Hunt or be hunted.
"Kill some Anarchs for me next time you're out there."
— Kirill, Brujah Primogen
Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodhunt (not to be confused with Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines) is a game by Sharkmob, set in the newest iteration of the World of Darkness. Despite the setting's prevalence for subtlety and intrigue, this game is a free-to-play battle royale. The game was released as an early access title in September 2021, before fully releasing on April 27th, 2022.
Players choose a character from a vampiric clan and battle each other on the streets and rooftops of nocturnal Prague. Setting the game apart from its many competitors is the dark gothic setting, the fast-paced vertical gameplay and the consumption of blood as a means to both heal and improve the skills of the characters. Players can form coteries of three or go up against their opponents in solo mode. Meanwhile, mortal Vampire Hunters have learned about the bloodsuckers in their midsts and come to crash the party, both with a deadly red gas (which marks the border of the zone the players engage in) and with secured areas in which NPC guards defend weapons and other valuable loot.
As usual for battle royale games, the last player standing wins the game. Several factors contribute to the player gaining experience, which is used to unlock clothing, body modifications, banners and other cosmetic elements in the Battle Pass.
This game contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: A common occurrence between vampires and this game is no exception.
- Kirill made his progeny Sarah Esser feel powerless and was furious when she left him to join the Anarchs. When Esser returns to Prague for the convention, she notes that Kirill watches her with the same look he sports just before hunting...
- Custos' childe René feels as if kept in a cage - or maybe it is more than a feeling. When he falls in love with an Anarch named Max, Custos intervenes and drives him to commit suicide.
René: I will not be caged any longer. - Border Patrol: Aside from the red mist serving as the standard one for battle royale games, if the player tries to jump into the water, they will be swallowed by a Threatening Shark snatching them in midair.
- Cannot Cross Running Water: Player characters die instantly if they come into contact with running water. Thankfully, the map is set in the Old Town of Prague, with the Vltava river forming only the northwestern border of the map.
- Council of Vampires: Prince Markus of Prague has invited both the freedom-loving Anarchs and high-ranking members of his own sect, the Camarilla, to set aside their difference in the face of a new inquisition. Then said inquisition attacks the convention and everything goes south. The surviving Camarilla elders blame the Anarchs and call upon the younger vampires to fight them in the streets...
- Company Cameo: Should the player die to a shark, the in-game kill notification will be credited to Sharkmob, the developer team of the game.
- Dark Secret: As befitting the setting, a multitude of these is alluded to in the lore.
- Omnis was blackmailed by Liraz, Seneschal of Prague, with information regarding his generation.
- Dual Wielding: Some of the weapons that the player can find, decreasing accuracy in favor of higher damage. This ranges from having Guns Akimbo with a pair of pistols or shotguns, having two crossbows, or dual-wielding a pair of daggers or swords.
- Dragon-in-Chief: When Prince Markus is missing and presumed dead, Kirill assumes the mantle of internim Prince and attempts to make the position permanent. This is a bad thing because he's a fanatical enemy of Anarchs. It also fails because Em takes over soon after.
- Excuse Plot: Zig-zagged. There is a plot about a Second Convention of Prague being interrupted by the Second Inquisition but you have to work very hard and check online material to find it out. New players will also have no idea about what events actually occurred in the game.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Players can drink from mortals with the respective temperament and gain powers accordingly. Melancholic reduces the cooldown of your clan's active ability, phlegmatic reduces the cooldown of your archetype's active ability, sanguine increases your health regeneration and choleric increases your melee damage.
- Frozen Fashion Sense: Custos, the Gangrel keeper of Elysium, still wears the clothes of a Victorian dandy. His haircut is quite similar to that of Oscar Wilde.
- The Faceless: Omnis, the Nosferatu primogen, wears a mirrored mask that hides their face (and gender). It is unclear whether Omnis is one or several characters.
- The Ghost: Many of the other kindred of Prague, due to the chaos in the wake of the attack on the convention. Several are mentioned repeatedly in conversations with Maia, Kirill or Custos.
- Prince Markus of Prague: The Ventrue ruler of the Golden City, who is the driving force behind the second convention of Prague, ostensibly in the interest of reuniting Anarch and Camarilla kindred. Eventually confirmed to have been Killed Off for Real.
- Em, the childe of Prince Marcus, an Arms Dealer. Averted when they show up and assume the Princedom.
- Quilla, a Camarilla Tremere, who seems to be quite proficient with magic and the Scourge Blades.
- Sascha Esser, Anarch embassador and disowned childe of Kirill the Brujah Primogen.
- Heal It with Blood: In many different varieties. Blood bags quickly restore about half the player's health, but take time to consume. Treated blood in syringes slowly heals over time, but allows for free movement. Drinking from mortals heals a player completely, but leaves them vulnerable during consumption. Taking another players (or an inquisition guard's) lifeblood not only heals all wounds, but also increases the player's supernatural power.
- Hollywood Beauty Standards: Played straight with Maia, the Toreador Primogen, who used to be an actress.
- Hunter of Monsters: The Second Inquisition, called the Entity in-game, has set up checkpoints throughout the city in order to try to exterminate the remaining Kindred.
- Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: A gameplay mechanic. If a player performs certain actions (such as killing a mortal or drinking blood in front of one), a Blood Hunt will start. For a few seconds, that player is outlined in red to nearby enemy players until the timer runs out, putting them and their team at risk of being hunted down by other players.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Kirill mentions meeting an "important man" in Vienna and taking "sessions" with him, which quite improve his disposition until he is being asked about his childhood. Then, being advised to let out his anger, he does just that, shooting a big F on the man's wall.
- Poor Communication Kills: The reason the Anarchs and Camarilla are fighting is due to the Second Inquisition attacking and both sides blaming the other for it happening.
- The Power of Blood: Drinking different kinds of blood gives you different kinds of advantages. Drinking vampire blood increases the amount of advantages you can get.
- Rightful King Return: Em is the childe of Prince Markus and assumes the Princedom away from Kirill after only a few nights, in-universe, of him being the internim Prince. Most people are grateful and assume she's going to try to make a peace treaty.
- The Spymaster: Omnis, the Nosferatu Primogen who was added to the game with the release of the Act 2 patch.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Apparently, Kirill likes to go "bird hunting" with a minigun. Although the birds in question seem to have rotor blades...
- Third-Person Person: Omnis refers to themselves this way.Omnis: Omnis sees you.
- Our Vampires Are Different: En par with the setting there are 13 main clans of vampires, as well as a multitude of smaller clans. Players can only play three of the at the moment, though: The belligerent Brujah, the monstrous and sneaky Nosferatu as well as the passionate Toreador. The developers have announced the powerbrokering Ventrue as the next playable clan
. The Gangrel have one representative in Custos, Keeper of the Elysium, although he is rather different from the rest of his family. - Vein-o-Vision: Allows players to see different types of blood in humans, with the heart and the arterial network clearly visible before a black-and-white background. It also highlights loot and enemy players.
