The Chinese Room has published a new developer diary on the website of publisher Paradox Interactive.

In it, Creative Analyst Alex Skidmore talks about the game’s visceral yet immersive combat system. According to Skidmore, the goal is to create an immersive gameplay experience that is also up to date. To that end, he identified three distinct play styles for The Chinese Room. One is Strategic Stalker, which relies on the element of surprise: “Once your plan is in place, summoning the powers of blood, sneaking up on an enemy, distracting them, feeding on them before a fight breaks out, or hit-and-run tactics are options for people who like to play that way.

The second is Action Brawler, which is based on direct confrontation: “Any clan can brawl, but this is where the Brujah shine. You’ll see them in our January gameplay reveal video. Their powers are aimed at dominating melee combat. References for this style are action-brawling games like the God of War series, Shadow of Mordor, and Elden Ring. It is about being in the center of the melee and using your abilities to control the crowd so you can do as much damage as possible.

Skidmore added that any mix of the two styles (stealth, melee) could be used in the sequel to Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. The third style is the Narrative Adventurer, which is for those who prefer to focus on narrative and exploration elements rather than diving too deep into combat and progression systems. To that end, The Chinese Room has created a streamlined control scheme. There will be four active abilities. Dodging an attack is a defensive move by default, but if done in the direction of a character attacking at close range, it will counter-attack, stunning the opponent for a short time.

The third developer diary will be released in early February and will focus on the World of Darkness. Gameplay for Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 will be revealed next week, with a release for PlayStation 5, Xbox and PC in the fall.

Source: WCCFTech