Bulletin: News on Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, Assassin’s Creed, Ghost of Yōtei and more!

Jump into a jam-packed bulletin where we check out the plan to fix Total War: Warhammer III, explore a potential Ghost of Yōtei DLC, uncover the Assassin’s Creed game that never was or will be, take a closer look at the new AC Mirage DLC, and sink our teeth into the recently released Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2!

Good(?) Old Assassin’s Creed

You might be wondering why there is a question mark behind the word “good” in the title. It’s not a typo, I promise. While Assassin’s Creed games are generally well-made and enjoyable, recent news about a cancelled game has sparked some complex questions. The scrapped game was supposed to take place after the Civil War, namely the Reconstruction Era. Although reactions to the news of its cancellation are mixed, the game would have closely reflected today’s racial and gender-based struggles, making its cancellation feel especially relevant. Let’s be honest, no one would mind stealthily taking out some racist KKK members. But perhaps it is for the best that Ubisoft pulled the plug on this one. Not because the subject matter is unworthy, but because the current unstable political climate in some countries, coupled with the difficulties Ubisoft experienced to defend their decision to make AC Shadows‘ playable characters a woman and a black male samurai against racist and misogynistic remarks, raises concerns about whether the management team could adequately defend this game against potential backlash.

On the other hand, there is great news for AC Mirage fans. The new DLC for the game, titled Valley of Memory, drops on November 18th. Adding al-Ula to the game proved particularly difficult for the developers due to its spotty historical record, but it seems Ubisoft was able to make it work. The DLC adds more than six hours of additional gameplay, taking place before Mirage’s finale. It also introduces new quests, map regions, assassination targets and contracts, among other new additions. Ubisoft is overhauling the control scheme and parkour features with major improvements for a more enjoyable, and immersive experience. And on top of that, they made all “black box” missions replayable after completion, tools now include a new modification level, players can choose between two new (customisable) difficulty levels, and Basim can play the oud at certain locations. All in all, players have a lot to look forward to!

Bugs Are Taking Over Total War, But The Studio Has Called The Exterminators

Total War: Warhammer III is in serious trouble, but the developers have a plan! With the recent overall review on Steam being mostly negative and only a slim 22% of people being positive about the game (yikes!), it is clear that some major changes need to happen. Luckily, Creative Assembly has let players know that they have not abandoned them entirely in a recent post on their community webpage. With all the bugs and AI issues that have been happening, the game is starting to become more and more frustrating, to the dissatisfaction of fans. CA recognises that they need to fix the game and apologised to fans that they let the game get to this state. As CA explains, they inappropriately prioritised the issues they aimed to address and fix in the upcoming Update 7.0. But a reassessment made them realise the severity of the issues, which resulted in a plan of regular hotfixes over the next couple of months to get the game back to its former glory.

To make sure the new DLC, Tides of Torment, doesn’t drop before the game is back up and running to its fullest potential, CA delayed the game a second time. The new releasedate is on December 4th, but first looks at the gameplay and new content will be available from November 6th. Alongside the new DLC, the 25th Anniversary Showcase is also taking place on December 4th, revealing the future of Total War. CA, however, confirmed that the new historical and fantasy titles will not take priority over fixing Total War: Warhammer III.

And if you think that was it, think again! CA is replacing its Total War Launcher with a heavy Mod Management system. After initial testing with a group of players, they are ready to start testing with a wider group of people, which is why, from December 4th on, players can choose to launch the game with either option. Players who choose to play with the new launcher are able to give direct feedback to the developers, so that CA can get the launcher up to standard before its final release. Lastly, the studio will release information on Update 7.0’s content in the near future. The plan is extensive, but if Creative Assembly can make it all work, it is sure to get those reviews back to a positive area in no time.

Rumour Has It….

With the successful launch of Ghost of Yōtei, fans are begging Sucker Punch to release information on whether a DLC is in the works or not. Although they haven’t announced anything about additional single-player content yet, it does seem very likely that a DLC might be happening. Let me tell you why. One of the co-directors of the game, Jason Connell, has spoken openly about this exact matter. He explains that, now that the game has finally dropped, Sucker Punch is paying special attention to player’s reactions, trying to gauge what they would like to see if a DLC were to happen. Player feedback had a great effect on the additional content the studio created for Ghost of Tsushima, and many expect Sucker Punch to take a similar approach with this feedback on a potential Yōtei DLC. 

The studio seems to be nowhere near done with Atsu’s character, as they’ve already announced a co-op mode for the game called Ghost of Yōtei: Legends. The co-op mode update will be free and is dropping sometime in 2026. This, combined with Sucker Punch’s eagerness to listen to their fans (as Connell explained), increases the likelihood that the studio will release a DLC in the future. So let’s keep our fingers crossed!

In the meantime, if you can’t get enough of Ghost of Yōtei content, why not check out our latest blog post about the game!

A Masquerade Of Mixed Reviews Plagues The New Bloodlines Game

The original Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines came out over TWO decades ago. But perhaps, much like a vampire, the game won’t age and stay as good as it was when it first dropped forever? Yes and no. Although the original game is still receiving positive reviews, it is a little old school looking at this point. This may be why the developers over at The Chinese Room decided to give the franchise a breath of new life. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 dropped earlier this week on the 21st of October. In this sequel you play as the Nomad, an Elder vampire who has awoken from a century-long slumber. While a strange vampire detective’s voice haunts their mind, the Nomad has to learn how to live their undead life in 21st-century Seattle. The player will switch between the eyes of the Nomad and the detective, known as Fabien, to protect the world from an open supernatural war and investigate the century-old cold case that set everything in motion.

It sounds like a great addition to the franchise, right? Unfortunately, player’s haven’t received the game with the same type of positivity as its predecesssor (or Elder, *wink wink*). As it stands, Bloodlines 2 only has a 56% positive rating on Steam. Players have complained that the game is too different from the original and that it is a sequel in name only. According to them the game severely lacks mechanics such as a skill tree, and has little to no inventory or weapons. However, as I previously stated, the positive reviews take the win with a small 6% extra. Although the positive reviews do admit that it probably would have done better under a different name (perhaps leaving out the Bloodlines part), and that it is not an RPG (as advertised), it is still incredibly enjoyable and has good visuals and audio. Let’s hope the game finds its audience now that The Chinese Room has unleashed it upon the general public.