Well, I fired up VTM Bloodlines 2 and it's...a game. That's about all I can say about it so far. The combat is fine, nothing groundbreaking and I think it's going to be get really stale and bland. The speed sort of reminds me of Vampyr (pretty sure that's gonna end up being the significantly better game both from a gameplay and roleplaying standpoint).
Speaking of roleplaying, you don't make your own character. You choose male or female, and there are very basic customization options for hair, eyes, piercings, and clothing, but you're an Elder Vampire named Phyre (pronounced "fire", holy fucking cringe). You can select your clan in the beginning (I went with Brujah), but I feel like the direct sequel (supposedly) to one of the best RPGs ever made should be a...fucking RPG. There's no stat point allocation, and the neat character sheet themed menu has been replaced with a soulless UI that looks just like every other fucking AAA action game.
So far the atmosphere of Seattle can't hold a candle to LA despite the obviously updated graphics. The AI pathing seems laughably bad. You still have street worker NPCs that you can use as blood farms, but I spent 10 minutes trying to lead one down an alleyway and he kept bumping off the walls until I just said fuck it, ate him in plain sight of other people, and fucked off to the rooftops to wait it out. Pivoting from that, violating the Masquerade does not seem dangerous or even mildly punishing in this game. In Bloodlines 1 it was a big fucking deal and you really got the sense that you fucked up. Here you just wait for your little meter to go back down while you crouch in a corner on some random roof. As long as it doesn't fill up completely, and doing that by accident seems pretty close to impossible, you have nothing to worry about.
If this was just a generic vampire action game rather than a sequel to the one of the most beloved games of all time that people have been waiting for for fucking years upon years, I think it would probably be fine. Forgettable, no shot at winning any game awards, but totally fine. But as a VTM Bloodlines game, a sequel to the first Bloodlines, and just a World of Darkness game in general, so far it just feels like bland, soulless slop that I've played 100 times before. I didn't expect anything more, but I'm still disappointed. I will keep playing, maybe the game will magically become amazing, or even just decent, but I'm not holding out any hope for that.