Thanks man! I was one of the Devs at Sharkmob whose responsibility it was to build this world and it means a lot that you cared enough to make this Video!
FYI, since I didn’t see it mentioned. Vampire: the Masquerade is a TTRPG that’s been around since the early 90s. Originally published by White Wolf alongside a ton of other gothic horror games (werewolf, hunter, mage, etc) in the shared setting of the World of Darkness. For a while in the 90s, it looked like WoD was going to completely dominate the TTRPG world as mismanagement from TSR was running D&D in to the ground. There’s been a number of video games set in the setting, but I don’t think there’s been any as successful (or as good) as Bloodlines. So, while this game was made as a marketing test for bloodlines 2, it’s not entirely true that it’s just borrowing the setting from the very niche bloodlines, it’s that both borrow from a long-running niche tabletop game. The WoD IP has changed hands a bunch since White Wolf went under. There was a (largely failed) total reboot of the setting, some disastrous releases, and plenty of drama besides. There’s still some diehard fans of the tabletop games and setting , but it just hasn’t had the same purchase in the rpg scene since the mid 2000s.
Man, I think this is a really good point, actually. As a fan of the ttrpg and the Masquerade game, I looked at this and went "who asked for this? Who is this for? How could some battle royal cash grab ever capture the things I love about this world?" After watching this video, I wish I'd given it a chance. But I still wonder if this wasn't a... Bizarre step to take this franchise in, and can't help but understand why it couldn't capture fans of the game.
@@WinterFogFilms I don't think Bloodhunt is as much a cash grab (since it is free) as it is a test bed for combat mechanics with a volunteer test group.
@@Seoul_Soldier Honestly you should take a look at the new edition of the TTRPG, the Chornicles of Darkness are gone and World of Darkness is back. The new edition picks up with the same meta-plot laden world that existed with Masquerade but never did with Reqiuem and its cohort. There's a lot of timeline filling in what happened in between as well. Rules have gotten an update as well.
An amazing eulogy for this game that's slowly slipping away, all we can do is give it the care it deserves and create memories with it while it's still active. This was the only Battle Royale I ever REALLY enjoyed and I hope it stays up as long as possible. Great video Thane!
I like bloodhunt but I am just really bad at it, and most other battle royales I've tried and didn't like.. I'm bad at most of them.. The only one that has kept me playing isn't this though it's naraka bladepoint..
I played Bloodhunt from time to time and every time I got on I would have a blast then realize that the game has stayed the same, and though I feel that this is a good thing for the gameplay, I know it just means that the game I was playing, and loving, was slowing down production and didn't hit the mark Paradox wanted, and honestly I'm just happy its still around the game is so clearly made with love for Bloodlines and with the new updates to Bloodlines 2 (I don't look good imo) I really think that this might be the last great game to come from this series for a while...
It's such a shame, because doing some poking around for this video I learned that Bloodlines never existed in a vacuum, it's all based off the larger World of Darkness universe, which is such a cool concept as a whole. The idea that I've just started scratching the surface of a series just in time for it go stale is such a sad note.
What i think you missed in your video is the mention that Vampire the Masquerade is mainly a tabletop RPG, a very well known one in the tabletop RPG community i would say. Used to play it a lot with my friends. I do think the strengths of the setting lay more in the tabletop realm than in video games.@@ThaneBishop
@@sveinbjorn1509 I've played WoD games since the beginning. My fave is Mage: The Ascension. The strength of WoD is the depth of the lore and the fact that you are NOT the hero, not the "good guy". If anything, you are a victim trying to rise up out of victimhood. You are trapped in a horror story trying to make the best of it as you can through wealth, fame, love, friends, or whatever else you chose.
YES. I PLAYED THE TABLETOP GAMES AS A KID. Then 30 years later I found out they eventually made some video games. I preordered Bloodlines 2 at Gamestop a few years ago..hahaha...I eventually got a refund. @@sveinbjorn1509
This was a great video essay for a great and underrated game. Tip: You should put tags for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt and Battle Royale for this video. Or better yet in the title. I tried to find this video again, and it didn’t come up in the search. I had to remember the videos I watched around this, and scroll down in my history.
Hey hey people, beautifully written, Thane! The verticality is a really cool element for a battle royale. The PvE was also really cool. Only problem is those enemies will always look cooler than any vampire lol
This was honestly very touching. I've been a fan of WoD/VTM for a long time, I've always rooted for its success, and it's videos like these which highlight the beauty of what this Universe can inspire creatively. I was never the biggest fan of Bloodhunt (because I sucked big time when playing), but hearing your words on it made me take a step back, and just admire what we had, and still have for a fleeting amount of time. Thank you for making this, and if you ever want to get a gathering together for one last hurrah on this, feel free to shoot me a message
@@ThaneBishop-- Comment irrelevant to original thread, but I don't care because I'm responding to the Creator, and what the heck, engagement is engagement.
Dude I wasn't ready to cry today. Hearing you talk about these two games brings back memories of my own favoured, now defunct game: Worlds Adrift. I still get melancholic when I scroll by it in my library, now five years dead.
As a fan of the original game, I would not mind if they made the sequel off of this engine with the same gameplay assets and used it as a foundation. In terms of the movement and combat it definitely feels like much more of a successor outside of the obviously missing RPG elements
If Paradox had brains that’s what they would have done. The fan backlash reaction to the first gameplay footage to Bloodlines 2 was entirely around it’s janky and unsatisfying combat system. But fans would have still played it for the story written by the first game’s main writer Brian Mitsoda. Bring in developers known for making fast movement combat games with satisfying kinesthetics and you’ve got a recipe for success. Instead they fired Brian Mitsoda, and all the writers and scrapped the story they spent years writing. Then Paradox handed off the remnants of the game to a studio known for making walking simulators who kept the combat system mostly the same.
I appreciate your candid and relatable commentary. I've had so many niche experiences in games that I never got clips of but were truly fun for the purpose of being fun.
I just found your channel and I adore your videos like this that highlighting things in games that others may not notice on a first playthrough or just discuss things your passionate about. It's very cool to see :) I recently picked up this game myself and was enthralled by the world far more than the battle Royale gameplay (which was still fun) so it's great to see it highlighted here.
