Oh god... I checked wikipedia and it gets even worse. After Paradox gave it to The Chinese room they apparently tossed BOTH the mechanics (which were actually based on the tabletop game) AND its core identity so they can do some kind of power fantasy where you play as an elder vampire, which is like... antithetical to how those games are supposed to play.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vampire:_The_Masquerade_%E2%80%93_Bloodlines_2#Development
Writing
During the time Hardsuit Labs was working on the game, Ellison described the story and in-game factions as influenced by the conflicts over Seattle's modern identity, between its traditional music and culture and the modern developments brought by large corporations. Mitsoda said "There's this idea of how much Seattle can change before it's no longer Seattle. So we made the factions aspects of the old and the new."[24]
As of September 2023, the plot of the game has changed significantly, with the player character now being an elder vampire.[2]
Game design
As the Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop game's fifth edition was in development alongside Bloodlines 2, some of Hardsuit Labs' ideas were adopted into the tabletop rules, including the concept of Resonances serving to provide enhancements.[31]
Since the announcement of The Chinese Room being the new developer on Bloodlines 2 at PAX West 2023, in September 2023, they kept its initial planned setting of Seattle. Sean Greaney, Paradox's VP of the World of Darkness franchise, noted that they "have been able to reuse a significant amount of art and level design" from Hardsuit's project. The Chinese Room's Studio Director Alex Skidmore clarified that they're using "a new code base with different gameplay mechanics and RPG systems."