Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt Is Not The Vampire Game We Were Hoping For

Plagued by delays the anticipated sequel to the release date for the video game adaptation of the table top RPG Vampire: The Masquerade has been pushed back with some fans worried that the game could be cancelled. However a closed beta for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt another video game based on the same franchise has been released with a lot of mixed feelings from fans.

What is Vampire: The Masquerade?

Part of the World of Darkness series of table top role playing games from White Wolf, Vampire: The Masquerade is a game where players take the role of vampires in the modern world in which they must try to survive the constant scheming and betrayal of older vampires while learning how to adapt to their new existence. Social intrigue and secrecy hold a vital role in Vampire: The Masquerade with the game’s deadly combat system kicking in when all else fails, revealing the frailty of a vampire’s existence.

While combat is far from the main focus of the game, it still holds an important role representing the constant threat of death when a reckless vampire finds themselves on the wrong side of the law from either humans or the leading vampire faction known as the Camarilla which enforces the Masquerade. The masquerade is the core feature of Vampire: The Masquerade, representing a code of conduct enforced by the vampire community to maintain the illusion that vampire’s do not exist in the fear that they would be overrun by the human population and driven into extinction.

Another important aspect of Vampire: The Masquerade is how it makes you feel like a vampire. The game revolves around twelve different vampiric clans each with their own unique strengths and weaknesses that act as prompts for specific play styles but they all share one important trait, their insatiable thirst for blood. As part of the masquerade, vampires are constantly struggling with their monstrous desires which they call The Beast which can drive a vampire into a mindless frenzy, especially in times of great distress or hunger.

What is Bloodhunt?

Bloodhunt is a free-to-play battle royal from Sharkmob set in the World of Darkness. In Bloodhunt players fight in the streets of Prague either alone or in teams of three, making use of their vampiric powers to move swiftly across the map while engaging in the standard fare of battle royal games in which players must find weapons scattered across the constantly shrinking map in an all-out death match.

Each game begins with you choosing a type of vampire that you will play as with a variety of powers that will give you a certain edge in combat against other players such as being able to teleport, turn invisible, or create massive shockwaves. As the game progresses you will be able to find NPCs placed around the map that you can feed on to heal and gain small bonuses to reduce cooldowns on abilities, boot passive regeneration, or increase melee damage. At first you are only limited to three boosts but as you diablerise other players, a special form of elimination where you drink a downed player’s blood, you unlock additional upgrade slots for your boosts.

In the context of Vampire: The Masquerade a blood hunt is a rare occurrence in which one or more individuals are deemed to be a threat to the masquerade or the vampire community in which other vampires are allowed to hunt down the perpetrator and find possible opportunities to get rid of old rivals. However, the main allure of playing Vampire: The Masquerade is the internal struggle of turning into a monster while trying to find your place in the constant power struggle of your fellows with violence as a last resort, something that Bloodhunt seems to depart from.

Many vampire fans are upset about the direction that Sharkmob have taken with Bloodhunt with its divergence from the expected genre, especially since they have decided to make the game a battle royal when so many similar games have already oversaturated the market. Regardless of this, Bloodhunt shows some promise with its unique take on the battle royal genre through its ability to make the players feel like a powerful vampire moving through streets and climbing buildings as opposed to the large open expanses of land found in other games of the genre.

While Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodhunt is not the game that people were hoping for with the delays to the Bloodlines 2 it shows some promise for the future to hopefully find its own footing in the battle royal scene if it is able to overcome the initial negative reactions from the fan base.