Developer Chinese Room has released its first dev diary since the release of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 back in October. The diary outlines the upcoming Winter Update for the game, showcasing that the title will at least have some post-launch support beyond the planned expansions that are slated for next year, despite the poor performance of the title financially, as well as the mixed reviews.
The biggest thing that the Winter Update offers Bloodlines 2 is a new, custom difficulty mode that players will be able to access alongside the four difficulties already available. The mode requires players to unlock the “An Elder Unchained” trophy/Achievement, which is rewarded for completing the game regardless of difficult of clan affiliation. Unlike other difficulty modes, once accessed and set, the custom difficulty cannot be changed during your playthrough.
The mode has a large list of customizable options to help customize your playthrough, with options split between HUD, PLAYER, ENEMIES, and Progression. This gives the player the ability to do things like turn off the crosshair reaction to nearby collectables, increase or decrease damage taken, or increase or decrease enemy awareness of their surroundings. A complete list of options is listed below:
- HUD: Reactive Crosshair – Use this setting to disable the crosshair reacting to nearby secrets or collectables. Applies to both Phyre and Fabien quests. This is for players that want to increase the challenge of exploration and test their memory.
- HUD: Character Reaction UI – Use this setting to disable the UI shown during conversations that states the impact of your dialogue choices – e.g. “Lou liked that” or “Fabien hit a wall”. Applies to both Phyre and Fabien quests. Can make conversations more immersive at the cost of clarity.
- PLAYER: Elixir Capacity – Set the maximum number of Elixirs you can carry for each type from 0-10. 0 makes combat significantly harder and 10 much easier. Applies to both Phyre and Fabien quests.
- PLAYER: Starting Health – Sets the size of Phyre’s health-bar at the start of the game. The default balance is 2 bars of health. Can increase up to 4 bars to make the start of the game easier or reduce to a fraction of a single bar to make the early game harder. The health-bar can still be extended further by collecting the marks drawn with Phyre’s blood.
- PLAYER: Phyre’s Damage – Use this setting to increase or decrease the damage inflicted by Phyre’s attacks. Increase the damage to make combat easier or decrease to make it harder.
- PLAYER: Masquerade Sensitivity – Use this setting to increase or decrease the rate at which the Masquerade meter fills when performing actions that break the Masquerade. Can reduce the rate to make the game easier, or increase the rate to make it harder. Can also set to NONE to disable the Masquerade meter completely and freely act like a vampire across the city.
- PLAYER: Ability Recharging – Use this setting to enable Phyre’s and Fabien’s abilities to passively recharge over time, reducing the need to feed. Enabling ability recharging will make the game easier.
- PLAYER: Targeting Time Dilation – Use this setting to disable time being slowed down when you are targeting abilities (holding LT on gamepad or Right Mouse). Disabling time dilation will make combat harder.
- ENEMIES: Enemy Damage – Use this setting to increase or decrease the damage inflicted by enemy attacks. Decrease the damage to make combat easier or increase to make it harder.
- ENEMIES: Enemy Awareness – Use this setting to increase or decrease the speed that enemies will notice you. Lowering the awareness speed will make stealth easier and increasing will make it harder. Can also be set to NONE to disable enemies spotting you at all, though attacking or touching them will make them aware.
- PROGRESSION: Quests – The default campaign is a series of Phyre and Fabien quests. Use this option to play just Phyre’s or just Fabien’s quests back-to-back without featuring the other character’s quests.
- PROGRESSION: Iron Vamp – Our take on “Iron Man” modes from other games. When enabled, quests will not generate their own saves, leaving you only the autosave to record progress. If you die or break the Masquerade, then the autosave is deleted, ending your run.
In addition to this new difficulty, players can also expect a selection of holiday-themed cosmetics to be added to the game. This will include 8 new hair colors, 8 new makeup looks, 8 new eye colors, as well as 4 accessories (which were formerly called piercings). There was also a look at the upcoming inclusion of beards, which will be added in a later update after much player request.
Unfortunately, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 left a lasting mark on me for all the wrong reasons which was outlined in our review. In it, I awarded the game a 4/10, stating, “Here, not only is the game bland, repetitive, boring, and frustrating all in equal measures, but the undertone at best peaks through and at worst is a phantom I saw while I was desperate.”
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