Beautiful video. It's always sad when you find a community you enjoy. But like everything in life, nothing escapes entropy. I've played games with others only on few occasions but to this day have fond memories of it.
The problem with battle royales is that they struggle to break the market. There's not a lot of power beyond the big titles and the market is oversaturated. However, the sunken cost fallacies are there and hard to break into. Hopefully it resets the open world into a single player title.
Absolutely all true. To me, I think that's the big part of what this game's beauty and enjoyment so baffling. Such an odd turn, in such a tumultuous market, that they still put so much obvious love and effort into
So, I played this game since Day 1. Founders pass purchaser, heyo, I'm a shill I know. But I loved this game a lot. I was in it for the story, I completed every questline, I have maxed out almost every archetype, I only ever missed one pass cause I was too focused on other stuff,. The story of this game was genuinely amazing in its own way, a shadow war between three to four factions within the city. The humans are represented by the Entity Special Operations Group, a part of what the Vampires call "The second inquisition." The Vampires are represented by three groups, those being the Camarilla, which we play as, the Anarchs, which every enemy player is assumed to be, and cultists, which at one point were what AI vampires were intended to be. When the playerbase was bigger, there was a very rare "cultists present" modifier, where some NPC's were replaced by tough vampire npcs that may retaliate when you try to feed on them. The story was also a banger. So, the Prince (leader of the camarilla in that locality) of Prague wished to have a convention where the camarilla and the anarchs met and were able to hash terms and cooperate again. It was to be the biggest convention since the founding of the camarilla, and bright spot since the first convention of Prague. This endeavor turned fatal however when their meeting place was stormed and they Prince and Anarch leadership were both slaughtered wholesale, sending both sects into disarray. The story there forward has us working as a member of the camarilla as part of this shadow war. We are hiding under the Prague Castle, and are taking orders from the Primogens (officials) and later the newly elected prince of Prague, Em. However, Em's introduction and new princedom is short lived, as you know, because the game died! And now the story is just...at a standstill. We got to participate in the story! The quests we got had us actually perform actions out in the field, bet they killing players, killing them in certain ways, killing entity, retrieving items, arriving at certain locations, solving puzzles, etc. It wasn't full participation, but we got it! The fact that this game is dying and we're getting the new bloodlines 2 hurts my soul beyond measure. While TCR's bloodlines looks like a good VTM, it is in no way a good bloodlines in comparison with HSL's. Which hurts more, because me and my friend played Bloodhunt to hold us over until HSL's BL2 comes out, and while he stopped playing, I fell in love with the game, so two things I was excited for died!
It's the little nooks and easter eggs that make games for me. It's a major reason why Halo, Mass effect and Assassins Creed: Odyssey are some of my favourite games and series, they just have a constant feed of little bits of beauty that make me love them. Gameplay be damned (though I still think it's important.) Anyway, I've a million things I could say about old dead games, but ultimately it's just about enjoying them - and the people you play them with - while you can. :)
Man, I'm so thrilled that people who enjoyed this game found this video. I was a little anxious to put this one out, just with how niche the game is, but it's so rewarding to get comments from people who have experienced how much fun this game is for themselves.
I've never played Bloodhunt. I'm workin my way through the original VTMB on steam. bit clunky, but I like it. I have to be honest. I was dismayed when I saw the trailer for the game, because the idea of a VTM battle royale just didn't seem to work. The idea was that the vampires, werewolves etc are living in the shadows, conducting stealthy operations, whereas a Battle Royale... i'm sorry but the connotations of blasting rockets and being very OPEN and explosive and not stealthy... well. They're there, and I know it put me and a lot of others off it. Courtesy of this video though... I hadn't looked at the game since the trailer. It looks, surprisingly, like a whole lot of fun. I am very tempted to pick it up. Mr Thane Bishop, I love your content! Keep at it!
For sure; I definitely think Bloodhunt presents itself as a non-canon experience, which always comes with it's own unique struggles. That said, it's still a lot of fun, even with it's rocky setting within its universe. Highly recommend trying it out
I loved this game as well. Brought in a couple friends to play with that weren't even BR people per say. They loved it. Within 2 weeks of us playing regularly , the devs announced it was over. I played the old singleplayer before this, and many games on steam. I didn't even find this till after I played the VTM: Swansong ( I ejoyed it but choose your own adventure - badly reviewed ). Part of our enjoyment was the players seemed more adult. No whining kids like you get on PubG or Fortnite. Maybe the slight gore of the game is why kids weren't into it. IDK. Well put together video. You didn't mention but I'm sure you know all the lore is based off a tabletop game played similar to Dungeons and Dragons. Gonna play some rounds in your honor!
Honestly I could probably do a whole hour on the World of Darkness itself, but I just don't have the experience with it. But yeah, it's a massive universe across ttrpgs and rpgs; I thought about including it, but I wanted to stay focused on the one game I was presenting. Thanks!
It's great to hear more people talking about this game and expressing their love for it, this is the only Battle Royale game that's ever been able to hook me. My friend and I still play regularly. Very disappointed that the game's basically on life support now but we're making the most of our time with the game while we still can. Really enjoyed your video, great work!
I miss Bloodhunt so much. The gameplay was amazing, the powers were awesome, the characters and classes and cosmetics were so cool. It didn't deserve to die at all.
The little imagined skit at around 4:30 is giving me heavy CGP Grey vibes and I'm okay with that bc I can't seem to get enough of your channel or his 😂
I love Bloodlines. Played it at least 13 times. Never heard about Bloodhunt, but it is a Multiplayer game. So that would explain it. Not interested in multiplayer shenanigans. I think this might be true of many lovers of the vampire genre. What I have seen about Bloodlines 2 does not give me much hope either.
No, I think being delayed so many different times and jumping developers has really put a damper on the BL2 vibe, which, of course, makes the sting of eventually losing Bloodhunt all the worse for me. I want to see it work, I want to see it happen, but.. Who knows at this point?
You explained it perfectly why I love this game. The game is awesome, but the only reason why I left it is because of the few players it had, therefore causing there to be very lengthy matchmaking times.
As I watched I thought about how strange it would be for a genre that I don't like to produce a game that I did like within that genre, and for that game to subsequently be popular within the population of people who like that genre... cool vid.
