Is Bloodhunt The Next Fortnite, Or Just Another Hyper Scape?
If there's one thing that's for sure in 2022, it's that the blood is still pumping through the veins of the battle royale community. It's the genre that kept us going through the pandemic, as day after day, we'd jump off the Battle Bus, parachute out of a plane, or leap from the dropship. Big hitters like Fortnite are still topping the charts, but the question is, when will the bubble burst?
Sadly, not every new battle royale upstart can be the "next" Fortnite or Call of Duty: Warzone, meaning these repeated claims from developers that "X will be the next X" usually leave them with egg on their faces. Then again, there's one 2022 title that's hungry for blood, as Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt lurks in the shadows and gets ready to unfurl its wings.
What Is Bloodhunt?
Click to enlargeComing to PC and PS5, Bloodhunt bleeds together the genres of Paradox Interactive's Vampire RPGs and the ever-growing popularity of battle royale games. Taking a bite out of the competition, Bloodhunt takes gamers to the blood-soaked streets of a modern Prague. Here, various clans of vampires are pitted against each other in a third-person shooter that's free-to-play.
It's all pretty standard battle royale fodder, with an engaging story hoping to draw you in. In Bloodhunt, you "use your supernatural powers to hunt and outsmart your rivals and Inquisition soldiers." As well as each of the Brujah, Nosferatu, Toreador, and Venture clans having their own unique abilities, it's further refined by your individual character class. This alone sounds like someone has merged Fortnite with Elden Ring.
When it comes to your vampiric abilities they're more passive like turning into a cloud of mist or blinding enemies, while combat is also broken up by a mix of far-off gunplay and close-up fights. You can either go it alone as a solitary vamp in Ranked, or team up with friends for your classic co-op battle royale experience. Following an Early Access release in 2021, the full game is poised to break free from the crypt and sink its fangs into the genre.
How Bloodhunt Can Be The Next Fortnite?
Click to enlargeBloodhunt is a well-timed title to jump onto the continued hype train for battle royale games. Despite complaints Fortnite and Warzone are dead games, there's no escaping their popularity and the fact there are still millions who play every day. Better yet, Bloodhunt has snuck up on the outside for an imminent release. Due out on April 27, it means there isn't long to wait at all.
Bloodhunt's latest post also points out a tonne of features that will be exclusive to the new-gen version. Namely, Sharkmob is making use of the PS5's spatial audio to let you pinpoint exactly where the enemy is, based on their noise. Elsewhere, there's the expected optimisation of adaptive triggers and vibrations. We've seen features like this used in Fortnite, but with Bloodhunt being largely aimed at PS5 players, it's front and centre here.
Also, for critiques that Fortnite and its locales don't exactly make for the most realistic experience. Most of us are too busy trying to avoid a hail of bullets to notice the architecture around us, but still, Bloodhunt has tried to deliver a faithful recreation of Prague. With over 10,000 scans capturing the city at both street and rooftop level, Bloodhunt has also put an emphasis on vertical gameplay to mix things up.
What If Bloodhunt Is The Next Hyper Scape?
Click to enlargeThe problem is, the big three of Fortnite, Warzone, and Apex Legends all have their own overarching stories. The expansive World of Darkness lore gives us plenty to dive deep into, but part of what keeps us coming back to all of the above is the massive overhaul we see with each season.
Added to this, there's a lot to be said for Fortnite's (and to a lesser degree Warzone's) pop culture crossovers. Away from unique creations like the Foundation, Slone, and Fishstick, we part with our real-world money to swap V-Bucks for skins honouring everyone from Batman to Bruno Mars, Thanos to Kratos. The CoDverse has also joined in on the fun with the likes of its '80s action heroes and Attack on Titan skins. Unless Bloodhunt is planning a Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Morbius, or Blade collaboration, the same won't work.
Even Apex Legends keep things fresh with its impressive roster of Legends and tied into a much wider world thanks to their various origin stories and complicated lives that intertwine with each other. It's a similar tactic to what Blizzard did to make Overwatch a hero of the hero shooters. With Bloodhunt, we're not sure how long it will be before we get bored of flipping between various vampires and hunters.
Haven't we heard all this before though? In 2020, Ubisoft launched Hyper Scape as its own entry to the crowded BR scene. Hyper Scape tried to push its head above the crowd with Twitch integration and the return of dead players as "echoes" to help their teammates, but something was off. Less than two years later, it pulled the plug on this sci-fi spectacle. If a company with the might of Ubisoft can't make battle royale work, then can a niche vampire escapade with tenuous ties to the Masquerade series crack the code? Only time will tell whether Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt is our gaming answer to Dracula or its lifeblood has been drained before we've even creaked open the coffin.
