Bloodlines 2 devs just announced that they will be refunding players’ pre-orders following the immense backlash leveled at the Shadow & Silk DLC reveal. Read on to learn more about the announcement and how fans are reacting to the news.
Bloodlines 2 Acknowledges Fans’ Frustrations About Shadow & Silk
PSN Pre-Orders Will Be Fully Refunded on September 8, 2025
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 publisher Paradox Interactive will be sending out refunds to players who have pre-ordered the upcoming supernatural action RPG. The decision was made in response to the overwhelming critiques against the decision to lock the Toreador and Lasombra clans behind a paywall.
The official Bloodlines 2 Twitter (X) account posted the announcement on September 6, stating that fans who pre-ordered the game via the PlayStation Store will be refunded on September 8. Should they wish to pre-order again, they may continue to do so until the October 21 launch. Though they weren’t specified in the post, players who pre-ordered the game on Steam or the Xbox Store and are unaware of their store policies can rest assured that they can refund the game at any time.
Priced at $21.99, the Shadows & Silk DLC includes the Toreador and Lasombra clans and their corresponding outfits and playstyles. Fans balked at the notion of paying for clans that they deemed crucial to the Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines experience and quickly criticized Paradox for the move.
Vampire Clans in Bloodlines are commonly compared to "classes" in most RPGs. The exclusion of the clans—especially the Toreador Clan—is tantamount to slashing a core part of the gameplay and story that has attracted a cult following for both the original tabletop game and the 2004 CRPG release.
Bloodlines 2 developer The Chinese Room explained in an interview with Rock Paper Shotgun that the Toreador and Lasombra clans were simply created outside of the original scope The Chinese Room intended for the Bloodlines sequel, which is why they were added in as DLC. The game’s Narrative Director, Ian Thomas, stated plainly that Bloodlines 2 had been delayed even further to "fatten it out into something that we feel does land where the players want it."
"Big Changes" Are Coming, According to Devs
In the same Twitter (X) post, the devs also promised that they are making big "adjustments" to the game. No further details have been revealed nor hinted at as of yet, but the Bloodlines 2 team will be coming forward with the aforementioned adjustments on September 17. This has led some fans on Reddit to speculate that Paradox will roll back the Day 1 Shadows & Silk DLC and add both clans to the base game.
However, not everyone is optimistic about this. Other Redditors believe that Paradox and developer The Chinese Room might throw in additional content to further justify the existence of the DLC. Some believe that the two clans might come in as a pre-order bonus and as post-launch paid content for those who did not pre-order the game.
The mounting number of speculations has only revealed fans’ enduring disappointment with the game. Now that the Bloodlines 2 team has made it clear that they are implementing even more changes, some fear that even after six years of delays, Paradox will once again decide to push back the game’s release.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is set to release on October 21, 2025, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. If you want to learn more about the upcoming game, check out the link in the article below.
Source:
Twitter/X: Refund Announcement
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 Shadow & Silk DLC
Reddit: Refund Discussion on r/Games
Reddit: Refund Discussion on r/PCGaming
The Chinese Room defend Bloodlines 2's paywalled vampire clans: we have been expanding it from where we originally planned to land it
