Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt is a big departure for the franchise. White Wolf Publishing's gritty gothic-punk series started as a tabletop role-playing game, and most video game adaptations follow in that legacy, whether it's a full-fledged immersive sim RPG or a simple mobile text adventure.
With Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt, the developer Sharkmob is eschewing a story-based experience for a multiplayer battle royale game, one which re-imagines each character class as a hero shooter. It's a risky move, but it's one not taken lightly. The developer hired Battlefield Producer David Sirland, and it has been testing the game in early access since September 7th, 2021.
Now, after seven months of early access, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt is finally reaching a full 1.0 release. The time that players can access it, however, varies depending on the platform and previous ownership.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt's Release Times
The game will be available on PC and PS5. For players that have both, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt also offers cross-play, so they don't have to worry about cutting themselves off from half the community.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt's PS5 version does offer haptic feedback and advanced 3d audio engineering, but it shouldn't make a huge competitive difference. One thing that does have a small difference, however, is when each platform gets the game.
The game unlocks on PS5 at 1:00 AM PST, 4:00 AM EST, or 9:00 AM BST. The PC version also gets updated to 1.0 at that time, provided that the player already owns the early access version. In that case, it's a free update. If the player doesn't have the early access version and is buying it now, then they have to wait eight hours longer, at 9:00 AM PST, 12:00 PM EST, or 5:00 PM BST.
There are a few things the player can do while they wait. The game has been well explored in its early access state, so there are already guides for Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt's character classes and mechanics. A bit of foreknowledge can be helpful in a player's first few matches.
Aside from that, they can spend the time sampling previous games in the World of Darkness franchise, such as Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, or one of the series' several mobile games. Ideally, Bloodhunt will be a way for players who don't normally play single-player story games to experience this world, so there's no harm in trying it ahead of schedule.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt is available for PC and PS5.