It's fair to say that the development of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 has been dogged by setbacks, technical issues and internal politics, to the point that the original developer, Hardsuit Labs, was thrown off the project following several high-profile departures, including writer Brian Mitsoda, who worked on the original Bloodlines. The good news is that the game isn't dead in the water just yet, with developer The Chinese Room stepping in to rebuild the game from scratch.

The Chinese Room are most well known for developing Everybody's Gone to the Rapture and Dear Esther, and is promising the rebuilt game will include different gameplay mechanics and overhauled RPG systems.

How much of Hardsuit's original work will remain in this new version remains to be seen, but it seems like very little, if anything, has carried over into this new announcement trailer, except perhaps the logo - although Seattle will remain as the setting for the game, and much of the level design and some artwork will apparently be retained.

Much will change, however, with the gameplay and RPG mechanics being completely different from the Hardsuit version. There will also be a completely different protagonist, instead of the "thin blood" vampire that Hardsuit had planned. It seems that there will be some significant differences narratively, with this game standing alone rather than being a storyline sequel to the original Bloodlines.

Instead, you'll play as an "Elder" vampire, who reawakens after a long period of time (and, based on their Elder status, is at least 300 years old) - it sounds like the character will be a little more set in stone compared to the original plan, but apparently, players will still be able to customise their character and roleplay.

Finally, the release is scheduled for Fall 2024, a little over a year away. Presumably, the game has been in development for quite some time now, but it still seems like an ambitious release target to me. We'll be sure to post any news as we learn more about the game over the next 12 months.