New Bloodlines 2 Valentine's update adds enemy loot and the customization we asked for, but I'm not sure it's enough

As romance lingers in the air, a Vampire the Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 update has landed to celebrate Valentine’s Day. The new patch answers requests for enemy loot, giving you more reasons to engage with hostiles in the vampire game, and in doing so introduces another way to get your hands on resonant blood. It also ramps up the character customization options, including facial hair options and the ability to dress up as Anarch favorite Damsel. But is it enough to spark the flame of love once more?

Bloodlines 2 wasn’t the dream comeback anyone was hoping for. Whether it’s publisher Paradox taking the blame for a $37 million write-down on its development costs following underwhelming sales, or our own staff superfan Lauren handing it a grim 5/10 score in her review, the sequel misses the magic that made the original shine despite its many flaws. Still, hope springs eternal, and continued updates and fixes are addressing some of the key complaints of the Vampire the Masquerade crowd.

The new Bloodlines 2 Valentine’s update is live right now, and its biggest present is the introduction of loot drops for rooftop enemies across Seattle. Previously, there was little benefit to engaging with these foes, but now they’ll carry a range of elixirs and blood bags on their person. While you can simply kill them and take it from their corpse, the items will actually be visible on their waist, letting you surreptitiously pickpocket them if you wish.

As for those blood bags, they’re specifically Resonant Blood Bags – a new item type that you’ll find most frequently being carried by Anarch vampires and their Ghouls across Seattle’s rooftops. Grab one and you’ll earn 100 points of the respective blood resonance (melancholic, sanguine, or choleric), giving you another way to earn what you need to unlock abilities you’re after from clan trainers.

If you’re starting a new character, or just want to spruce up your existing look, the Valentine’s customization overhaul includes a total of seven hair options, eight makeup looks, four eye colors, and seven accessories. Among this last category you’ll find three facial hair designs – a mustache with soul patch, an unshaven light beard, and a more defined mustache with chinstrap.

Also among the options are various hats, including the signature ‘beret with red hair’ combo of Damsel, a returning favorite from the first Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. As an extra bonus, you can now rotate your character on the customization screen – a small touch, for sure, but one I’ll always welcome when trying to get my creations spot-on.

The Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2 Valentine’s update is live now. You can read through the full patch notes courtesy of The Chinese Room and Paradox Interactive, for a complete rundown of changes.

Keep an eye out for performance improvements, including a shader compilation fix that should make the process “90x faster.” Numerous ability descriptions have been updated to make them more useful, you can now pull up the ‘load game’ option via the pause menu, and there are a range of bug fixes as well. If Bloodlines 2 left you wanting, what’s here may not be enough to reignite that spark, but every small step is welcome.