Sharkmob Announces Bloodhunt Will Enter Early Access in September

Sharkmob unveiled a launch date for the Early Access period of Bloodhunt, a tactical shooter based in the world of Vampire: The Masquerade.

The announcement came during their short segment during the Gamescom 2021 Opening Night Live broadcast. After a successful—and, to be honest, addicting—alpha weekend, it appears that developer Sharkmob is ready to take the next step and launch its free-to-play title, Bloodhunt, in Early Access. We've broken down everything there is to know, below.

Bloodhunt will enter an Early Access period on Sept. 7. A concrete release date for the full launch has not yet been confirmed, but the team "do not plan for the game to stay in the Early Access program for more than a few months."

According to an update on its official Steam listing, Sharkmob decided to place the game in Early Access as a way to get its fans back into playing as soon as they could. They also believe it will "help us speed up the progress of the development of the game as we are able to get so much more reliable play data from our community."

So far, the only confirmed differences between the Early Access build and the full build is the addition of statistics and gamepad support for the latter.

Taking place in the city of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, players take on the role of vampires within one of three clans: Brujah, Toreador, and Nosferatu. Each clan sports two classes, each with its own unique abilities, helping players survive as they battle amongst themselves and a sect of vampire hunters to preserve the Masquerade.

As they explore Prague, they'll be able to feed on different humans to obtain different blood-type buffs, pick up a variety of weapons to protect themselves and hunt down rogue vampires, and try to avoid the deadly Red Gas released throughout the streets. The last vampire standing wins.

Essentially, it's a tactic shooter with intense parkour, superpowers, clan rivalry, and a dark, gritty overlay set in a modern-day city. Oh, and it also has katanas available for melee, if you weren't already sold.

Fans can follow everything Bloodhunt by signing up for the game's e-mail list via its website. They can also wishlist the game on Steam to get the latest updates for when the game hits live servers.

See you there, kindred.