Author: Ringo Starfield

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is an upcoming sequel to the widely-acclaimed Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. The game will be published by Paradox Interactive, a studio that published many great games like Surviving the Aftermath. Similarly to the first Bloodlines game, Bloodlines 2’s protagonist will be a human revived as a vampire. This means that the players will likely have a high degree of freedom when customizing their character, compared to, say, Swansong. The downside is that the converted human’s vampiric abilities are less powerful – but this can be seen as beneficial from a design perspective, as it will allow for better character progression. Not much is known about the game’s story just yet. It will begin with several vampires going rogue and converting humans en masse – our character being one of them. The story will explore how the life of the protagonist will be impacted by their sudden conversion, and how they will integrate into the vampiric world. The player character will be able to join one out of five vampiric clans – Brujah, Tremere, Toreador, Ventrue, and Malkavian. The original Bloodlines featured seven clans – but the developers promise to add more to Bloodlines 2 post-release. The developers have stated that they plan to release Bloodlines 2 on Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 & 5, and Xbox One & Series X/S. Mac support is not planned – but with this guide, you will learn how to play Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 on Mac without any official support.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt is a free game set in the World of Darkness, a franchise known for its tabletop games and story-driven videogames. This game, however, deviates from that formula. Unlike Bloodlines 2 or Swansong, or indeed most other Vampire: The Masquerade games, Bloodhunt does not focus on the storyline, as it is a multiplayer game in the battle royale genre. Bloodhunt’s unique setting helps it stand out from many, many other games in the same genre – the fact that the characters are vampires shakes things up quite a bit. For example, vampires’ supernatural abilities let them scale buildings with ease, making the game highly vertical. Feeding on hapless civilians, meanwhile, is a quick and easy way to recover health. The Masquerade, an important part of the setting, is used to balance these powerful abilities. The existence of the supernatural is supposed to be hidden from regular people, and those who transgress this law will be punished – for 60 seconds, everyone will be able to see the offender on the map. Of course, you also cannot expect to win without using these abilities at all… and so, the players constantly need to decide whether using their superpowers is worth the punishment or not. The game is only available on Microsoft Windows and Sony PlayStation 5, but with the help of this guide, you will also be able to play Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt on Mac.

Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong is a new game in the highly successful Vampire: The Masquerade franchise. Developed by the Big Bad Wolf game studio, it finally released in 2022 after an unfortunate COVID-caused delay. Much like the previous games in the franchise, Swansong is a roleplaying game with a strong narrative focus. There are three main characters in Swansong – all of them vampires, of course. They have a defined appearance and backstory, which can slightly detract from role-playing. Nonetheless, this is an understandable move, one that the Vampire games have taken several times by now – the narrative opportunities are easily worth it. The players can still customize the characters’ skills and attributes, and decide how they would react to the world around them. The players do not simply select one of the three vampires to play as. Rather, it is possible to switch between all three – which is often necessary as they have different strengths. All three protagonists work together to investigate a mysterious shootout in Boston. Even though vampires have superhuman abilities, it is not easy – to uphold the Masquerade, they cannot use their powers in front of regular humans. Swansong can be played on Windows, Switch, PS4 & 5, as well as Xbox One & Series X/S, but, unfortunately, it is not available on Mac. Despite this, you can play Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong on Mac by following this guide.

Shenmue II, much like the first game, is an action-adventure title developed by SEGA for its Sega Dreamcast console. Unlike its prequel, however, Shenmue II did not stay exclusive for long – in 2002, just a year after release, the game was ported to Xbox. The game world in Shenmue II is just as detailed as before, and the game received several quality-of-life features to make realistic details more bearable. For example, the player no longer has to wait for a shop to open, as it is now possible to fast-forward time to a certain event. Another notable change is that the player now has to play minigames in order to earn money – in the first game, getting a job was simply a part of the story. The story, unsurprisingly, picks up right where it left off. Ryo Hazuki, who discovered the identity of his father’s killer in the first game, follows his trail to Hong Kong. There, he tries to locate Yuanda Zhu, a mysterious martial artist who learned about the assassination before it happened and tried to warn Ryo’s father. In his search, Ryo eventually obtains some unlikely allies, who help him discover the truth. Shenmue II, alongside the first game, was ported to Windows, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 in 2018. Though it did not receive a Mac port, it is nonetheless possible to play Shenmue II on Mac. We will explain the process in the article below.

Shenmue III follows in the footsteps of the first two games – it is still an open-world, action-adventure game about Ryo Hazuki and his quest to avenge the murder of his father. It is remarkably similar to the first two games, despite having a different developer – Ys Net – and releasing 18 years after Shenmue II. That is because the game’s creative director, Yu Suzuki, has also directed Shenmue I and II. Indeed, Shenmue III only became a reality thanks to his initiative – in 2015, he launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the game’s development. Thanks to all the advances the technology has made, Shenmue III received several substantial improvements. The game’s engine, Unreal Engine 4, made the game look beautiful and modern. The way it plays is anything but modern, though – Yu Suzuki developed the game exactly as he envisioned it all the way back in the early 00s, and it shows. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though – the game is definitely enjoyable, and people frustrated by trends in modern gaming would find it a breath of fresh air. The game has also received three DLCs, adding new content to the game – both in terms of story missions and in terms of cosmetic items such as outfits. Shenmue III is available to play only on Windows and PlayStation 4 – unsurprisingly, it did not receive a Mac port. Despite this, it is possible to play Shenmue III on Mac – the guide below will help you with that.