I wish I'd discovered this video before the game had been shut down. It seems like a fun battle royale that so many more people should have at least gotten to try. But them's the brakes when it comes to game development. I'm glad this video exists to document Bloodhunt's novelty and appealling design. I hope Bloodlines 2 will be just as good, if not better in its worldbuilding and gameplay
I want to thank you for this video. :) I stumbled upon it and with that over Bloodhunt. I'm downloading it right now as your video ends and can't wait to try it!
I'm a big fan of Vampire: The Masquerade, and I think it's funny how you were talking about details that show the world isn't meant to accommodate vampires. Like, I get what you're saying, but on a lore level, it kind of was meant to accommodate vampires.
i've never been big on battle royales, or live combat games in general i guess. i've never been good at timing combos or whatever. but i might try this. maybe part of it is not having people to play with, idk, but if i'm only gonna be embarrassing myself in front of bots and the occasional stranger fuck it. i might as well try while there's still time
Multiplayer games have become such a winner-take-all market it really sucks to see interesting games that try to be a little different fail over and over and over.
There was a brief moment when I thought "Did Bloodlines 2 come out and I missed it? Was it a Fortnite??" and the array of thoughts and emotions that went through my mind would make a Malkavian confused
I know im a bit late to the party but your reason for making this strikes a hard cord with me, i wish i had something more concrete from my time playing games with my friends Gta, cod, warframe, destiny, all of it seems so far away and blended together now and i wish i had something to remember the times and the people by
I agree, complex entertainment is not as popular as it's opposite, hollow and flashy version. It is frustrating to be outnumbered in this way. Wish there were more ways to make our lack of numbers have more weight.
I couldn't get into Bloodhunt because I just can't get into battle royale period, but it's a testament to it that it lasted as long as it did in a market that's been _long_ oversaturated to the extent that new attempts generally die faster than MMOs were dying when there was a new WoW clone every other month. This shouldn't have even been _attempted_ because it's a clear example of a publisher not understanding how demographics work (see, again, WoW clones,) and it's an achievement that it made it even as far as it did. 8:00 What's also interesting about details like this is that something like a ladder _would_ be necessary if the way the game depicts vampires was more in-line with canon. Both Bloodlines and this game (and probably Bloodlines 2) make the Kindred way more overpowered than they should be for the sake of fun game mechanics (although Bloodlines hints at having a story-relevant handwave.) A player in a tabletop session whose character needs to climb up a building would, even if they _could_ scale the wall, ask the DM if there's a ladder visible anywhere first. The game changes this up completely but still cared about its world design to such an extent. For a fun fact: the handwave for the map shrinking with time, the red gas spread by the Inquisition, made its way back into the tabletop.
never heard of ring of elysium... sorry to hear that it died. but I've also never been into battle royale games either. Day Z is the closest I've ever come to such a game
I gotta say your essays are always the type to hit me different despite the subject. I tried Vampire the Masquerade and I didn't like it and yet here am I wondering about getting into it again just because of your video. You do an amazing job man, maybe in the future when I'm in a more financially stable place I can support your work In the meanwhile....keep going!
I really appreciate all that, man. And while backers to support the content I make are what really help make this feel like a thing I can make into a larger part of my life, I wouldn't ever want to achieve that off the back of costing someone else their stability
Really nice essay, I’ve been waiting for masquerade 2 for a long time. Kinda like a BG3 thing, I’ve never played WoD TTRPG but it’s super cool and to be able to have that single player fantasy is all I want. Before Baldurs Gate 3, every DnD single player experience was mediocre at best but now there’s a game you can play again and again and live out your own DnD fantasy on the sword coast.
It's not set in the world of some cult classic computer game from 15 years ago. It's set in the world off a 90's TTRPG that was once the number 2 TTRPG in the world (after D&D) before it died. I don't think many of the people that are into that old Gothic Punk World of Darkness are also into Battle Royale much. I love Vampire the Masquerade, still play it, at a table, with my friends and snacks and all that jazz, but I never even considered playing this. Why would I? It's a shooter thing. I don't like shooter things. Glad it got you interested in Bloodlines 2 though, at least someone is. All I'm interested in is what Paradox does in the TTRPG space and I fear Paradox was hoping for a bit more crossover between the realms of the table top and the computer then there actually is. I wonder when they are going to sell the IP.
Downloading. I missed out on the Legacy of Kain MOBA, because frankly I didn't know it existed (as a life long Blood Omen / Soul Reaver fan, my lapse in attention has brought shame to my clan and to Kain), so I won't miss this. Even if its with bots, I'm going to play for the time it has left.
The problem with this type of games is its longevity, once the clock runs out the game is not playable anymore. To remedy this, developers should consider making hosting server an option. Even adding Bots to play offline if you are into that sort of stuff, heck back in the day that was alot of fun. I do understand how ever, that from a financial point of view this might not make sense to them. But for the normal person hu has to drop 60$ for a game and expansion and season passes and then never be able to play the game ever again just because the service shuts down, that's an unacceptable practice that must die period.
I always saw Bloodhunt as a delaying tactic before the main game was ready, and there is nothing wrong with being that. Even more so when there are people who actually enjoy the game. Hope the devs gained enough time from Bloodhunts release to help make Bloodlines 2 a better and more finished game, because believe me when I say that fans of VtMB will not accept a cheap half-assed sequel to a game that practically became our religion.
thing is battle royales started dying bcs people got tired, everything was a battle royale and well the community for VtM is fairly small in comparison to other franchises, so i'm saddened but not surprised
Adding genre fatigue to all of the things Bloodhunt had going against it really does make it seem like such a far-fetched venture, but honestly, I think that only makes me more impressed with how much detail and polish they put into the game.
Had forgotten all about Bloodhunt, I think I'll give it a look/try...has several play modes that look interesting to me and like you say, it is quite beautiful! btw what game is shone at the beginning where "Maybe it's the dead wreckage of a city at siege" @.18 is said? Would love to know! Thank you! 😎👍
I'm going to be honest, as a long time Vampire: The Masquerade fan I'm seriously not interested in either Bloodhunt (though I did play it for a short time because I love the universe) nor Bloodlines 2. I would much rather have a Redemption 2. Explore the Dark Ages again. Maybe even the antediluvian era. There is so much you can do with this universe. Write a story from the human perspective, maybe explore the werewolf facet of the World of Darkness. Hell give us more on the asian side of vampires which are a completely different breed than the cainites. I'm still going to play bloodlines 2 when it comes out eventually, but mainly I hope they start to use their IP and explore more aspects of the lore that is the world of darkness.
