This month, the mysterious Vampire: The Mascardade – Bloodlines 2 has a crepe on our magazine cover. We were able to get time and interview on exclusive hands with developers in the Chinese chamber, including art director Ben Matthews, who told us about the specific setting of the game: Seattle at Christmas.
Bloodlines 2 was originally in development under Hardsuit Labs, but after a series of delays and some high-profile departure, the game was transferred to the Chinese room, known for sports such as dear Easter and still awakens deep. The studio is harassed on how the switch-over actually went down, but an external observer can easily present some elements that were protected from the Hardsuit Labs version and were used in the current game. The setting is probably the most obvious; You can see Christmas lights on the streets of Seattle Trailer for the old version shown in E3 2019,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmvyxzhnf_k
When the Chinese room took over, it was given the option to start freshly fresh, and in many areas, it did it. For example, the hero used to be a young think, but the Chinese room decided to pive and focus on a large vampire, fire, which is 400 years old. However, the Holiday Seattle setting remained. When I ask Matthews about playing at this time and place, he says that it is “a good hook.”
He said, “This is a good juice of Joviel, Human World Against Dark, Vampire World,” he says, citing the opening of the game. Phyre begins in an old, deteriorating building and emerges to see the bright Seattle horizon. Phyre has been sleeping for 100 years, so it makes for a shock. “Elder Fire, Modern-Day Christmas Seattle,” is called Mathews. “I think this is a very good juice to start the game.”
Bright, holiday roads of Seattle.
Mathews said that this is not just a story trick; It is a major philosophy of the overall visual language of the opposite game. “I think one thing we really found in the development of the game, in the context of the art direction, trying to separate the darkness from light, both metaphors and physically,” they say. “A lot of roads are really brightly burnt, because it is where the human world is. But where the vampire is the world, where you as a player, or as a vampire, want to do your bad things, in the dark.”
After playing the game myself, I can pay attention to it. Roads are suffering from multicolored lights that indicate bright, white ice. On the other hand, the streets, which are unlonged and unwanted, appeal to my tendency, who is in the form of someone who enjoys secret games. Titular Mascardade is a rule that all vampires should hide their abilities from the eyes of the mortal, so if you want to use a broad loadout of the vampic powers of the game, then you have to take to the streets.
Garbage fire is the only source of light in this street.
“One thing we really wanted to pay attention was the amount of expansion on the scope,” says Matthews Seattle’s depiction. In fact, the player does not get free Rome throughout the city – reach very close to the outskirts of the map and the brand on Phyre’s hand will prevent you from leaving. “We are not making GTA; this is not a big, open world, spreading the game where the horizon is your limit. It was something that we really paid attention to, to try to make everything dense (as much as possible).”
The team is particularly excited about the portrayal of Seattle’s Pioneer Square. Creative director Alex Skidmore personally visited the place, saying, “I think I can’t understand my mind (…) I am looking at work every day, and now I am here as a person. (…) I think we have found this place.”
Unlike Hardsuit Labs, which is located in Seattle, the Chinese room is located in Brighton, England, so the research process was not as simple as stepping out for a walk. While Matthews never got a chance to go on his own, Skidmore traveled and collected a lot of materials for reference.
Bloodlines 2 has survived the fire in a street.
“I took a lot of pictures,” Skidmore says. “I remember the main pictures were from Gali -Gali. And when you play the game, you can climb up, like, ducting and air vents and accessories. And I was just taking pictures, like, like ‘yes, yes, yes’ to find the weight and weight of examples.”
Fortunately, the art team had access to a very large collection of reference photos.
“Google Maps is a very good resource,” says Mathews, smiling. “We had a lot of bookmarks on the Google map where there was anything.”
Vampire: The Mascardade – Bloodlines 2 is on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in this October. For more information about the game, you can watch or listen to the most recent episode of the game officer show or read our 14-page cover story while taking membership of the magazine.
