“We Can Have Both” - Bloodhunt’s Producer David Sirland On Graphics Over Gameplay

thegamer.com:

When I sat down with David Sirland, producer on Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt, there’s an obvious question that the studio’s likely been asked plenty of times since the game’s initial reveal - what’s it like taking something like Vampire: The Masquerade, an IP that’s known for stealth and secrecy, and trying to turn it into a battle royale?

“We have to take care in this world as there are set rules, and there are certain things that are not okay, such as using certain types of magic,” Sirland explains. For example, something like a magician wouldn’t fit, so we have to find ways to make it work and get around those facts so that it can fit the game and its mechanics”.

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Although Bloodhunt started off with plenty of raised eyebrows thanks to its unusual use of an IP, Sirland notes that the game has since been "embraced by the community to the point where it feels like we have a place". Considering this reputation, and that Bloodhunt has been in development since 2017, around the same time that Fortnite first started getting popular and reached mainstream eyes, it might be surprising to learn that Bloodhunt wasn’t always a battle royale, although it’s clear from talking to the team that it always wanted to take the IP in a more action-packed direction.

“Very early on [battle royales] weren’t really a thing,” Sirland explains. “There were other ‘King of the Hill’ type modes, there was the whole Highlander fight to be number one type deal, which then became the battle royale genre. It obviously evolved as there were other games popping up at the same time. But something of that style, with one winner above all, was always the plan.”

Coming into the genre many years