Last week, Paradox Interactive announced that Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 had been delayed to 2021, and now we may have a better why the move was necessary. Today, Bloodlines 2 developer Hardsuit Labs announced the game’s creative director Ka’ai Cluney and lead narrative designer Brian Mitsoda have officially left the project...

　　Lead Narrative Designer Brian Mitsoda and Creative Director Ka’ai Cluney are no longer part of the team at Hardsuit Labs. This was a joint decision made by the leadership of Hardsuit Labs and Paradox Interactive. We appreciate, and value, the contributions of Brian and Ka’ai, which were instrumental in establishing the game's storyline and dark tone and have helped to ensure that we are making a true successor to the iconic Bloodlines. We wish them both the best in their future endeavors.

　　Ka’ai Cluney will be replaced as creative director by Alexandre Mandryka, an Ubisoft veteran who contributed to early entries in the Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry franchises. He’s mainly worked as a freelance consultant for the last decade, so it’s somewhat interesting to see him jumping back into AAA game development.

　　Alexandre Mandryka has come aboard as Creative Consultant, filling the Creative Director role for Bloodlines 2, and will help us in the final stages of development. Alexandre is committed to following the vision that is in place, and successfully bringing Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 to the fans. Alexandre has been in the industry for more than 20 years and has worked on iconic franchises such as Assassin’s Creed, Warhammer 40,000, Far Cry, and more. With a long history of shipping excellent franchises, we are excited with what Alexandre brings to the game and the World of Darkness.

　　It definitely seems like something isn’t quite right at Hardsuit Labs. That said, hopefully they can pull Bloodlines 2 together and deliver a satisfying experience. I meantime, I’d like to see a decent chunk of actual gameplay, just to prove the game is progressing.

　　Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 stalks onto PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS4, and PS5 sometime in 2021 (hopefully).