Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has been quietly rebuilt by Dear Esther developer The Chinese Room with 'different gameplay mechanics and RPG systems'

This certainly isn't what I expected. The troubled Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, which I'd just about given up on, is now set to release next fall, over four years after its initial intended launch. Paradox Interactive has tapped The Chinese Room, developer of Dear Esther and Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, as the studio to bring the fraught RPG across the finish line.

"Fraught" doesn't really begin to describe Bloodlines 2. The sequel to Troika's 2004 cult classic (and one of my very favorite games) was initially supposed to come out in March 2020. Its first major delay came with the news that lead writer Brian Mitsoda (who also had a big hand in the original game) and creative director Ka'ai Cluney had been fired. Developer Hardsuit Labs was taken off the project entirely, and the game was delayed indefinitely in 2021.