Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has been delayed again, pushing the troubled RPG out of production until the first half of 2025. Publisher Paradox Interactive and developer The Chinese Room say the delay will allow them to continue polishing the game, respond to feedback, and expand on its story.
Paradox announced the news in a video featuring Alex Skidmore, Creative Director of The Chinese Room, and Mattias Lilja, Deputy General Manager at Paradox.
“Earlier this year, Paradox reaffirmed its commitment to delivering high-quality games to gamers, and this launch update is a proactive decision that reflects that commitment,” he said. statement accompanying the delay“While the game is good enough that we were able to maintain our planned release window, Paradox and The Chinese Room mutually decided to prioritize polish.”
The announcement seems to be intended to reassure the waiting public that the game is in its final stages and all that is left is some “polishing”, however, in this case, the polishing is not constrained to bug fixes but also includes additional content, more story, more endings, varied clan battles, and much more.
Paradox has had a tough year due to the $22 million flop of Lamplighters League, the buggy release and rushed DLC for Cities Skylines 2, the last-minute cancellation of Life By You, and the indefinite delay of Prison Architect 2.
These stumbles prompted Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox, to admit that the company had made “bad decisions” on several major projects while also seeing profits decline.
Bloodlines 2’s history isn’t any happier. Initially slated for a 2020 release, the lead innovative director was fired, developers were stripped of their resources, and the game only resurfaced last year on The Chinese Room after a supposed period of secret development. It still looks bare bones in every trailer, in a way that makes any delays seem inevitable.
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