The concept of "development hell" is unfortunately not new in the gaming industry, and <em>Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 </em>is one of the more recent examples of how trapped games can become. With the original game releasing in 2004, it's now been <strong>twenty years </strong>since it's release, with sequels being discussed as early as that same year. To summarize (as best as possible), White Wolf was purchased by Paradox in 2015, and discussions of a sequel began. It was eventually pitched in early 2019 for a March 2020 release, then in October 2019, was pushed back to an unclear 2020 release date. In August 2020, it was delayed again to an unspecified 2021 date. In February 2021, it was announced that the developers were changing, and that the game would be released sometime after 2021. Finally, last September, we officially received notification from the new developers that the game was being released in late 2024. However, as of August, we've just been notified it's now going to be 2025. As much as I would love to believe that <em>Bloodlines 2 </em>is finally, actually on its way, the track record is just terrible. We still do not have much definitive information about the game at all, the gameplay and story has changed significantly since it was first announced, and there has yet to be any tangible evidence of a playable game in late-stages of development. Call me cynical, but I'd be shocked if we got a <em>Bloodlines </em>sequel within the next year.