The last few minutes of this were quite painful to listen to, cause it's plain from your voice how much you felt for these games. I suppose it's important to note that while painful, in the sense that I have intense sympathy for your plight; those minutes are also some of the best . This is a good video. I hope you get to enjoy it a bit. Thankfully, this is one of those games that I have a connection to from tabletop, so I'm gonna hit up my buddies that play WoD, see if they might be interested. I'd never heard of it before this video, so I bet they haven't either. Might get a few good moments to share, and that's wroth somethin. I'm liking your videos Thane, hope you pick up steam.
3:02 oh boy thane. If you think APEX movement is cool as valkyrie youre gonna LOVE titanfall 2. Severly underrated presecessor which has significantly deeper movement capability. Even if you dont want to get into multiplayer, you're gonna LOVE playing the campaign. Super good mechanics.
“Extraction Shooters “ are the set to be the next trend. If you have not played the division part one dlc survival, well you should. While the base game is a looter shooter gear grind, you can ignore most all that as survival dlc is separate. Yea it gives loot for your none survival game play. The game also has the dark zone, pvpve open world up to I think 24 players can be in a server. You do need gear for that if you want to PvP that said the audio ques, city design etc aloe for many ways to play. In the dz you clear landmarks, or hunt players, but to secure your loot gains you have to call a helicopter in at one of I think 8 zones doing so puts your location on all players mini map if they want to come fuck your day up. You can totally wipe a squad and cut the rope denying them their goodies. That said you will still have to get your gear out too so yeah. It was excellent and so challenging to learn as it was coming out patch after patch post launch dlc etc it was fantastic. That said the dz was too brutal for casuals, and admitted proximity voice chat, the levels of aggression etc had a realism. Div 2 is a great pve game in the genre. Div 1 is superior and if you don’t got the time to sink in a old game grinding gear the survival game mode encapsulates everything great about the game, and you can choose if it’s PvPve or pve. The hunt ( I heard it’s pretty dead if not totally) is another pvpve extraction shooter that looked dope. It’s always better to play games like these in a squad with friends. I will never forget hiding as a solo player with a 2 tap sniper build or in squad picking em off as they try to attach loot to extraction rope. Some ropes in life must be cut. Great video
it does come out during the stale of battle royale. If only it did come out a year sooner or a few years laters, it would have at least being treated fair
I really hate the general live service trend. IMO, all live service games should be required to have their code made available after they die (For a licensing fee or whatever) so people can start private servers if they want. SOMETHING to keep them from vanishing off the face of the earth, flushing years of work that actual developers, real people, did down the drain. I'm sadly past the point in my life where multiplayer games in general are a thing for me(no time for extended gaming sessions, I usually have to pause every 15-20 minutes or so to do something else), but I still like to dip into them from time to time. The fact that they can die at any point is just another reason why I generally don't get too invested, but it is frustrating.
They are not diseases. They are humors. It's a weird system from the ttrpg. Their like personality types. It's a weird and makes much more sense after a 40 minute lore dump. I love this franchise but this is like half if the mechanics
Multiplayer games are the next generation of online DRM. Remember it? Remember how people protested, and how it has gone away? Steam and other online stores should provide their own cloud hosting services. Let Valve work for that cutthroat 30% cut. With today's virtualization technology, hosting of a dead game (with no bots at least) costs nothing and scales. Fo individual developers, especially smaller ones, server maintanance is a always cost; a hosting service leverages scale. All business has moved to cloud a decade ago, it's time gaming caught up. Also, demand LAN multiplayer from every game!
![กี่หมื่นฟ้า | Your Sky Series EP.1 [1/4]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vLGjxFL6U_I/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks man! I was one of the Devs at Sharkmob whose responsibility it was to build this world and it means a lot that you cared enough to make this Video!
I can't believe I missed this one for so long! Thank you so much for reaching out, I'm thrilled to read this!
great job! it looks really good, and downloading it now to try it out.
also great job on the video, TB o7
FYI, since I didn’t see it mentioned. Vampire: the Masquerade is a TTRPG that’s been around since the early 90s. Originally published by White Wolf alongside a ton of other gothic horror games (werewolf, hunter, mage, etc) in the shared setting of the World of Darkness. For a while in the 90s, it looked like WoD was going to completely dominate the TTRPG world as mismanagement from TSR was running D&D in to the ground.
There’s been a number of video games set in the setting, but I don’t think there’s been any as successful (or as good) as Bloodlines. So, while this game was made as a marketing test for bloodlines 2, it’s not entirely true that it’s just borrowing the setting from the very niche bloodlines, it’s that both borrow from a long-running niche tabletop game.
The WoD IP has changed hands a bunch since White Wolf went under. There was a (largely failed) total reboot of the setting, some disastrous releases, and plenty of drama besides. There’s still some diehard fans of the tabletop games and setting , but it just hasn’t had the same purchase in the rpg scene since the mid 2000s.
Man, I think this is a really good point, actually. As a fan of the ttrpg and the Masquerade game, I looked at this and went "who asked for this? Who is this for? How could some battle royal cash grab ever capture the things I love about this world?"
After watching this video, I wish I'd given it a chance. But I still wonder if this wasn't a... Bizarre step to take this franchise in, and can't help but understand why it couldn't capture fans of the game.
@@WinterFogFilms I don't think Bloodhunt is as much a cash grab (since it is free) as it is a test bed for combat mechanics with a volunteer test group.
Vampire: The Masquerade will always be my favorite TTRPG, even moreso than D&D. But whatever WoD is now I won't be partaking in it.
@@Seoul_Soldier Honestly you should take a look at the new edition of the TTRPG, the Chornicles of Darkness are gone and World of Darkness is back. The new edition picks up with the same meta-plot laden world that existed with Masquerade but never did with Reqiuem and its cohort. There's a lot of timeline filling in what happened in between as well. Rules have gotten an update as well.
