Publisher Nacon has delayed the release of Vampire: The Masquerade - Swansong. Originally scheduled to arrive this year, the narrative RPG is now due to launch on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, PS5, and PC in February 2022.

Swansong, which was announced back in 2019, is the work of Big Bad Wolf, the studio behind episodic adventure game The Council, and places players into the shoes of three different vampires, each belonging to a different clan within the vampire sect of The Camarilla.

"Weaving between their intertwined tales," Nacon explained at the time of Swansong's reveal, "the player has to confront the different points of view of his characters to unravel fact from fiction. With whispers of conspiracy, murder and power struggles, the player must protect his clan, discover the truth and above all enforce the Masquerade, the vampire law designed to conceal the existence of creatures of the night from humans."

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So there is a big Vampire: The Masquerade video game coming out this year after all. Except, it's not an RPG like Bloodlines 2, it's a free-to-play battle royale. I know that sounds strange but I've played it, and it's better than I expected. It's a pretty impressive production, actually. It has a studio of around 200 people behind it: a newish Swedish studio called Sharkmob, led by Ubisoft Massive (The Division) veterans. And they've made something dark, handsome and atmospheric. Something entirely in keeping with what you expect from a Vampire: The Masquerade game.

The game goes like this (and 'this' will be quickly familiar to anyone who's played a battle royale game, which at this point is probably everyone?): you queue solo, or in teams of three, for a big fight in the locked-down city of Prague at night. Exactly how many players can fight together isn't finalised yet. The current rough-count is 45.

You start with no weaponry, so you need to loot it, as well as collect armour and blood packs (health refills), pulling them from the back of police vans, or chests and containers, and sometimes shops, that you find around the city. And the playing area in Prague gradually shrinks as a red mist rolls in.

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UPDATE 3/3/21:
The former developer of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has confirmed this week's layoffs, but said it would continue to operate and was developing multiple unannounced projects.

In a statement issued to RPS, a spokesperson for Hardsuit Labs stated that redundancies had affected "a small number of individuals", though a specific number of people was not disclosed.

"While we worked hard to source some great work opportunities for the studio to move forward with, we were unable to provide work for a small number of individuals and thus made the difficult decision to part ways. This decision was not made lightly and was done so only after we felt we had exhausted the opportunities to avoid such a layoff," Hardsuit said. "We sincerely wish the very best to our former colleagues and thank them for their contributions to the studio and our projects during their time here."

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Paradox has pulled development of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 from Hardsuit Labs, delayed the game indefinitely and cancelled new pre-orders.

In a statement, Paradox said "in order to meet our goals for it, we've come to the conclusion that a change is needed and, as a result, more development time is required".

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 will now not release in 2021 as planned. Paradox said it has signed a new developer to pick up development duties, but it sounds like the wait for the game could be a long one.

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The Vampire the Masquerade game in development at Big Bad Wolf, creators of the episodic adventure game The Council, now has a subtitle: Swansong.

Swansong is a narrative role-playing game set in the Vampire the Masquerade universe and due out at some point in 2021. It was announced as part of publisher Bigben Interactive's May showcase event, and has remained quiet since. But today its official Twitter page piped up with the subtitle and some suitably vampiric prose:

And here's the official blurb from the press release:

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Welcome to another week of Five of the Best, a series where we celebrate the overlooked parts of video games, like hands! And potions! And dinosaurs! And shops! They're the kinds of things etched unwittingly into memory, like an essential ingredient of a favourite dish you could never put a finger on. And I want to spark discussion, so please share memories as they flash into your mind. Today, another five. The topic...

Health pick-ups! Oh how very specific - but I need to be. I'm not talking about health systems but the things you pick up to heal yourself. Used to be all games did it this way, but then Halo came along with its recharging health and all of a sudden everyone wanted the same. Now that feels like the norm.

But there are old-fashioned health systems out there (and they'll probably take offence at being called old-fashioned, so I'm sorry, I don't mean it in a bad way!). I still see Overwatch health packs when I close my eyes at night, and potions, which I've written a whole Five of the Best on, are a dime a dozen in RPGs. They're still out there, still crucial to how we get through games.

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All eyes might be on Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 but it's not due for release until next year. There is, however, something very closely related you can snack on before then - a new game called Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York.

It's a single-player narrative experience made by a Polish company called Draw Distance - formerly known as iFun4All, maker of chirpy murder scene clear-up game Serial Cleaner. And Coteries of New York is coming to PC and Switch in Q4 this year, obviously with World of Darkness IP holder Paradox's blessing.

Coteries is set squarely in the fifth edition of Vampire: The Masquerade lore. In it, you'll be able to belong to one of several vampire clans, each with their own way of doing things, and you'll see their different ethical approaches born out in dialogue and gameplay. And the choices you make will steer you towards one of a number of endings.

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It launched back in November 2004, is one of the most cherished PC games of all-time and people have been clamouring for a follow-up the 15 years since - and today, at GDC, that finally became a reality. Yes, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines is getting a sequel, and it's coming to PC and consoles in 2020.

You might have guessed as much from the recent teases made by publisher Paradox, or possibly hoped as much back when Paradox acquired the rights back in 2015, though it's all come together remarkably quickly.

"When we as Paradox acquired the IP, we saw Bloodlines as the crown jewel," says producer Christian Schlutter. "We wanted to do a new Bloodlines, but we also knew there were a lot of expectations connected to it, not just from the fans but also from us. We actually thought we'd hold off on doing Bloodlines 2, because we wanted to do it right - then these guys come along and have the perfect pitch, with the original writer on-board too. It all happened far faster than we expected."

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