Vampire: The Masquerade is spawning a battle royale?
Coming in 2021, and WEIRD
While Bloodlines 2 is the big Vampire: The Masquerade game folks are waiting for, it's far from the only game in the tabletop RPG setting, with the newest and weirdest being... a battle royale? Huh. Sharkmob, a Swedish studio founded by former The Division devs, this weekened announced a yet-unnamed battle royale that'll see vampires scrapping through the streets and over the rooftops of prague. Huh. A surprising use of the license. It's due next year, and all they have to show for now is a cinematic trailer.
"Choose your playstyle, go solo or together, battling rivals and the hostile Entity who's hellbent on exterminating all vampires," the devs say on their site. "Use your supernatural powers, weapons and blood to become stronger in order to hunt, fight and survive the night."
Weird. As a game it could be fun, mind. Ubisoft's Hyper Scape isn't great but shows a battle royale with high mobility in a city can be a right lark, bounding over buildings and zipping through streets. And vampires are basically just wizards, and Spellbreak is neat for battling royale with magical powers. I'm tentatively interested in tearing through moonlit Prague with wizard skills and a cool jacket.
The fact that it's using the Vampire: The Masquerade name means nothing to me. I find no appeal in that. The opposite, if anything. But sure, whatever, I guess it's a recognisable name.
Sharkmob plan to launch their VTM battle royale in 2021, sometime from July onwards. In an interview in 2018, before they said what they were working on, Sharkmob talked about planning a licensed live service game with content updates and that, which yeah, would be the way to do a battle royale.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 was recently delayed into 2021 following the firing of narrative lead Brian Mitsoda, who was a lynchpin in its marketing (and claims of legacy) as a lead writer on the original Bloodlines.
Disclosure: Cara Ellison, a former RPS columnist and my former flatmate, was a narrative designer on Bloodlines 2.