Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt: Shutdown Guide and Archive

What happened to Bloodhunt, what it means for your account and purchases, how the game played (for anyone who missed it or wants to remember it), and what to play instead.

Researched September 2026 — current as of the permanent server shutdown on 28 April 2026. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Bloodhunt is offline. Sharkmob closed the Bloodhunt servers on 28 April 2026. Because it was an online-only battle royale, the game can't be played any more. As far as we could find, no official offline mode, private server option or bot mode was released. The Steam store page is still up, but installing it gets you nothing you can play. The old bloodhunt.com news pages now redirect to Sharkmob's studio site.

Quick Start (What You Need to Know Now)

• The game can't be played. Matchmaking, the Elysium hub and all online services ended on 28 April 2026.
• Token purchases ended in October 2025. Sharkmob disabled buying tokens when it announced the closure (27 October 2025). The in-game store stayed open so players could spend leftover tokens before shutdown.
• Cosmetics and tokens are gone. Everything was tied to online accounts, so nothing carries over anywhere.
• Active development ended long before. Wikipedia records development ending on 15 May 2023, three years before the servers closed. The anniversary code posts in 2024 and 2025 were the last community events.
• Don't bother with the redeem codes. Old codes like BH3RDANNIVERSARY no longer do anything.
• Want the setting? Look at the single-player World of Darkness games. Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 is the obvious next step. There's a short list of alternatives at the end.
• Want the genre? Other third-person or movement-heavy battle royales are still running. See Alternatives.
• Uninstall to free up space. The Steam install can't connect to anything.

Timeline

Date | Event

7 Sep 2021 | Early Access launch on Windows

27 Apr 2022 | Full free-to-play release on Windows and PlayStation 5

15 May 2023 | Active development ends (per Wikipedia)

Jun–Dec 2023 | "Timed Content Releases" and community newsletters keep the store rotating

12 Mar 2024 | Compensation code after login issues (expired 31 Mar 2024)

27 Apr 2024 | Second anniversary, code BH2NDANNIVERSARY

27 Apr 2025 | Third anniversary, codes BH3RDANNIVERSARY and LAVISHUNLIFEMASK

27 Oct 2025 | Shutdown announced; token purchases disabled immediately

28 Apr 2026 | Servers close permanently

How Bloodhunt Played (Archive)

For anyone who never tried it, or wants to remember the good nights in Prague, here's what the game was about.

The basics

• Genre: free-to-play third-person battle royale with guns and vampire powers.
• Setting: Prague, in the World of Darkness, during a war between vampire factions. Human Inquisition soldiers patrolled the city as an extra PvE threat.
• Lobby size: up to 45 players at launch (the October 2022 update moved to 42-player lobbies), solo or in squads of three.
• Verticality: the defining feature. Vampires sprinted up walls, leapt between rooftops and glided down on vampiric movement, so fights happened on streets and skylines alike.
• Monetisation: cosmetics only, bought with tokens.

Clans and archetypes

At launch Wikipedia describes three core clans, each with two archetypes (loadouts with different powers):

Clan | Playstyle | Archetypes

Brujah | Brawler / tank. Forcefield shockwaves and extra healing | Brute, Vandal

Toreador | Support / mobility. Short-range teleport and ally healing | Siren, Muse

Nosferatu | Stealth / recon. Temporary invisibility and tracking wounded enemies | Saboteur, Prowler

Later updates added more clans and archetypes. Examples from Sharkmob's Steam posts: the Ventrue Enforcer (introduced for the March 2022 closed playtest ahead of full launch) and the Tremere Scholar (the Tremere Update, 28 March 2023). Early on, trio squads had to include one member from each clan, a rule that was loosened as the roster grew.

Core systems

System | How it worked

Feeding | Drinking from human NPCs restored health and gave buffs

Resonance | Some humans carried "resonant" blood with stronger, longer-lasting bonuses. Hunting the right resonance for your build was a big part of the early game

The Masquerade | Feeding or using powers in front of mortals broke the Masquerade and could reveal your position

Diablerie | Draining a downed vampire rather than just finishing them gave big power boosts, at the cost of time and exposure

The Inquisition | AI soldiers and snipers that attacked anyone who drew their attention. Third-party trouble in contested zones

Elysium | The social hub between matches: vendors, cosmetics, quests and a place to show off outfits

Weapons and loot | Conventional firearms did most of the damage, with rarity tiers. Powers were mainly utility

