Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines 2 not launching in 2021, HardSuit labs replaced as the lead developer

[xrnzaaas]

Bloodlines 2 Development Update | VtM: Bloodlines 2

A City Run on Blood : Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 casts you into the foggy streets of Seattle as a fledgling vampire hungry for blood and answers.

www.bloodlines2.com

Damn, this game really can't catch a break. It seems that tackling such a big project was too big for an unexperienced studio like HardSuit Labs.

 

[Gamezone]

The game looked pretty rubbish to be honest.

 

[𝐃esperado]

Pain..

 

[ZehDon]

... they replaced the entire development company?

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Lol.

I’m sorry for the people who were looking forward to this but after what they did to Avellone they can get fucked.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Lol.

I’m sorry for the people who were looking forward to this but after what they did to Avellone they can get fucked.

Yep, I've removed the game from my wishlist a long time ago.

Firing Mitsoda was also a pretty big deal since he was the main person working on the script and he was one of the last people associated with Bloodlines 1.

 

[Monkeygourmet]

Soy Grift

 

[regawdless]

Prepare for a hot mess.

 

[TheCockatrice]

Yeah this is clearly going to be cancelled at some point or if it does come out it'll not be good. Oh well.

 

[YuLY]

On the other hand maybe now it wont be an SJW fest. This is for getting rid of Avellone motherfuckers.

 

[Spaceman292]

Total shitshow

 

[cripterion]

Wow, way to crash and burn.. Hot mess indeed

 

[GymWolf]

What a mess...

 

[Doczu]

Take that for "careful depiction of mental health when playing Malkavian".
Fuck you, fuck your game, can't wait to see it burn. This project went from super hype to crash and burn for me. Once the announcement hype died out all the red flags started being visible...

 

[Wrath of the Toomics]

Wow. Guess Hardsuit Labs are a bunch of idiots, which makes their CEO Andy Kipling is lord king idiot.

Oh, Paradox, too, but we knew that.

On the news: In short: Thank god - I'll take any developer over Hardsuit.

And thank god I won't have to see any Mass Effect: Andromeda writing from Samantha Wallschlarger the "lead writer" they hired to replace Mitsoda after both companies fucked him over. Fuck you, Hardsuit. Fuck you, Paradox. Reap what you sow, shitheads!

 

[Futaleufu]

 

[martino]

 

[HerjansEagleFeeder]

... they replaced the entire development company?

Judging by the things we've seen and heard from those people, probably the only realistic solution.

 

[Lux77]

This happens really rarely so it must be a major fuckup from developer.....good thing for game, but it could be a nail in the coffin for studio sadly.

 

[OrangeSun77]

This serves as an example to show that making a Bethesda-style open-world RPG is only for the best, otherwise this disaster happens.

 

[michaelius]

Project looked like a hot mess for a long time. Still even if they replace whole studio as long as current writing remains it's still no buy.

 

[In Your Vase]

I almost can't believe the two studios fucked up this bad.

Almost.

Did they cancel the preorders?

 

[TheSHEEEP]

It has been clear to everyone that it has been in development hell since a long while.
This is only the "official" confirmation of what people have been saying for many months.

And I agree with the sentiment that they deserved everything after treating Avellone and Mitsoda the way that they did.

I'd hope we could get some more details about what actually happened over at Hardsuit, but... probably not.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Project looked like a hot mess for a long time. Still even if they replace whole studio as long as current writing remains it's still no buy.

I think it depends on how they'll approach this restart. They may decide to keep the script or at least parts of it, or try again from scratch. We'll see.

 

[theclaw135]

Who? What?

Time for google-fu action! The studio is comprised of these guys?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_Studios

An open world dark fantasy RPG by the makers of... er... Super Bubble Pop.

 

[BaneIsPain]

Cancel it before too late.

 

[balls of snow]

I would rather have Cp 2077 without the day 1 patch than having a game just...never released. Suck it Miyamoto and your overused quote.

 

[AV]

Just cancel the fucking thing. It's obvious that nobody has any idea what to do with it. Come back when you actually have a team of people who know how to make a game and want to do it.

 

[Terenty]

Good riddance

 

[Bernd Lauert]

Good.

 

[Red Rackham's Revenge]

Lol.

I’m sorry for the people who were looking forward to this but after what they did to Avellone they can get fucked.

Is it Paradox that's responsible for that, or Hardsuit?

 

[Rean no Kiseki]

B-but bros i thought THQN was saving the industry!? Not gutting a beloved IP by handing it to some no name devs with a shoe string budget and not releasing a remaster of the original on all systems with some fixes to it's combat and bugs to build up interest and hype.

The truth is THQN is just Europe's EA, hoarding mid tier devs and sweeping up IPs and re-releasing old games with a shiner coat of paint at 40-50$ which is fine, but when they try doing sequals..... Wew lad, Darksiders 3 was decent but it’s a MAJOR step down from 2 in all departments and was clearly low budget, i feel like their budget for every game doesn't go beyond 15-20 Million which is sad when a 6 year old (as of 2018) 7th gen game like Darksiders 2 looks, sounds and plays better than it's sequal released and funded by THQN in late 2018!

 

[Vae_Victis]

Paradox cheaped out from the very start, they gave a big and awaited IP to a small mediocre studio, which means they planned to sell a mediocre game produced at a budget and make money via brand recognition. The studio however was even more incompetent and dumb than anticipated, and the whole thing crashed and burned, meticulously demolishing any faith from the fan base in the process.

