The original Bloodlines came out in a different era, when developers were forgiven for a lot.
Former creative director of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, and head of The Chinese Room studio, Dan Pinchbeck, gave a long interview to YouTube blogger Kat Burton, in which he honestly talked about the complex history of the sequel's development.
The Chinese Room team tried their best to convince the publisher, Paradox Interactive, not to call the game Bloodlines 2.
We were sitting in planning meetings thinking: how do we make sure this game isn't called Bloodlines 2. It seemed like the most important task. It's impossible to make Bloodlines 2. There's not enough time or money. The first part came out in a unique era of the gaming industry, when you could release an incredibly ambitious but buggy game — and players forgave it for the boldness of its ideas. That won't work today.
According to the developer, trying to recreate the magic of the original in modern realities would doom the project to failure: fans of the cult first part would be disappointed, and new players would get an unfinished sequel.
That's why Pinchbeck decided to drastically change the concept: instead of a large role-playing game with an open world, the team made a more compact, focused project in the spirit of Dishonored — with linear levels and a strong emphasis on the mythology of the "World of Darkness."