How a typical match went

• The drop. Squads leapt from the starting point into Prague and picked a district. Hot drops meant instant fights over the first guns. Quieter rooftops meant slower but safer looting.
• Early looting and feeding. Grab a weapon and armour, then feed on humans to top up health. Good players went looking for the resonance that suited their clan: aggressive resonances for Brujah brawlers, mobility or utility ones for Toreador and Nosferatu.
• Mid-game rotations. As the playable area shrank, squads moved across rooftops, which made high ground and escape routes the main tactical question. Inquisition patrols punished anyone who fought in the open for too long.
• Diablerie decisions. Downing an enemy vampire meant a choice. Finish them fast, or drain them for a power boost while exposed on the street.
• Endgame. The last circles were short, vertical scrambles. Knowing when to use your clan power (a Brujah shockwave, a Toreador teleport, a Nosferatu vanish) usually decided the winner.

What the community liked (and didn't)

• Liked: the traversal, the gothic Prague art direction, the fashion-heavy cosmetics, and how different each clan felt.
• Criticised: a battle royale market that was already crowded in 2022, and the fact that after development ended the game only got limited new content. From mid-2023 it was mostly monthly "Timed Content Releases" rather than new clans or maps.

Modes

The main modes were solo and trios battle royale, plus rotating and casual modes over the years. According to the September 2023 community newsletter, these included a Team Deathmatch mode that received changes that month.

What It Means for Your Account

• Tokens: unspent tokens are gone. Sharkmob's plan was to disable purchases in October 2025 but keep the store open for spending until shutdown.
• Cosmetics: unusable. Nothing carries over into other World of Darkness games.
• Refunds: the Steam announcement doesn't mention refunds. If you have a question about a recent purchase, contact Sharkmob support or check the platform's refund policy. Purchases older than the platform's refund window aren't normally eligible.
• Steam achievements: whatever you earned stays on your Steam profile. No new achievements can be unlocked.
• The Steam store page is still listed at the time of writing. Treat it as an archive, not something to play.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Installing it to "check if it still works." It doesn't. The servers are down.
• Buying token bundles or "accounts" from third-party sites. There's nothing to use them on. Anyone selling Bloodhunt items in 2026 is scamming you.
• Falling for "private server" downloads. No official server software was released. Unofficial executables from random sites are a malware risk.
• Waiting for a revival. Sharkmob's closure announcement read as final ("the sun will finally rise on Bloodhunt").

Advanced Tips (For Moving On)

• Chasing the vampire fantasy? Bloodhunt's appeal was being a supernatural predator in a modern city. Single-player World of Darkness games give you the lore, clans and Masquerade politics in much more depth.
• Chasing rooftop movement? Look for battle royales and arena shooters with strong traversal: wall-running, grappling, vertical maps.
• Chasing the squad-of-three ability fights? Hero-based battle royales still running in 2026 are the closest match.
• Keep your memories. Screenshots and clips from the Elysium hub are the only record of your cosmetics now. Back up your Steam screenshot folder if you care.

Alternatives

If you liked... | Try

The World of Darkness setting and clans | Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines (2004) and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 (2025), both single-player RPGs

Story-driven Masquerade politics | Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong (2022) and the Coteries of New York / Shadows of New York visual novels

Hero-power battle royale | Apex Legends (still getting seasons in 2026)

Melee, movement and supernatural BR | NARAKA: BLADEPOINT

FAQ

Is Bloodhunt shut down? Yes. The servers closed permanently on 28 April 2026.

Is there an offline or single-player mode? No. Bloodhunt was online-only and no offline version was announced before closure.

Can I get my money back for tokens? The closure announcement doesn't mention refunds. Contact Sharkmob support or check your platform's refund policy if you think you qualify.

Why did Bloodhunt shut down? Sharkmob didn't give a detailed reason in the Steam post, but active development had already ended in May 2023. After that the game ran on a small content rotation until closure.

Is the game still on Steam? The store page was still listed when we checked, but there are no servers to connect to.

What's a good replacement? For the setting, Bloodlines 2 or Swansong. For the gameplay, Apex Legends or NARAKA: BLADEPOINT.

Sources

• Steam news: Bloodhunt servers closing April 28, 2026 (27 Oct 2025)
• Steam news: Bloodhunt Celebrates Three Years (27 Apr 2025)
• Steam news: Community Newsletter #3 (Sep 2023)
• Steam store: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt
• Wikipedia: Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt
• Sharkmob (studio site; bloodhunt.com now redirects here)