Paradox deputy CEO Mattias Lilja says The Chinese Room is putting its own stamp on the game.
It was a very big deal when Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 was announced in 2019, and it’s been a very big shit show ever since. Which is perhaps not inappropriate for a Bloodlines sequel—those of us who are honest about it will admit the original was a remarkable shit show in its own right—but nonetheless irritating for those of us who have been waiting patiently for 20 years for more.
Things went really sideways beginning in August 2020, when lead writer Brian Mitsoda and creative director Ka’ai Cluney were fired from developer Hardsuit Labs. At some point thereafter, senior narrative designer Cara Ellison also left the project; then it was probably delayed into 2021, then it was definitely delayed indefinitely, at which time Hardsuit was taken off the job entirely, replaced by—we found out more than two years later—The Chinese Room, best known as the studio behind Dear Esther and Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture.
