Bloodlines 2 - Intensely Playable First Impression
In August last year, couple of months before it launched in the midst of its "2 of the 6 clans will be Day 1 DLC" PR disaster I called Bloodlines 2 [the most unbuyable game I've ever seen](https://criminallyvulgar.dev/bloodlines-2-is-the-most-unbuyable-game-ive-ever-seen/. While I stand by that take I've had time to relax, forget the furore, and observe a 50% discount.
My partner is in the middle of an online TTRPG VtM campaign so my interest is at a local maximum and I've just finished an extremely intensive fortnight of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, aching for a new game to fill the void, so at £25 I thought why the fuck not.
I've not played a lot yet, about 4 hours, and I've just reached the "now the open world is open" part of the game, and so far I have to say it's kinda got the juice. I said in my savage takedown that my expectations were for a compelling narrative with fairly low interactivity - so far this has been pretty solid. A very railroad-y first act, a bevy of fun characters entwined in a straightforward-but-interesting power struggle, and a combat system that I'd describe as inertia-jank. The last point is also a good thing.1
So thus far I'm really pleasantly surprised. I've seen reviews call it an 11-hour game and woefully low on content, that it's an insult to the name of Bloodlines and the DLC (which I haven't bought) are a lazy cashgrab and should have been free.
I'm not going to dispute any of that 4 hours in.
But I am having a legitimately good time and can see myself getting multiple playthroughs out of it depending how long they drag out the story. The only potential problem for that might be the disciplines system, which allows you to to take cross-clan abilities at an increased cost, and clearly intends for you to do so with a bunch of other systems that would be orphaned otherwise. I can see that reducing the replay value if there are a handful of "clearly best/most fun" options.
I think if you've built up Bloodlines 1 in your head as "one of the best games ever made" and haven't replayed it in a while 2 this can feel like a real kick in the face as it is - and maybe I'll end up agreeing when I'm done. But the actual thing I have in my hands is so far really enjoyable and compelling.
The first time you punch a guy they make sure he ragdoll splats a door in one of the funniest and most impactful scripted interactions I've ever seen in a game of this type. I'm regularly hootin' and hollerin' at the dumb shit this honestly quite limited system allows. I kited one of the first minibosses with improvised thrown weapons and had what I can only call "a good fuckin' time."↩
or you replay it annually, losing context on how it actually is↩