@@lilaredden Pretty sure Chronicles of Darkness is still around?
Man, why did this video take so long to show up in my recommendations? The writing, the cadence, the voice, everything clicks so well. I love this.
That all means a lot to me, thank you so much!
An amazing eulogy for this game that's slowly slipping away, all we can do is give it the care it deserves and create memories with it while it's still active. This was the only Battle Royale I ever REALLY enjoyed and I hope it stays up as long as possible.
Great video Thane!
I like bloodhunt but I am just really bad at it, and most other battle royales I've tried and didn't like.. I'm bad at most of them.. The only one that has kept me playing isn't this though it's naraka bladepoint..
I played Bloodhunt from time to time and every time I got on I would have a blast then realize that the game has stayed the same, and though I feel that this is a good thing for the gameplay, I know it just means that the game I was playing, and loving, was slowing down production and didn't hit the mark Paradox wanted, and honestly I'm just happy its still around the game is so clearly made with love for Bloodlines and with the new updates to Bloodlines 2 (I don't look good imo) I really think that this might be the last great game to come from this series for a while...
It's such a shame, because doing some poking around for this video I learned that Bloodlines never existed in a vacuum, it's all based off the larger World of Darkness universe, which is such a cool concept as a whole. The idea that I've just started scratching the surface of a series just in time for it go stale is such a sad note.
What i think you missed in your video is the mention that Vampire the Masquerade is mainly a tabletop RPG, a very well known one in the tabletop RPG community i would say. Used to play it a lot with my friends. I do think the strengths of the setting lay more in the tabletop realm than in video games.@@ThaneBishop
@sveinbjorn1509 The problem is that producers just want a cheap imitation to get money from the fan base and casual players.
@@sveinbjorn1509 I've played WoD games since the beginning. My fave is Mage: The Ascension. The strength of WoD is the depth of the lore and the fact that you are NOT the hero, not the "good guy". If anything, you are a victim trying to rise up out of victimhood. You are trapped in a horror story trying to make the best of it as you can through wealth, fame, love, friends, or whatever else you chose.
YES. I PLAYED THE TABLETOP GAMES AS A KID. Then 30 years later I found out they eventually made some video games. I preordered Bloodlines 2 at Gamestop a few years ago..hahaha...I eventually got a refund. @@sveinbjorn1509
This was a great video essay for a great and underrated game.
Tip: You should put tags for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt and Battle Royale for this video. Or better yet in the title. I tried to find this video again, and it didn’t come up in the search. I had to remember the videos I watched around this, and scroll down in my history.
Hey hey people, beautifully written, Thane! The verticality is a really cool element for a battle royale. The PvE was also really cool. Only problem is those enemies will always look cooler than any vampire lol
This was honestly very touching. I've been a fan of WoD/VTM for a long time, I've always rooted for its success, and it's videos like these which highlight the beauty of what this Universe can inspire creatively.
I was never the biggest fan of Bloodhunt (because I sucked big time when playing), but hearing your words on it made me take a step back, and just admire what we had, and still have for a fleeting amount of time.
Thank you for making this, and if you ever want to get a gathering together for one last hurrah on this, feel free to shoot me a message
Algorithm pleasing comment
Algorithm pleasing reponse
Ditto
:D same here
@@ThaneBishop-- Comment irrelevant to original thread, but I don't care because I'm responding to the Creator, and what the heck, engagement is engagement.
I love the algorithm
Dude I wasn't ready to cry today. Hearing you talk about these two games brings back memories of my own favoured, now defunct game: Worlds Adrift. I still get melancholic when I scroll by it in my library, now five years dead.
10:39 you single-handedly sold me the Bloodlines 2 game. I was not interested, really, but now I am.
Honestly man I'm really hoping the game eventually gets its launch, because I'll really want to do a video on it to follow up this one
As a fan of the original game, I would not mind if they made the sequel off of this engine with the same gameplay assets and used it as a foundation. In terms of the movement and combat it definitely feels like much more of a successor outside of the obviously missing RPG elements
If Paradox had brains that’s what they would have done. The fan backlash reaction to the first gameplay footage to Bloodlines 2 was entirely around it’s janky and unsatisfying combat system. But fans would have still played it for the story written by the first game’s main writer Brian Mitsoda. Bring in developers known for making fast movement combat games with satisfying kinesthetics and you’ve got a recipe for success.
Instead they fired Brian Mitsoda, and all the writers and scrapped the story they spent years writing. Then Paradox handed off the remnants of the game to a studio known for making walking simulators who kept the combat system mostly the same.
This would have been a banger single-player title.
I appreciate your candid and relatable commentary. I've had so many niche experiences in games that I never got clips of but were truly fun for the purpose of being fun.
I just found your channel and I adore your videos like this that highlighting things in games that others may not notice on a first playthrough or just discuss things your passionate about. It's very cool to see :) I recently picked up this game myself and was enthralled by the world far more than the battle Royale gameplay (which was still fun) so it's great to see it highlighted here.
Someone dared Seth to make that a Breeders of The Nephelym video, and Seth was like hold my beer.
Ring of Ellysium was amazing. My friends and I played the hell out of it before its downfall. Bloodhunt has been great as well.
Beautiful video. It's always sad when you find a community you enjoy. But like everything in life, nothing escapes entropy. I've played games with others only on few occasions but to this day have fond memories of it.
The problem with battle royales is that they struggle to break the market. There's not a lot of power beyond the big titles and the market is oversaturated. However, the sunken cost fallacies are there and hard to break into. Hopefully it resets the open world into a single player title.
Absolutely all true. To me, I think that's the big part of what this game's beauty and enjoyment so baffling. Such an odd turn, in such a tumultuous market, that they still put so much obvious love and effort into
Battle royales are cash grab pos style games.
Man i had no idea this game existed, ill try it now
So, I played this game since Day 1. Founders pass purchaser, heyo, I'm a shill I know. But I loved this game a lot. I was in it for the story, I completed every questline, I have maxed out almost every archetype, I only ever missed one pass cause I was too focused on other stuff,. The story of this game was genuinely amazing in its own way, a shadow war between three to four factions within the city.
