Paradox Interactive’s streak of game delays continues with news that Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, developed at Chinese Room, is now targeting a “first half of 2025” release, rather than the previously announced “late 2024” window.
In a post on their websiteParadox called the delay a “proactive decision” stemming from its initial commitment to delivering “high-quality games” to its players. “While [Bloodlines 2] “It's in a good enough place that we could have kept our planned release window,” he continued, “Paradox and The Chinese Room collaboratively decided to prioritize polish.”
Paradox claims that the delay will “create a quality assurance window, allowing for more time between testing and launch, ensuring we release the game when it's ready.” More specifically, The Chinese Room will use the time to expand Bloodlines 2's story, providing twice as many endings as its predecessor, and to “tweak certain areas” like Fabien, the voice in its protagonist's head.
The Chinese Rooms adds that it will continue to share details of Bloodlines 2 with fans in the lead-up to the release of the revised version next year, and that future topics of discussion will include social feeding, the different factions of Seattle, some additional characters, and more. “It’s been a long journey,” Paradox’s statement concludes, “but we’re nearing the final stages of development and will share a release date once we’re confident of the game’s level of polish.”
Of course, Bloodlines 2 isn’t the only game Paradox has delayed as of late, with Prison Architect 2 and Cities: Skylines 2, both of which were released on consoles, both suffering multiple delays. Life By You, a Sims-like title from Paradox, also suffered repeated delays until the publisher made the shocking decision to pull the plug on the project earlier this year, cancelling the game and closing its studio.
The cancellation of Life By You was just the latest in a string of high-profile disasters for Paradox in recent years. Bloodlines 2 was nearly cancelled before The Chinese Room stepped in following problems at its original studio, while 2023’s The Lamplighters’ League was such a flop that Paradox opted to part ways with its developer Harebrained Schemes. And the ramifications of Cities: Skylines 2’s catastrophically premature release are still being felt, with Paradox pledging not to release any additional DLC until its issues are sorted out. In July, Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester admitted that the publisher had “made the wrong decisions on a number of projects.”