An in-depth look at the stealth RPG’s upgradable discipline system.

Happy Halloween, PlayStation! I’m Erik Odeldahl, creative director at Fast Travel Games, and I’m excited to be back at PlayStation Blog to talk some more about our new PS VR2 title, Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice, which launches later this week on November 2! Check out our shiny new launch trailer below.

When we announced Justice earlier this year, we gave you an in-depth look at our stealth gameplay. Players will travel to the seedy streets of nighttime Venice and become a true apex predator, stalking enemies, drinking their blood and using brutal powers to take them down.

We may still be a few days from launch but, given it’s the spookiest day of the year, we’d like to dive deeper into the RPG aspects of the game. Each discipline in Justice can be upgraded and morphed into far more effective and deadlier versions of themselves. Let’s talk a bit about how this changes the game.

Upgrade your disciplines

Between each mission in Justice you’ll be able to visit The Inner Sanctum. It’s here where you’ll meet the game’s full suite of potential disciplines. Select a tile and it will hover over to you, giving you a detailed look at exactly what each upgrade entails.

At first it may seem overwhelming but, rest assured, you’ll be steadily working your way up the tree as the game goes on. There are plenty of opportunities to unlock as many abilities as possible over the 10-15 hour campaign, depending on how you play.

Build your own justice

Crucially, these upgrade paths will allow you to tailor your gameplay experience to how you want to play. If you want, you can focus on the game’s more aggressive abilities and stand a much greater chance of survival when you’re discovered or picking foes off from afar.

Or you could choose to take a more passive approach. Cloak of Shadows, the ability to turn invisible and slip past enemies, can first be upgraded to consume less of your blood meter, allowing you to use it more often. Keep investing in this skill path and you may even be able to vanish into thin air even when enemies are looking right at you.

XP aplenty

But how do you earn XP to upgrade abilities in Justice? There are several ways, including simply beating missions. This will earn you the base amount of XP that will be great for building up the essentials as you progress through the story.

Bonus objectives and missions will be a key means to faster upgrades. Every mission in the game comes with two bonus objectives, often asking you to clear the level without being seen and/or without harming anyone. These can be tricky and push your skills to the absolute limit, but the rewards are well worth it.

Finally, you can also hunt down the game’s hidden collectables, which must be eroded away with the Corrosive Vitae bolt. Each one will net you a small amount of XP.

Persuasive new paths

The Inner Sanctum isn’t just for upgrading your disciplines, though. Another element of Justice’s RPG mechanics is the dialogue system, which lets you choose how to interact with characters in certain scenarios. You may choose to sweet talk allies and make friends, for example, or give them the cold shoulder.

But, if you want, you can invest XP into making Justice a more intimidating figure that can get extra information out of targets. You may even be able to unlock shortcuts, bypassing certain areas of levels. That is if you know exactly when to apply the pressure. That’s just a small taste of the RPG mechanics awaiting you in Vampire: The Masquerade – Justice. It’s also just one part of the overall experience. Fast Travel Games is delivering its most ambitious project yet and we can’t wait to hear what you all think when the game arrives on November 2. Don’t forget you can also pre-order the game now for 10% off and access to the exclusive golden arm-mounted crossbow.