Chinese Room is clearly a bad fit for Bloodlines. They have zero experience with RPG games.
They make good walking-sim style gaming experiences with strong atmosphere and world-building, but they've never made any RPGs. Bloodlines was a living world full of dynamism (remember the Voerman twins missions?).
Their gameplay also tends to be subpar. The original Bloodlines had some flaws with gameplay (combat), but you still had a lot of different gameplay options and approaches.
Why shouldn't people have expectations for a strong roleplaying experience and player freedom for a Bloodlines game?
An earlier statement from one of the Paradox PR reps (before release):
"I actually played Bloodlines 1 quite recently, and it is a good game, but it is also an old game, and there are many things that would not fly today," Lilja said. "But I understand why people were super psyched by it in 2004, because it had a lot of cool [elements], and the feeling of being a vampire is really strong, regardless of other features. But I think people, they remember their feelings about it. And if they replayed it, I think they would see that it's a competently good game by 2004 standards, now that it's patched.
Seems like their approach to Bloodlines 2 isn't much of "high flyer" in the year 2025.
In defence of the PR rep, they were open about Bloodlines 2 not having much to do with the original and that it was more of vampire themed linear action game.
But in that case, why would you have internal targets of 2M+ initial sales if your plan is to have a radical departure from a well known cult classic RPG known for its roleplaying and strong writing?
I enjoy walking sims (Soma is one of my favourite games of all time) in general and TCR's releases as well.
That doesn't mean one can't recognize that TCR tends to struggle even with relatively simple gameplay and that a game like Bloodlines requires strong gameplay design/implementation skills.
While I loved the atmosphere of Still Wakes the Deep, there were many situations where weak gameplay undermined the ambiance and immersion.
I hope I was able to at least share my own reasoning (even if you don't agree). And I think we can both agree that TCR does not have any experience in RPG games.
The level of support for the Russian armed forces has not changed significantly since the beginning of the conflict – the majority of respondents (76%) support the actions of Russian troops in Ukraine, including 48% “definitely support” and another 28% “rather support” the action of Russian army. 16% are against.
Research with preference falsification adjustments with respect to support for the full scale invasion:
The vast majority of Russians (86%) consistently support the accession of Crimea to Russia – this indicator has fluctuated slightly since 2014. 9% do not support the accession.
Research with preference falsification adjustments with respect to support for annexation of Crimea:
Using the list-experiment technique, Timothy Frye and others showed that Putin's approval rating after the annexation of Crimea was actually high, at around 80%. In their study, they made a list of famous Russian politicians and had respondents answer how many of these politicians they supported. They then estimated Putin's approval rating by adding the name "Putin" to the list for only one group[*]3 and thus concluded that the high approval ratings after the annexation of Crimea were not very different from the findings of opinion pollsters.
A high level overview of russian support for the invasion of Ukraine (a summary, but with links to relevant research, albeit some sources will be in russian):
Younger people still support the war in high numbers, though their support is lower than that of the older generation: 75–80 percent of people fifty-five and older support the Russian army’s actions in Ukraine, while 61 percent of young respondents in Levada polls share this sentiment.
I understand. This is a forum, so I am not going to add expansive footnotes to my posts, but I am happy to cite the research I have read if asked. FWIW, I have also read counter argument for approaches used by the research I have cited (which I don’t find convincing).
Just pointing out that I am not randomly making stuff up.
Looking for people your own age to game with? Over 30 Clan has been around since 2010 and has grown to over 1,500 members, and for the last 6+ years it’s been my home base. Any given night you’ll find folks jumping into everything from Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders to Overwatch 2 and more....
They have the best cost per barrel economics out of all countries (at scale) and they still hold a stupid high % of the market (10%+).
Their game investment strategy is of course a massive failure. They will exist in 24-36 months. You don't need to be a financial analyst to understand this.
I work in market research. Data at this level of granularity (price band view) is extremely expensive.
Around 300K per year and that would also likely only include a few retailers GameStop, BestBuy, Walmart. I don't remember off the top of my head, but I believe Steam data wouldn't be included.
It's very likely Valve doesn't share the full dataset with anyone. Maybe partial data with some of their biggest partners.
Huge player of Cities in Motion 1/2. I still play both of them to this day.
Cities in Motion 2's city building elements were basically a prototype for Cities Skylines. The look and feel are very similar (of course CiM2 didn't really have city-building management layer, just public transit).
After more than a decade of successful collaboration across numerous titles that we’re both immensely proud of, Paradox Interactive and Colossal Order have mutually decided to pursue independent paths....
In light of the recent criticism that Rockstar Games has been facing for its firing of over 30 employees, one employee from the studio has taken to the GTA Forums to talk about the company’s actions. Under request of anonymity, and having been verified as a real Rockstar Games employee by an admin, the person – using the...
To be fair, lots of American media has rebellious motifs, but its mostly merely product packaging and doesn't really reflect American society.
I lived in the US at one point and while repetition of various freedom themed polemics was extremely common (it initially got annoying, until I learned to simply filter it out), I didn't really find the whole thing convincing. It felt more like posturing.
That being said, there is a lot of American literature, cinema and art more generally that is truly non-comfortmist.
Today’s game is Max Payne 2. ever since i started doing a Theme for this month i’ve been wanting to play this because of it’s fall theme (that and the first game in winter). Now that Halloween is over it’s the perfect time for this. I even installed the widescreen fix....