I don't know what they plan to do now, but if for some miracle this game will not only come out but actually be any good, expect to wait until the end of 2022 and beyond, because right now what is there could be barely salvageable at all.

 

[whyman]

B-but bros i thought THQN was saving the industry!? Not gutting a beloved IP by handing it to some no name devs with a shoe string budget and not releasing a remaster of the original on all systems with some fixes to it's combat and bugs to build up interest and hype.

The truth is THQN is just Europe's EA, hoarding mid tier devs and sweeping up IPs and re-releasing old games with a shiner coat of paint at 40-50$ which is fine, but when they try doing sequals..... Wew lad, Darksiders 3 was decent but it’s a MAJOR step down from 2 in all departments and was clearly low budget, i feel like their budget for every game doesn't go beyond 15-20 Million which is sad when a 6 year old (as of 2018) 7th gen game like Darksiders 2 looks, sounds and plays better than it's sequal released and funded by THQN in late 2018!

This is Paradox... Not owned by Embracer group. Looking at the stocks it seems more people are as clueless as you.

 

[RebellYell]

Can't wait for the 5 page disclosure you'll have to read before booting up the game, full of trigger warnings and pleas to not bite people's necks in real life, because gamers can't help doing what they see in games apparently.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Is it Paradox that's responsible for that, or Hardsuit?

Paradox made the announcement about not working with Avellone anymore.

B-but bros i thought THQN was saving the industry!? Not gutting a beloved IP by handing it to some no name devs with a shoe string budget and not releasing a remaster of the original on all systems with some fixes to it's combat and bugs to build up interest and hype.

The truth is THQN is just Europe's EA, hoarding mid tier devs and sweeping up IPs and re-releasing old games with a shiner coat of paint at 40-50$ which is fine, but when they try doing sequals..... Wew lad, Darksiders 3 was decent but it’s a MAJOR step down from 2 in all departments and was clearly low budget, i feel like their budget for every game doesn't go beyond 15-20 Million which is sad when a 6 year old (as of 2018) 7th gen game like Darksiders 2 looks, sounds and plays better than it's sequal released and funded by THQN in late 2018!

I think you've mixed up the companies, buddy.

 

[Fuz]

Lol.

I’m sorry for the people who were looking forward to this but after what they did to Avellone they can get fucked.

 

[Bitmap Frogs]

Is it Paradox that's responsible for that, or Hardsuit?

This development fucks both of them so all the bases are covered

 

[YeulEmeralda]

Vampire the Masquerade was lightning in a bottle. I even liked the first on- but good luck getting THAT to run on windows 10!

 

[xrnzaaas]

Vampire the Masquerade was lightning in a bottle. I even liked the first on- but good luck getting THAT to run on windows 10!

I've replayed Bloodlines a few years ago when I still had Windows 7, but I don't think it should be a problem with Windows 10 if you have the GOG version.

 

[SNPlayen]

This serves as an example to show that making a Bethesda-style open-world RPG is only for the best, otherwise this disaster happens.

Yeah exactly like CD Pro..oh wait never mind

 

[Orpheum]

I feel a cancellation incoming. The game is completely cursed

 

[Rean no Kiseki]

This is Paradox... Not owned by Embracer group. Looking at the stocks it seems more people are as clueless as you.

Paradox made the announcement about not working with Avellone anymore.


I think you've mixed up the companies, buddy.

Oh my bad.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

I've replayed Bloodlines a few years ago when I still had Windows 7, but I don't think it should be a problem with Windows 10 if you have the GOG version.

No I meant Vampire the masquerade Redemption- a Diablo 2 like hack and slash.

 

[Haggard]

Oh boy, this has this Duke Nukem Forever / Colonial Marines smell.

Delay after delay and then it will still be a turd on release.

 

[ChuckeRearmed]

MS to the rescue! They have all the original founders of Troika games + if they give the game to Arkane they will do a great job.

 

[KungFucius]

I remember thinking it was cool that this game was announced and due to release so fast. Then there was nothing but problems. How incompetent do you have to be to promise a game in 1 year only to have it require a new developer 2 years later?

 

[Barakov]

Definitely the right thing to do. With all those danger hairs involved this game would've turned out to be a shitshow. Still might, tbh.

 

[Clear]

Who? What?

Time for google-fu action! The studio is comprised of these guys?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_Studios

An open world dark fantasy RPG by the makers of... er... Super Bubble Pop.

Segue/Story time:

I know its not a great game, but they had virtually nothing to do with SBP aside from providing the most basic of basic starting ideas, there was no game design to speak of. The game itself was built in about 3 days by my then house-mate, a very talented coder who came from the Amiga demo scene. However as at that point every level was basically the same (the idea that the layout bubble rows was generated by the audio equalizer never worked properly because of limitations on stack height) I knocked out 50 levels of actual designed levels in my spare time.

It was pretty fun and relaxed because there was pretty much zero oversight, and I thought the quick and dirty original PC build was actually turned out quite decent. I wasn't too fussed about the levels not being really tested much because the layouts were described in plain text - I literally edited them by hand in notepad using a simple scripting notation - and I figured users/the community could simply make their own.

I didn't stay long at RCL, and I believe all the console ports were done after both of us had left. The reissued PC version and the console builds had differently ordered, and entirely fucked up levels (which are encrypted), and removed my name from the credits because I was never officially on it. I was kinda miffed when a junior producer on it tried to claim that he designed it, especially as the game isn't fundamentally changed from the initial thing that Tom Kuhn put together with a bit of side-input from me.

 

[Makariel]