Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines 2 welcomes the bossy Ventrue clan

Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines 2's penultimate playable clan is the snobby Ventrue, a bunch of royals and suits propping up and feeding off the system. They founded the Camarilla, the largest vampire sect, and they have a penchant for bossing people around while sitting in very big chairs.

"The Ventrue is the clan of vampires that has already won," says Paradox's Florian Schwarzer in the introduction video below. They influence governments, run big businesses and make sure the rest of the vampires toe the line and don't break the Masquerade.

As you might expect for movers and shakers, the Ventrue are pretty deft at manipulation. Ventrue vampires can dominate people and enemies, putting them in trances and, eventually, ordering them around. They're also pretty good at defending themselves, soaking up lots of damage in a fight.

Dominate

Mesmerise lets you hypnotise one NPC, putting them in a trance. The NPC ignores everything going on around them and won't feel any pain. A very handy skill for undead surgeons.
Command gives you control over a mesmerised NPC, so you can tell them to attack enemies and move objects.

Fortitude

You can enter a combat stance and use Absorb to deflect attacks and even heal wounds for every impotent strike an enemy makes.
Personal Armour turns your skin into stone, letting you shrug off damage and join the Fantastic Four.

Unfortunately, the Ventrue are very picky eaters and don't enjoy snacking on rats or any old drunk relieving themself in an alley. Resonance is how the quality of a meal is determined. Everyone's blood has a resonance based on their emotional state and how intensely they're feeling at the time. For a Ventrue, the higher the resonance the tastier the meal.

That's four clans down, then, leaving one more to go. I'm sticking to my guns and expecting a Malkavian reveal. Surely they've saved the best for last.

Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.