The humans are represented by the Entity Special Operations Group, a part of what the Vampires call "The second inquisition."
The Vampires are represented by three groups, those being the Camarilla, which we play as, the Anarchs, which every enemy player is assumed to be, and cultists, which at one point were what AI vampires were intended to be. When the playerbase was bigger, there was a very rare "cultists present" modifier, where some NPC's were replaced by tough vampire npcs that may retaliate when you try to feed on them.
The story was also a banger. So, the Prince (leader of the camarilla in that locality) of Prague wished to have a convention where the camarilla and the anarchs met and were able to hash terms and cooperate again. It was to be the biggest convention since the founding of the camarilla, and bright spot since the first convention of Prague. This endeavor turned fatal however when their meeting place was stormed and they Prince and Anarch leadership were both slaughtered wholesale, sending both sects into disarray. The story there forward has us working as a member of the camarilla as part of this shadow war. We are hiding under the Prague Castle, and are taking orders from the Primogens (officials) and later the newly elected prince of Prague, Em. However, Em's introduction and new princedom is short lived, as you know, because the game died! And now the story is just...at a standstill.
We got to participate in the story! The quests we got had us actually perform actions out in the field, bet they killing players, killing them in certain ways, killing entity, retrieving items, arriving at certain locations, solving puzzles, etc. It wasn't full participation, but we got it!
The fact that this game is dying and we're getting the new bloodlines 2 hurts my soul beyond measure. While TCR's bloodlines looks like a good VTM, it is in no way a good bloodlines in comparison with HSL's. Which hurts more, because me and my friend played Bloodhunt to hold us over until HSL's BL2 comes out, and while he stopped playing, I fell in love with the game, so two things I was excited for died!
It's the little nooks and easter eggs that make games for me. It's a major reason why Halo, Mass effect and Assassins Creed: Odyssey are some of my favourite games and series, they just have a constant feed of little bits of beauty that make me love them. Gameplay be damned (though I still think it's important.) Anyway, I've a million things I could say about old dead games, but ultimately it's just about enjoying them - and the people you play them with - while you can. :)
This was very moving to see and hear - thank you so much! ❤
I looooove that you made a video on this. I thought this was something special when it launched on the PS5. I wish it got the credit it deserved.
Man, I'm so thrilled that people who enjoyed this game found this video. I was a little anxious to put this one out, just with how niche the game is, but it's so rewarding to get comments from people who have experienced how much fun this game is for themselves.
I've never played Bloodhunt. I'm workin my way through the original VTMB on steam. bit clunky, but I like it.
I have to be honest. I was dismayed when I saw the trailer for the game, because the idea of a VTM battle royale just didn't seem to work. The idea was that the vampires, werewolves etc are living in the shadows, conducting stealthy operations, whereas a Battle Royale... i'm sorry but the connotations of blasting rockets and being very OPEN and explosive and not stealthy... well. They're there, and I know it put me and a lot of others off it.
Courtesy of this video though... I hadn't looked at the game since the trailer. It looks, surprisingly, like a whole lot of fun. I am very tempted to pick it up.
Mr Thane Bishop, I love your content! Keep at it!
For sure; I definitely think Bloodhunt presents itself as a non-canon experience, which always comes with it's own unique struggles. That said, it's still a lot of fun, even with it's rocky setting within its universe. Highly recommend trying it out
I loved this game as well. Brought in a couple friends to play with that weren't even BR people per say. They loved it. Within 2 weeks of us playing regularly , the devs announced it was over. I played the old singleplayer before this, and many games on steam. I didn't even find this till after I played the VTM: Swansong ( I ejoyed it but choose your own adventure - badly reviewed ). Part of our enjoyment was the players seemed more adult. No whining kids like you get on PubG or Fortnite. Maybe the slight gore of the game is why kids weren't into it. IDK. Well put together video. You didn't mention but I'm sure you know all the lore is based off a tabletop game played similar to Dungeons and Dragons. Gonna play some rounds in your honor!
Honestly I could probably do a whole hour on the World of Darkness itself, but I just don't have the experience with it. But yeah, it's a massive universe across ttrpgs and rpgs; I thought about including it, but I wanted to stay focused on the one game I was presenting. Thanks!
It's great to hear more people talking about this game and expressing their love for it, this is the only Battle Royale game that's ever been able to hook me. My friend and I still play regularly. Very disappointed that the game's basically on life support now but we're making the most of our time with the game while we still can. Really enjoyed your video, great work!
The fact that it has been made into a cheesy battle royale game is so disappointing. It should go ahead and be burned to ash..
the videos on this channel aro so good, thanks bud for a nother good time
I miss Bloodhunt so much. The gameplay was amazing, the powers were awesome, the characters and classes and cosmetics were so cool. It didn't deserve to die at all.
Wow, this is the first time i ever heard about these games wtf. Ring of Elysium sounded awesome. Gonna try out Bloodhunt on my PS5
The little imagined skit at around 4:30 is giving me heavy CGP Grey vibes and I'm okay with that bc I can't seem to get enough of your channel or his 😂
Welcome fellow worlds walker. Lets your joy of exploration never ends.
I love Bloodlines. Played it at least 13 times.
Never heard about Bloodhunt, but it is a Multiplayer game. So that would explain it. Not interested in multiplayer shenanigans. I think this might be true of many lovers of the vampire genre.
What I have seen about Bloodlines 2 does not give me much hope either.
No, I think being delayed so many different times and jumping developers has really put a damper on the BL2 vibe, which, of course, makes the sting of eventually losing Bloodhunt all the worse for me.
I want to see it work, I want to see it happen, but.. Who knows at this point?
You explained it perfectly why I love this game. The game is awesome, but the only reason why I left it is because of the few players it had, therefore causing there to be very lengthy matchmaking times.
As I watched I thought about how strange it would be for a genre that I don't like to produce a game that I did like within that genre, and for that game to subsequently be popular within the population of people who like that genre... cool vid.
I wish I'd discovered this video before the game had been shut down. It seems like a fun battle royale that so many more people should have at least gotten to try. But them's the brakes when it comes to game development.
