Vampire: Bloodlines Previews

After a lengthy silence of anything related to Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines, today we get two new previews of the game. The first is at EchoPlayer:

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines can vaguely be described as a shooting game with heavy RPG elements, although in essence it is much deeper than that, featuring a rich, tightly-knit story at its seems and set in a distinctly-stylized city setting, reminiscent in some ways of the Blade films (not least, because of the vampires). It can be viewed from both first and third-person perspectives, and early reports suggest that the game can seamlessly transition between the two, offering you an easy way to get the best view of the surroundings.

Importantly, the RPG elements are not tacked-on, as they are in many games nowadays, and are actually a significantly important part of how the game plays and how you’ll progress through it. Living in the modern day, in a world in which vampires and humans have learned to co-exist with one another, the story begins, casting the player as a vampire recently turned from being a human. In this dark world, the vampires have managed to maintain power over the humans by hiding in the dark and avoiding unnecessary confrontation with them, and hence their discovery. This silent accord is enforced by the rule of seven different clans. And it is with one of these that you must join in order to begin your ‘quest’. Your choice is an important one, as aside from altering how the story will progress, it also dictates which powers and abilities you can develop, many of which are specific to certain clans.

And the second can be found at GamePro:

In Bloodlines, you play a vampire from one of the game’s clans as you take part in vampire society in the underworld of Los Angeles. You’ll choose from 12 vampiric abilities, including invisibility, super strength, shape-shifting, and the power to drive others insane as you explore a nonlinear world of the undead. You’ll receive objectives by talking to your vampiric elders, but how you accomplish these tasks will be up to you. As you go, you’ll engage in first-person-shooter-style combat and develop your character in true RPG fashion using traits, skills, and powers taken directly from the White Wolf tabletop game.