Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt is a vampiric take on the battle royale genre. This new game uses the bloodthirsty universe of the 1991 tabletop RPG, created by Mark Rein-Hagen, and which has also been featured in novels and the video game adaptations Vampire: The Masquerade and its numerous sequels.
Our lead news editor George Foster had a chance to play a preview of this new battle royale at the developer's studios in Malmö, Sweden, and he was impressed. "I can confidently say that it’s a surprisingly great battle royale with a clear reverence for its source material, stunning presentation, and smart tweaks to the formula that help to set it apart from the likes of Fortnite and PUBG", he says.
Bloodhunt is set in present day Prague with different vampire factions at war with each other while gameplay features guns and parkour. "Being set in Prague immediately sets Bloodhunt apart from the rest of the pack", says our previewer. "Rather than having one huge map set across several biomes, you’ve instead got one singular area that feels much more densely packed with an increased focus on verticality compared to others in the genre."
In the concept trailer above, it's clear that the developer - Sharkmob - has paid close attention to the atmospherics of both the city of Prague and Vampire: The Masquerade. In a dense rain we see the beautifully cobbled streets of the Czech capital and a hooded woman in a red coat. Figures lurk in the shadows watching her from corners and from rooftops. It appears she's going to be attacked. But there's a twist in the tale. It's stylish stuff and Bloodhunt could be a seriously intriguing take on the battle royale genre, which has been a little stale.
It's certainly refreshing to see new takes on the genre when the likes of Fortnite and PUBG are still so dominant. The Chinese weapons slasher Bladepoint: Naraka is one moderately successful battle royale to have surfaced in the past couple years, but with Bloodhunt perhaps more spooky and mature themes could emerge from the garish shadows of Epic's great battle royale title.