I'm glad this video exists to document Bloodhunt's novelty and appealling design. I hope Bloodlines 2 will be just as good, if not better in its worldbuilding and gameplay
nooo why am i only hearing g about this game now!!! im gonna have to try it, no idea how it is 10 months after this video was released
I want to thank you for this video. :) I stumbled upon it and with that over Bloodhunt. I'm downloading it right now as your video ends and can't wait to try it!
I'm thrilled you enjoyed it! I hope you enjoy the game!
I didn't know this game existed, I'll have to try it out.
I'm a big fan of Vampire: The Masquerade, and I think it's funny how you were talking about details that show the world isn't meant to accommodate vampires. Like, I get what you're saying, but on a lore level, it kind of was meant to accommodate vampires.
i've never been big on battle royales, or live combat games in general i guess. i've never been good at timing combos or whatever. but i might try this. maybe part of it is not having people to play with, idk, but if i'm only gonna be embarrassing myself in front of bots and the occasional stranger fuck it. i might as well try while there's still time
Multiplayer games have become such a winner-take-all market it really sucks to see interesting games that try to be a little different fail over and over and over.
i always know the vids gonna be good when they talk about seth .
There was a brief moment when I thought "Did Bloodlines 2 come out and I missed it? Was it a Fortnite??" and the array of thoughts and emotions that went through my mind would make a Malkavian confused
i loved playing this back in the day
I know im a bit late to the party but your reason for making this strikes a hard cord with me, i wish i had something more concrete from my time playing games with my friends
Gta, cod, warframe, destiny, all of it seems so far away and blended together now and i wish i had something to remember the times and the people by
Skyrim music will always sound magical to me.
I agree, complex entertainment is not as popular as it's opposite, hollow and flashy version. It is frustrating to be outnumbered in this way. Wish there were more ways to make our lack of numbers have more weight.
The way you talk about this games maps reminds me how I talk about Hunt Showdowns maps
Well done video essay. Please keep up the good work.
TH-cam, please rig the recommended in this man's favor.
I like your style of commentary here.
I couldn't get into Bloodhunt because I just can't get into battle royale period, but it's a testament to it that it lasted as long as it did in a market that's been _long_ oversaturated to the extent that new attempts generally die faster than MMOs were dying when there was a new WoW clone every other month. This shouldn't have even been _attempted_ because it's a clear example of a publisher not understanding how demographics work (see, again, WoW clones,) and it's an achievement that it made it even as far as it did.
8:00 What's also interesting about details like this is that something like a ladder _would_ be necessary if the way the game depicts vampires was more in-line with canon. Both Bloodlines and this game (and probably Bloodlines 2) make the Kindred way more overpowered than they should be for the sake of fun game mechanics (although Bloodlines hints at having a story-relevant handwave.) A player in a tabletop session whose character needs to climb up a building would, even if they _could_ scale the wall, ask the DM if there's a ladder visible anywhere first. The game changes this up completely but still cared about its world design to such an extent.
For a fun fact: the handwave for the map shrinking with time, the red gas spread by the Inquisition, made its way back into the tabletop.
never heard of ring of elysium... sorry to hear that it died. but I've also never been into battle royale games either. Day Z is the closest I've ever come to such a game
bro ring elysium was such a throwback fuck man now im feelin nostalgic playin this with my hs friends the 1st map was such peak
I gotta say your essays are always the type to hit me different despite the subject. I tried Vampire the Masquerade and I didn't like it and yet here am I wondering about getting into it again just because of your video.
You do an amazing job man, maybe in the future when I'm in a more financially stable place I can support your work
In the meanwhile....keep going!
I really appreciate all that, man. And while backers to support the content I make are what really help make this feel like a thing I can make into a larger part of my life, I wouldn't ever want to achieve that off the back of costing someone else their stability
I think I will download this now...
Really nice essay, I’ve been waiting for masquerade 2 for a long time. Kinda like a BG3 thing, I’ve never played WoD TTRPG but it’s super cool and to be able to have that single player fantasy is all I want. Before Baldurs Gate 3, every DnD single player experience was mediocre at best but now there’s a game you can play again and again and live out your own DnD fantasy on the sword coast.
"A little the fuck all over the place " is now in my lexicon.
I loved the original game. I just grabbed this on steam. Maybe I'll see you there.
It's not set in the world of some cult classic computer game from 15 years ago. It's set in the world off a 90's TTRPG that was once the number 2 TTRPG in the world (after D&D) before it died. I don't think many of the people that are into that old Gothic Punk World of Darkness are also into Battle Royale much. I love Vampire the Masquerade, still play it, at a table, with my friends and snacks and all that jazz, but I never even considered playing this. Why would I? It's a shooter thing. I don't like shooter things.
Glad it got you interested in Bloodlines 2 though, at least someone is. All I'm interested in is what Paradox does in the TTRPG space and I fear Paradox was hoping for a bit more crossover between the realms of the table top and the computer then there actually is. I wonder when they are going to sell the IP.
Wait so you are telling me there is a battle royale i can play with no other people.
Jesus Christ I'm only 10 seconds into the video and I'm cracking the fuck up having to pause it so I can laugh at that Skyrim glitch.
3:56 omfg LMAO i had the exact same reaction to *THAT vid*
Downloading. I missed out on the Legacy of Kain MOBA, because frankly I didn't know it existed (as a life long Blood Omen / Soul Reaver fan, my lapse in attention has brought shame to my clan and to Kain), so I won't miss this. Even if its with bots, I'm going to play for the time it has left.
The problem with this type of games is its longevity, once the clock runs out the game is not playable anymore. To remedy this, developers should consider making hosting server an option. Even adding Bots to play offline if you are into that sort of stuff, heck back in the day that was alot of fun. I do understand how ever, that from a financial point of view this might not make sense to them. But for the normal person hu has to drop 60$ for a game and expansion and season passes and then never be able to play the game ever again just because the service shuts down, that's an unacceptable practice that must die period.
You have convinced me to give it a try.
Thanks for sharing. I'm going to play this game!
Thane Bishop AKA Rare Earth:Gaming
Fuck it, I'll give it a go, you convinced me.
Haha imagine the intro of skyrim but a prisoner talking about battle royale games.
This was very moving. I'm still not gonna play the game. But bravo.
