In context: Some of you have likely played (or at least heard of) 2004's moody first-person RPG Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. The game was broken beyond repair from a technical perspective, but it still amassed a sizable following over the years. Apparently, that success has been enough to justify a sequel – set to launch next year – and an entirely new battle royale experience set in the same universe.
Yes, you read that correctly: one of the grandfathers of modern immersive sims – a notoriously slow-paced genre – popularized the Masquerade setting so much that it will soon spawn yet another entry in the already-crowded battle royale market.
The game was just revealed today, but it does not have a title yet. Regardless, it's being developed by a brand-new Swedish studio known as Sharkmob. This seems to be the only game they're working on right now, or at least the only one they've officially announced.
Details about the project are very scarce, as you'd expect at this early stage (it won't launch until the second half of 2021). However, it will allow players to "choose [their] playstyle, go solo or together" and battle other users as well as a hostile, vampire-hunting group known as the "Entity."
Like a traditional battle royale, you'll be wandering through an open environment (the rooftops and streets of Prague, in this case) in search of weapons and gear, such as guns and swords. However, you'll also have supernatural vampiric powers at your disposal, just like in the original Bloodlines.
It remains to be seen whether or not Sharkmob's first game will perform well commercially. As we said before, the battle royale genre is incredibly crowded now, so this seems like quite a risk, especially for a newborn company that may or may not be able to survive an initial failure.
Still, we wish them all the best of luck. Battle royales might be a bit overdone, but vampiric magic is undoubtedly a great way to place a fun spin on the genre, and we look forward to trying it out for ourselves.