Bloodlines 2 Won’t Lock Clans Behind Paywall After Fan Backlash

The controversy surrounding the DLC clans in the upcoming Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is finally over. The studio behind the upcoming game has confirmed that it is walking back its plans to lock two clans behind a paywall after receiving lots of “feedback,” aka people yelled at them online for a while.

Last month, Bloodlines 2 devs The Chinese Room and publisher Paradox announced at Gamescom ONL that the long-awaited vampire RPG sequel would finally arrive on PC and consoles in October. After a lengthy and messy development cycle that involved multiple studios and delays, a lot of fans were just happy that Bloodlines 2 was actually, for real, coming out.  But then folks discovered that two of the game’s six vampire clans, which essentially act as your class, were locked behind a $30 paywall. People got mad, a lot of negative headlines were posted, and about a week later, on August 27, the devs announced they were going to make some tweaks to the DLC plans. And now we know what that means: All six clans are included in the base game.

On September 17, in the YouTube description of a new Bloodlines 2 gameplay overview trailer, the executive producer on the game thanked fans for the “frank feedback” about the game’s Premium Edition DLC before confirming that none of the clans would be locked behind a day-one DLC paywall. He also praised the devs for helping create two new story packs that will now be included in the Premium Edition.

“Thanks to our community for the frank feedback on Bloodlines 2 and the Premium Edition,” said Bloodlines 2 executive producer Marco Behrmann. “That feedback made it clear: Lasombra and Toreador belong in the base game, so that is what we are doing. We’d also like to thank The Chinese Room for their quick turnaround on the concepts for the post-launch Story Packs. We’re constantly impressed by their creativity and skill in weaving enticing narrative threads that expand on the main story in Bloodlines 2.”

The two new story packs are: “Loose Cannon“ (Brujah Sheriff Benny’s story) and “The Flower & The Flame” (Toreador Primogen Ysabella’s path). The plan is for this DLC, which replaces the missing paid access to clans, to launch in 2026. And so ends the Bloodlines 2 DLC saga. Hopefully, after all of this and all the years of waiting, the game is worth it all. We’ll find out when Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 launches on Xbox, PS5, and PC on October 21.