Nightborn has been inspired by many great works of media, including literature, such as Bram Stoker's Dracula and Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles, movies, such as Lost Boys and Sinners, and video games, such as Fallout: New Vegas and Cyberpunk 2077. However, there is a video game which Nightborn takes a more apparent inspiration from and that is Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines.
A 2004 Cult Classic
Bloodlines is based on the Vampire: The Masquerade Roleplaying Game by White Wolf Entertainment. Bloodlines is known for its clever interpretation of the setting, memorable characters, immersive story, and replayability. The game came out in a buggy state, and through support from the community, mainly through the Unofficial Patch, Bloodlines is still played and re-played today.
Sequel Coming Soon
Recently before this was written, The Chinese Room and White Wolf released the Pre-Order Trailer for their official sequel to Bloodlines, Bloodlines 2. It is great to see more vampire games being made, the more the better. Like Bloodlines 2, Nightborn has also taken inspiration from Bloodlines, so it is quite interesting how different our interpretations and design choices ended up.
Inspirations
Bloodlines brought a Dark Gothic Los Angeles to the forefront as almost a character in its own right. Nightborn aims to do something similar with New Orleans, drawing out the mood and distinct feel of the Crescent City.
As is RPG tradition, Nightborn has several "classes" called Lineages. A Lineage is the family of Vampires your descend from. Each Lineage has their own Unique combinations of powers, setting them apart and adding to replayability. All 10 Lineages will be available with the base game, no additional paywall. Choices matter in Nightborn. Bloodlines had some of the best Roleplaying ever, with various ways to solve quests or endings based on player decisions. Nightborn learned from this and quests are reactive with multiple ways to resolve them.
In Nightborn, many of the hallmarks of an RPG, such as an inventory system or shops are similar to those found in Bloodlines, though what you can buy there I'll leave somewhat a mystery for now. Don't worry, we will have as many micro-transactions as the original Bloodlines; meaning none.
Divergence
Nightborn is based on its own original setting. While Vampire: The Masquerade is a titan in the Vampire landscape, the differences in lore and rules of the worlds are quite vast.
Nightborn does not tie sanity to a single type the way Masquerade does with their Malkavian Clan. Though sanity is something all Nightborn Vampires must grapple with, especially if they drink the blood of their own kind.
Nightborn will handle in its own unique way. The in-game systems and the more meta RPG systems are originals crafted for this game, specifically.
What do you think about this first inspiration for Nightborn? What would you like to see from Bloodlines integrated into Nightborn, and what would you like to Nightborn to avoid or innovate on? Feel free to comment and discuss.