Sharkmob, a game developing studio founded in 2017 and based in Malmö and London, has just announced its first game: a Vampire: The Masquerade, Battle Royale-style multiplayer action game developed on the Unreal Engine.
The announcement was relatively discreet, revealing the project through a Halloween tweet and a Sharkmob website update. A specific release date has not yet been announced, but the developer has revealed the game is scheduled for release in the latter half of 2021.
This Vampire: The Masquerade battle royale is set in Prague, and the blurb and trailer promise vertical exploration, aerial fights, the possibility of playing solo or on teams and a large array of fighting playstyles to pick from, from blades to guns to the terrifying Blood Disciplines that most vampires possess, as well as a way to progress and improve each character across battles.
The trailer contains a number of Easter Eggs for fans of the World of Darkness. The protagonist of the trailer is a Toreador -- a clan usually associated with art and love -- displaying one of the Toreador's Disciplines, Celerity. She's shown speeding past her enemies, climbing buildings and leaping over rooftops as she unleashes her blades and guns to win the battle. It's only after her enemies have fallen that she takes a breather, only to be attacked from the back by a heavily armored member of the Second Inquisition (the S.I.'s emblem appears briefly on the riot shield of the attacker.)
The city of Prague is also a very special place in the World of Darkness; it was the place where Redemption, the first Vampire: The Masquerade video game, was set-- although players only got to see it in the medieval era. The Prague of modern nights has a significant Toreador population, a Tremere chantry dating back to the Middle Ages and is coveted by both the remainder of the Sabbat and the center of Baba Yaga's Shadow Curtain machinations.
Prague's current Camarilla Prince is the Brujah ex-Justicar Carlak, a position that he took from Toreador Vasily. Carlak has established many diplomatic channels among the mortal world, but the peace of Prague is brittle at best; the Toreador are still seething from Vasily's deposition, and every other faction is on their toes about the advances of the Second Inquisition and Baba Yaga's decades-long machinations to cut Prague off from the rest of the supernatural world and dominate all Kindred. To make matters worse, Vasily established alliances with the Werewolves around the city, and with him gone there is nothing reining in their gut-deep hatred of all vampires.
The turmoil provided by the narrative makes Prague the perfect powder keg for an action-packed battle royale set in the World of Darkness.