delayed the game indefinitely, and cancelled new pre-orders. “In order to meet our goals,” the publisher said at the time, “we’ve come to the conclusion that a change is needed and, as a result, more development time is required”.