Can You Play Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 in Third-Person Mode? Here's the Deal

If you were hoping to stalk Seattle in Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 with an over-the-shoulder camera, I have bad news: this one is locked to first-person. The team has explained why, and it is not a quick toggle situation. With launch around the corner, that is almost certainly not changing.

Quick answer: no third-person — and not at launch, either

Bloodlines 2 only supports first-person. The original game let you swap between first- and third-person, but that option did not carry over under Paradox Interactive. The developers have also said they are not sure if the game will ship with full mod support. If robust modding tools show up later, maybe someone takes a swing at a third-person camera, but officially, do not count on it.

Why there is no third-person this time

• The whole game was built around first-person from the start.
• There is no full player character model designed to be seen in gameplay.
• Showing the protagonist, Phyre, would mean building and animating everything you never see in first-person: her body, every outfit, hair, and all the combat moves.
• The levels themselves were authored for a first-person camera; a trailing camera would constantly crash into geometry or clip through walls.
• Fixing that would require reworking the maps top to bottom — basically redoing huge chunks of the game — which is not on the table this late in development.

"The game was developed to be a first person view only, which means that there is no character model to show. It was never the plan. They would have to do a huge amount of work to animate Phyre, animate every piece of clothing she wears, animate the hair, ensure that combat animations look good, etc."

- Azar, developer, on the studio forums

Could third-person appear later?

The devs say the chances are basically zero, and given the level-design issues, that tracks. There are edge-case precedents: Obsidian added a third-person viewer to Avowed late in development even though it was conceived as a first-person game. On the other hand, look at Cyberpunk 2077 — plenty of mods, but third-person never really works right because the game was not built for it. Bloodlines 2 is firmly in that second camp.

Bottom line

If you want Bloodlines 2 in third-person, you are going to be disappointed, at least for now. This one is designed as a first-person vampire RPG, full stop. If mod tools land later, someone might hack together an experimental camera, but officially, this is a first-person experience.