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines - probably the most cliche answer possible, but Troika really did build a game that took you to the world of vampires in LA in the early 2000s.
Arcanum - a fantasy world undergoing industrialization with technology being in direct conflict with magic.
UnderRail - A society stuck underground connected by tunnels between towns/cities and nodes. The writing (quests/characters) is not that great, but the world-building is top notch.
Flotsam, an exploration city-builder where you scavenge the oceans and explore the flooded remnants of the old world with your floating colony, released on Steam. (store.steampowered.com) angielski
Left 4 Dead co-creator is directing a mysterious co-op shooter for JJ Abrams' production company, and Sony's going to publish it: "We hope to deliver a bold, innovative experience" (www.gamesradar.com) angielski
Horses is back on the Humble Store: 'After a full review they determined that while the content is heavy, nothing in the game warrants removal' (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
This Minecraft map that recreates [Kowloon Walled City], one of history's most notorious slums made me reconsider what's important in 3D level design (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
After Apple originally announced the first version of Halo in 1999, Xbox apparently called Bungie and said "'Steve Jobs can't have that. We're going to buy you.'" (www.gamesradar.com) angielski
Paradox Takes the Blame for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 Sales Flop, Announces $37 Million Write-Down (www.ign.com) angielski
honestly they should have just cancelled it rather than pass it around to different studios with shaky track records
Sean Murray just crushed my hopes of playing Light No Fire anytime soon (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Valve block Steam game with queer art in Russia after state censor attacks it for “promoting non-traditional sexualities” (www.rockpapershotgun.com) angielski
A chill gaming community for the 30+ crowd angielski
Looking for people your own age to game with? Over 30 Clan has been around since 2010 and has grown to over 1,500 members, and for the last 6+ years it’s been my home base. Any given night you’ll find folks jumping into everything from Battlefield 6 and Arc Raiders to Overwatch 2 and more....
Saudi Arabia's investment fund reported to be limiting new investments as cash runs low (www.gamesindustry.biz) angielski
The median price of best-selling new games on Steam has dropped in the past 2 years, research finds: "Charging >$25 is getting trickier, as players compare value to the $10-$15 indie titles" (www.gamesradar.com) angielski
Join our little all time adventure game character discussion (good vs. horrible, fan sentiment) if you like adventure games (classic point and click, modern narrative, hybrid adventure games). (piefed.world) angielski
Feel free to subscribe to:...
Google’s latest swing at Chromebook gaming is a free year of GeForce Now (arstechnica.com) angielski
Erosion is a voxel open world shooter in which deaths cost decades, and you can win the Wild West with armies of cats (www.rockpapershotgun.com) angielski
Cities: Skylines upheaval: Developer and publisher announce “mutual” breakup (arstechnica.com) angielski
An Update on Cities: Skylines II - Development moved to Iceflake Studios (forum.paradoxplaza.com) angielski
After more than a decade of successful collaboration across numerous titles that we’re both immensely proud of, Paradox Interactive and Colossal Order have mutually decided to pursue independent paths....
Years later, Arkane’s Dishonored is still a modern stealth classic (arstechnica.com) angielski
Game marketing company takes down blog post bragging about how good it is at astroturfing Reddit after Reddit finds the post (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
The end of merch culture is upon us with an official Death Stranding exoskeleton (www.rockpapershotgun.com) angielski
To the rapidly aging person reading this: GameFAQs is 30 years old, and people are sharing their memories of the venerable guide hub (www.pcgamer.com) angielski
Red Dead Redemption 2 overtakes Mario Kart 8 as the 4th best-selling video game of all time, boasting 79 million sales (www.gamesradar.com) angielski
Rockstar Games Employee Calls Out Studio For Spreading “Disinformation and Lies”, Union Busting (gamingbolt.com) angielski
In light of the recent criticism that Rockstar Games has been facing for its firing of over 30 employees, one employee from the studio has taken to the GTA Forums to talk about the company’s actions. Under request of anonymity, and having been verified as a real Rockstar Games employee by an admin, the person – using the...
A weaseetlduclob fights a salamander gang and grows ever more horrifying in abomination evolver Strange Seed (www.rockpapershotgun.com) angielski
Protests erupt at Rockstar Games offices accusing GTA 6 developers of “Union Busting” (www.dexerto.com) angielski
GTA 6 dev Rockstar says recent firings were due to leaks of "confidential information" and were "in no way related to people's right to join a union" (www.gamesradar.com) angielski
Soulja Boy is selling video game consoles again, and he's already being accused of ripping off an existing handheld: "He does not have permission to rebrand our products and sell them as his own" (www.gamesradar.com) angielski
Assassin's Creed is a "forever brand" because Ubisoft supported huge risks with it, ex director says: "Whereas, say, EA, you get these awful execs and they never made games and they came from toothpaste companies" (www.gamesradar.com) angielski
Unbelievably, we have a choice of kaiju clean-up games (www.rockpapershotgun.com) angielski
Day 474 of posting a Daily Screenshot from the games I've been playing angielski
Today’s game is Max Payne 2. ever since i started doing a Theme for this month i’ve been wanting to play this because of it’s fall theme (that and the first game in winter). Now that Halloween is over it’s the perfect time for this. I even installed the widescreen fix....
What are your favorite games from a worldbuilding standpoint? angielski
What games have what you’d call really good worldbuilding, and what in particular do you like about them?...