This week I got the opportunity to sit down with the bulk of the Troika and Activision teams and get my hands on one of the most anticipated titles this holiday season, Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Bloodlines is the follow-up to the Nihilist-developed title Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption, released in June of 2000. Redemption was a great attempt at replicating the White Wolf universe that was mired in confusing and often difficult to control combat and a thin storyline that suffered from its own limitations. Activision turned to storyline powerhouse Troika to remedy the storyline issue and to Valve to pick up a little secret engine called Source. Three years have passed since then, and we are rapidly approaching the release of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. What does 3 years of development under one the biggest publishers around, using the hottest graphic engine known to man, a solid pen and paper RPG license, and one of the best storytelling developers out there get you? Well, if the two and a half hours of playtime that I got are any indication you’ll get plenty of late nights and a true White Wolf Experience on your PC.