Vampire: Bloodlines history and how to play it today

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines came out for Windows on November 16, 2004, developed by Troika Games and published by Activision. It shared its release day with Valve's Half-Life 2 and sold about 72,000 copies at launch. Troika closed on February 24, 2005. Volunteers have patched the game since shortly after its launch.

Troika built Bloodlines on an engine that was not finished

Troika was founded in 1998 by Tim Cain, Leonard Boyarsky and Jason Anderson, who had worked on the Fallout sequel at Interplay. Work on Bloodlines began in November 2001 with a team of 32. Activision suggested building on the license behind the earlier Vampire: The Masquerade - Redemption. Troika researched White Wolf's tabletop setting itself and made an indirect sequel instead.

The team chose Valve's Source engine largely for its facial animation and lip-sync. Source was still in development alongside Bloodlines and Half-Life 2. Troika could ask one support representative and a few busy engineers. Answers came slowly. The game grew to over 150 characters with 3,000 unique animations.

Activision sent producer David Mullich to the Irvine studio in spring 2003. He found few levels running. Vampire powers and weapon mechanics were designed late and broke sections already finished. Some work was redone two or three times. His commute from Santa Clarita was about 75 miles each way and could take four hours.

Activision set a completion deadline of September 15, 2004 and held the release until after Half-Life 2. Multiplayer was dropped, along with the playable Activision games in the amusement arcade. Anderson blamed Activision for releasing the game without enough time to test and polish it. Boyarsky defended the publisher. Boyarsky later called the action-heavy feel Troika reached for with Source a "misguided instinct" and said he would hold on to "hardcore RPG elements."

Bloodlines sold 72,000 copies and Troika closed in February 2005

The first run earned about $3.4 million, less than Troika's earlier Arcanum and The Temple of Elemental Evil. The game it launched against, Half-Life 2, had sold 6.5 million copies by 2008. Reviewers disliked the bugs and the combat missions late in the game. Metacritic gives it 80 out of 100 from 61 reviews. Eurogamer wrote that "no other game has come close."

In 2004 Troika tried and failed to find a publisher for a post-apocalyptic RPG. Cain said Fallout 3 went to Bethesda, who outbid them. Troika laid off staff in late 2004 and closed on February 24, 2005.

The Unofficial Patch restored what Troika cut

Fans started patching soon after launch. A modder named Dan Upright made an early patch, and the analytical chemist Werner Spahl, who posts as Wesp5, continued from version 1.2 with Upright's permission. Spahl restored removed and incomplete content. Some of it uses fan-made voice acting and models. Fans built whole levels as well.

The patch comes in two forms: a basic fix and a "Plus" version with the restored material. GOG says the project fixes thousands of bugs, restores cut quests, characters, endings and music, and adds widescreen support. The 11.1 update in March 2022 put back cut items, among them a film canister and a blood vial. It also fixed dialogue bugs.

Play

Character creation starts with one of seven clans

Players choose one of seven clans: Brujah, Toreador, Malkavian, Ventrue, Nosferatu, Tremere or Gangrel. Clans change bonuses and dialogue options: Toreadors get bonuses for seduction and persuasion, and Malkavians get different dialogue. You can spend points yourself, or answer a set of questions and let the game build the character. Each ability goes from zero to five. Experience comes from quests, items and secret paths, not from kills.

How to play Bloodlines today

On October 23, 2026, Steam sold the game for €19.99, Windows only. Its official minimum spec still lists Windows 98 to XP and 384 MB of RAM. Its user reviews are 94 percent positive across more than 10,000 English reviews. GOG sells it too, and the GOG release includes the basic Unofficial Patch. The Plus patch is a separate free download that needs the base game. The GOG mod package installs it with one click.

The sequel, Bloodlines 2, came out on October 21, 2025. The Chinese Room developed it and Paradox published it. Hardsuit Labs started it, and after writer Brian Mitsoda and creative director Ka'ai Cluney left in 2020, the Chinese Room replaced Hardsuit in 2021.

Questions people ask

Is Bloodlines 2 on GOG?

Yes. GOG sells it DRM-free for Windows, and it is also on Steam.

Who can you romance in Vampire: The Masquerade?

The Voerman sisters, Jeanette and Therese, come closest. In a Steam thread, Wesp5 pointed to two hidden variables, Jeanette_Seduce and Therese_Seduce, and said both need to be at least 4. The Seduction stat has nothing to do with them.

Who is the oldest vampire in Bloodlines?

The plot turns on one that never shows up. The ship Elizabeth Dane carries an Ankaran sarcophagus that is rumored to hold an Antediluvian, one of the oldest and most powerful vampires in the setting.

Is Bloodlines canon to L.A. by Night?

Yes. White Wolf accepted the story as canon, and the game is a prequel to the Time of Judgment novels. L.A. by Night, an actual-play web series that ran from 2018 to 2021, is set after Bloodlines and uses its characters.

Is the Unofficial Patch free?

Yes. GOG lists it as a free mod that requires the base game.