I love bloodhunt it’s my favourite game let’s sign a petition to start work on it again ❤️
Incredible video essay
Once again i am begging for more
I always saw Bloodhunt as a delaying tactic before the main game was ready, and there is nothing wrong with being that. Even more so when there are people who actually enjoy the game.
Hope the devs gained enough time from Bloodhunts release to help make Bloodlines 2 a better and more finished game, because believe me when I say that fans of VtMB will not accept a cheap half-assed sequel to a game that practically became our religion.
thing is battle royales started dying bcs people got tired, everything was a battle royale
and well the community for VtM is fairly small in comparison to other franchises, so i'm saddened but not surprised
Adding genre fatigue to all of the things Bloodhunt had going against it really does make it seem like such a far-fetched venture, but honestly, I think that only makes me more impressed with how much detail and polish they put into the game.
Thank you!
Consider an intro "doot-doot," like PBS or NPR has with its same message "thanks to viewers/listeners like you."
Had forgotten all about Bloodhunt, I think I'll give it a look/try...has several play modes that look interesting to me and like you say, it is quite beautiful!
btw what game is shone at the beginning where "Maybe it's the dead wreckage of a city at siege" @.18 is said? Would love to know! Thank you! 😎👍
Thanks man! That game is Halo:ODST. I've got a video on it, too, but it's also still real good to play on it's own
@@ThaneBishop Thx a lot for the info! Look forward to watching your video and will be checking out your other work for sure!
I'm going to be honest, as a long time Vampire: The Masquerade fan I'm seriously not interested in either Bloodhunt (though I did play it for a short time because I love the universe) nor Bloodlines 2. I would much rather have a Redemption 2. Explore the Dark Ages again. Maybe even the antediluvian era. There is so much you can do with this universe. Write a story from the human perspective, maybe explore the werewolf facet of the World of Darkness. Hell give us more on the asian side of vampires which are a completely different breed than the cainites.
I'm still going to play bloodlines 2 when it comes out eventually, but mainly I hope they start to use their IP and explore more aspects of the lore that is the world of darkness.
The last few minutes of this were quite painful to listen to, cause it's plain from your voice how much you felt for these games. I suppose it's important to note that while painful, in the sense that I have intense sympathy for your plight; those minutes are also some of the best .
This is a good video. I hope you get to enjoy it a bit.
Thankfully, this is one of those games that I have a connection to from tabletop, so I'm gonna hit up my buddies that play WoD, see if they might be interested. I'd never heard of it before this video, so I bet they haven't either. Might get a few good moments to share, and that's wroth somethin.
I'm liking your videos Thane, hope you pick up steam.
3:02 oh boy thane. If you think APEX movement is cool as valkyrie youre gonna LOVE titanfall 2. Severly underrated presecessor which has significantly deeper movement capability. Even if you dont want to get into multiplayer, you're gonna LOVE playing the campaign. Super good mechanics.
“Extraction Shooters “ are the set to be the next trend. If you have not played the division part one dlc survival, well you should. While the base game is a looter shooter gear grind, you can ignore most all that as survival dlc is separate. Yea it gives loot for your none survival game play. The game also has the dark zone, pvpve open world up to I think 24 players can be in a server. You do need gear for that if you want to PvP that said the audio ques, city design etc aloe for many ways to play. In the dz you clear landmarks, or hunt players, but to secure your loot gains you have to call a helicopter in at one of I think 8 zones doing so puts your location on all players mini map if they want to come fuck your day up. You can totally wipe a squad and cut the rope denying them their goodies. That said you will still have to get your gear out too so yeah. It was excellent and so challenging to learn as it was coming out patch after patch post launch dlc etc it was fantastic. That said the dz was too brutal for casuals, and admitted proximity voice chat, the levels of aggression etc had a realism. Div 2 is a great pve game in the genre. Div 1 is superior and if you don’t got the time to sink in a old game grinding gear the survival game mode encapsulates everything great about the game, and you can choose if it’s PvPve or pve. The hunt ( I heard it’s pretty dead if not totally) is another pvpve extraction shooter that looked dope. It’s always better to play games like these in a squad with friends. I will never forget hiding as a solo player with a 2 tap sniper build or in squad picking em off as they try to attach loot to extraction rope. Some ropes in life must be cut. Great video
I might try it today.
The Merchants Guild would like to know your location.
it does come out during the stale of battle royale. If only it did come out a year sooner or a few years laters, it would have at least being treated fair
God this game had so much potential. I'm so sad that it's essentially bleeding out on the floor instead of flourishing like it should have.
It sounds so nice.
Thane, please take a look at the game ‘Worlds Adrift’ I feel like you could really do justice to a dead game that deserved more.
How is this the first I'm hearing of this game?
Why do i always here about these games too late?
If you like a world type design I really recommend checking out Hunt Showdown’s world building
Man this game looks fun
Wow. This actually looks like BR that I want to play. Needs Werewolves too.
I really hate the general live service trend. IMO, all live service games should be required to have their code made available after they die (For a licensing fee or whatever) so people can start private servers if they want. SOMETHING to keep them from vanishing off the face of the earth, flushing years of work that actual developers, real people, did down the drain. I'm sadly past the point in my life where multiplayer games in general are a thing for me(no time for extended gaming sessions, I usually have to pause every 15-20 minutes or so to do something else), but I still like to dip into them from time to time. The fact that they can die at any point is just another reason why I generally don't get too invested, but it is frustrating.
I would've played the game a lot if my computer could run it without melting lol
They are not diseases. They are humors. It's a weird system from the ttrpg. Their like personality types. It's a weird and makes much more sense after a 40 minute lore dump. I love this franchise but this is like half if the mechanics
Multiplayer games are the next generation of online DRM. Remember it? Remember how people protested, and how it has gone away? Steam and other online stores should provide their own cloud hosting services. Let Valve work for that cutthroat 30% cut. With today's virtualization technology, hosting of a dead game (with no bots at least) costs nothing and scales. Fo individual developers, especially smaller ones, server maintanance is a always cost; a hosting service leverages scale. All business has moved to cloud a decade ago, it's time gaming caught up. Also, demand LAN multiplayer from every game!
Well I’m sold
Same thing as many games before but ''vampire'' themed.