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Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines

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Multiplayer Mode#

The game was originally intended to ship with multiplayer features which never saw the light of day. After it became clear to the developers that such a feature would be impossible to prepare for the game's release, it was finalized single player only, with the intent to later implement the multiplayer features in a patch. The game sold poorly and the developer went bankrupt shortly thereafter. Plenty of code is left over from the early phases of multiplayer development. While little of it is completely functional, commands referencing multiplayer functions can be seen by enabling the console and pressing ~ tilde. Mods have been released to restore minimal functionality to the multiplayer component.

Unused Character Stats#

Disciplines#

  • Bloodheal: This discipline increases the player's health regeneration rate.
  • Blood Theft: This discipline is an alternative to the Blood Salvo.
  • Voice of Bedlam: This discipline is an alternative to Bedlam.
  • Command and Sleep: These disciplines are alternatives to Trance.

Skills#

  • Occult: Needed to use occult powerups. Failure descriptions are all that remains.
  • Animal Ken: Another unused skill that would have depicted behaviour of animals towards the player.
  • Athletics: Another unused skill that would have increased the player's running speed and jumping feat.

Feats#

  • Jumping: Another unused feat used to set the jumping power of the player.
  • Throwing: Another unused feat used to set the accuracy of thrown weapons.
  • Animal Friendship: Another unused feat connected to the Animal Ken skill.

Histories#

  • Player history: Used to determine the background of the player character before becoming a vampire resulting in a different set of starting points, and/or bonuses and penalties.

Unused Animations#

There are thirdperson animations for hacking computers, picking locks, bomb placing and keypad hacking. These events only happen in first-person, even when you are in third-person mode.

Unused UI#

An early version of the game's UI appears as an Easter egg in the Santa Monica (Beachhouse) level. A television in the Beach House displays a screenshot from an early build of the game with an ankh-shaped health meter in the bottom left corner, an ammo meter in the bottom right, and blood points represented as a row of red drops across the top of the screen. This television also appears in the Hollywood (Internet Cafe) level.

Unused Levels#

  • The Public Library was cut early in development.
  • The Hallowbrook atrium was hinted at by in-game info.
  • The Malkavian Maze was visible in beta screenshots.
  • The Warren's Shortcut was hinted at by beta screenshots.

Unused Santa Monica Areas#

The Santa Monica bus stop maps mention a Smoke Shop and a Coffee Shop. These buildings are still in the game, but you can't enter them.

Revised Maps#

Layouts were sketched for revised versions of Santa Monica, Downtown, Hollywood and Chinatown based on feedback from testers. The revised levels were more compact, and intended to be easier to navigate and easier to hunt in. Only the revised version of Santa Monica was completed in time for release. Beta videos and screenshots show several differently-looking hub level areas, probably exclusively made for the two E3 demos.

Unused Dialogue#

Taxi Driver#

The taxi driver in the game only says one line ("Where to?"). In the game files he has a total of 4 lines, 3 going unused.

Regional Differences#

The European release of Bloodlines has a slight alteration to the game's intro, making the camera cut from the sheriff executing your sire to the gathered crowd happen a little earlier. The rest of the game is uncensored.