Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 (opens in new tab) could also be only a distant, fading dream, however that does not imply now we have to reside our lives disadvantaged of undead enjoyable. World of Darkness has introduced the winners of the 2022 Vampire: The Masquerade sport jam (opens in new tab), a contest between 28 video games starting from RPGs to courting sims, and you may play all of them totally free.
The primary Vampire Jam was held by Itch.io (opens in new tab) to have fun the announcement of Bloodlines 2, which got here with a lot fanfare and pleasure. Sadly, that hasn’t labored out fairly in addition to we would hoped, however the Vampire Jam has caught round, and is now an formally sanctioned World of Darkness occasion.
The latest Vampire Jam ran from October 30 to December 2, 2002, with three themes (opens in new tab) on the desk: Love Amongst Monsters, Horrors Unbound, and The Hunt and the Hunted.
The winners of the 2022 Vampire Jam get $500 every, and extra importantly can launch and monetize their video games royalty-free till September 2023 by way of the World of Darkness Unbound program. Builders may also get “launch advertising and artistic session” with the World of Darkness workforce, and promotion by way of World of Darkness social media channels.
Now the outcomes are in:
- Sundown Chronicles: Sin Metropolis Blues – An isometric RPG set in Las Vegas the place gamers start as a very contemporary vampire, slowly carving a path in the dead of night world surrounding them.
- Rat Rhapsody – A twist on a courting sim theme the place you play as a Nosferatu navigating Camarilla court docket, attempting to type alliances to search out out the reality behind your lover’s betrayal.
- Bitter Nights: Case of the Bleeding Hearts – Traditional noir meets Vampire: The Masquerade on this crime story the place you play as Malkavian investigator navigating the native politics and alliances to search out the reality in regards to the native serial killer.
Sundown Chronicles: Sin Metropolis Blues has apparent attraction as an RPG, and a Nosferatu taking part in politics has the potential for some very fascinating storytelling. My favourite of the bunch, although, needs to be Bitter Nights: Case of the Bleeding Hearts: A neo-noir Malkavian PI story could also be the perfect thought for a sport I’ve heard in ages.
(For these not aware of Vampire: The Masquerade lore, members of the Malkavian clan are uniquely perceptive and insightful, but additionally utterly insane. Enjoying as a Malkavian in Bloodlines makes for a really fascinating and surprisingly distinct expertise (opens in new tab), and bringing that kind of gameplay to a sequence of grim, gritty homicide mysteries could possibly be brilliantly deranged.)
However these three aren’t the one video games to emerge from the 2022 Vampire Jam: There have been 28 entries in all, and a number of the runners-up look very fascinating in their very own proper, together with The Outsider, Vampire Frenzy: Using the Wave, Friday Night time Speeddate, and Barbedlands—Genepil. Tons to do, in different phrases—you may see all of them at Itch.io’s Vampire: The Masquerade Jam 2022 web page (opens in new tab).
