Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines 2's first DLC drops in just a few days

Vampire: The Masquerade is in a bit of an odd spot at the moment. While the franchise is starting to show renewed signs of life with Dimension 20's new VTM chronicle, and The Chinese Room is slowly but surely fixing up the rickety Bloodlines 2, the franchise hasn't quite managed to wriggle itself out of torpor just yet. With all eyes shifting to Teyon's Hunter: The Reckoning - Deathwish, a new action-focused RPG from the dev team behind Robocop: Rogue City, Bloodlines 2 has faded into the background slightly, which some would likely argue is where it belongs.

Yet, I've been holding out hope for The Chinese Room's RPG. While I scored it a relatively meager 6/10 in my Bloodlines 2 review, my blackened, VTM-obsessed heart really wants it to bring itself back to unlife.

There's been myriad patches - most of which have largely added features that should have been in the base game - and a roadmap that confirmed that twin DLCs The Loose Cannon and The Flower and the Flame are set to drop this year. What I didn't quite expect was for Paradox to effectively shadowdrop Bloodlines 2's first DLC. Paradox, you've got my attention.

The Loose Cannon focuses primarily on former Camarilla sheriff Benny Muldoon, who, while a big personality, plays a relatively small part in the overarching BL2 narrative - Phyre, the primary protagonist, becomes sheriff pretty quickly, after all.

Playing as the rough and ready Brujah himself, The Loose Cannon adds four new questlines set between his first meeting with Phyre, and 'A Star of Cold Aspect,' which is where you eventually face off against him. It also features a deep dive into some of the events from before Phyre's time in Seattle, and explores how he weaves into Fabien's larger narrative - he does appear a few times, after all.

It looks like we'll be delving back underground into Lou's eerie, Asian-inspired pleasure palace - a zone that I'm excited to revisit as I thought it was woefully underutilized.

Benny has his own unique talents, too; he isn't an Elder, after all. Telekinesis, Glide, and Heightened Senses are out, replaced by his signature, automatic 9mm pistol (yes, you read that correctly) that features both a high-capacity magazine and a compensator. If you're not into shooting, Benny can also wield melee weapons, and his hand-to-hand combat has its own unique finishers.

In terms of traversal, Glide is substituted out for Potence discipline Soaring Leap, which you'll have to charge up in order to take to the rooftops. He's got a few unique Brujah skills, too, with Split Second - a Celerity discipline - and myriad others on offer.

To top things off, there's a brand new Benny-inspired look for Phyre, including his suit and his glasses. These can be mixed and matched with The Nomad's other outfits.

Bloodlines 2's Loose Cannon DLC drops on Monday April 27, just a few days from now. You can add it to your wishlist here. The Flower and the Flame's launch date has been also been updated to 'Summer,' with a photo mode, noir mode, and ranged combat improvements set to accompany it.

While I'm a little more interested in Ysabella's DLC (I found her a slightly more compelling character, and I'm intrigued to know why she made the choices she did), a part of me is excited to head back to Seattle and see how it's changed in the past few months.

In many ways, I hope that Bloodlines 2 can go the same way as its predecessor and become a cult classic in its own right. The Loose Cannon is hopefully a step in the road to recovery, albeit one that's maybe a little too late. Either way, as a VTM savant, I'm excited to sink my fangs into something new.