Troika Co-Founder Reveals Details of Cut Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines Multiplayer That Was Inspired by Counter-Strike

The cult vampire RPG Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines from Troika Games was single-player at release, but during the production stage, a multiplayer mode in the spirit of Counter-Strike was planned for the project.

Image source: Steam (Lord Commander)

Troika Games co-founder and Bloodlines programmer Tim Cain first spoke about the cut network component back in the spring before last, and in a recent video he reported that he had found a design document for the project in his archive.

According to Kane, some of Troika’s multiplayer work has been preserved in the Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines code (modders are even trying to restore the mode based on it), but the studio’s concept was never implemented.

Concerned about the scope of the game’s single-player component, Activision (Bloodlines’ publisher) handed over the multiplayer work to another studio, but it was later cancelled.

The idea of ​​vampire battles and the observance of the Masquerade is reflected in the battle royale Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt (image source: Steam)

Kane himself nicknamed the cut multiplayer mode CounterBite (similar to Counter-Strike). Matches were to include two teams, Masquerade rules, and several scenarios (modes).

What else did Kane say about CounterBite:

• There were nine potential teams to choose from – the Camarilla (all available clans), seven clans from the main game, and the vampire hunters from Leopold’s New Order;
• Vampires had supernatural powers, while hunters had weapons (hammers, flamethrowers) and unique disciplines (sacred powers) at their disposal;
• The battles took place in partially crowded places, so the participants of the match were required to follow the rules of the Masquerade (to hide the existence of vampires);
• Based on the results of the rounds, players received money and experience points that could be spent on upgrading characters and buying equipment – for violating the rules of the Masquerade, fines were imposed on earnings;
• Among the available scenarios were Team Elimination (kill the opposing team), Bloodhunt (hunt a chosen player), Kine (capture and hold the other team’s people), Embrace (hunters protect three people from vampires).

Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines was released in November 2004 and, despite its poor sales, earned the right to a sequel. Bloodlines 2 is expected to be released in October on PC (Steam, EGS, GOG), PS5, Xbox Series X and S.