In Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2, one of the first choices you'll need to make is what clan you'll be repping. Today we learned a bit more about the rebellious Brujah, but also how drinking the blood of other vampire big shots lets you explore other ability trees, turning you into what I have very creatively decided to call a super vampire. 

The Chinese Room emphasises that Bloodlines 2 isn't an “ability optimization game” and doesn't expect players to pore over abilities and weigh them against each other. Straightforward is what the team is aiming for. So you'll just unlock a handful of abilities that reflect your chosen clan's style. That said, there will be opportunities to delve into other ability trees. 

As Seattle's sheriff, you'll be able to get important vampires belonging to other clans to assist you by offering up their blood, which unlocks their clan's abilities. The more they diverge from your clan's abilities, however, the higher the cost. 

The Brujah abilities all fall under the Celerity, Potence and Presence Disciplines because they're all about enhancing speed and strength, as well as controlling people. Picking something from another ability tree that falls under these umbrellas, then, will be cheaper than picking a stealthy ability from the Obfuscate Discipline, which the Brujah don't have. 

You'll also be able to unlock all the other clan perks, too, and they'll stack. So there's quite a bit of power up for grabs for a dedicated vampire. The one thing that's entirely unique to each clan, however, is their clan passive. The Chinese Room says that “you can combine features from other clans in hundreds of different ways, but your Brujah playthrough will remain unique”.

So only a Brujah vampire will have access to Brutality, a passive that enhances their attacks after enjoying a bloody snack. It doesn't seem like a huge loss if you're playing as another clan, though, because the Brujah clan perk, Pulverise, gives you the benefits of Brutality while killing enemies without feeding, and you can grab perks from other clans. Honestly, this feels a tad wonky to me, so it might be something that will be tweaked before launch later this year.

I like my RPGs meaty and full of build potential, so the very limited skillset of each clan didn't exactly thrill me—even if it's true to the original Bloodlines. Now that I know there's a lot more flexibility and potential for mixing and matching abilities, I'm a bit more excited to start developing my undead fiend.