I snooped around Art Station and iirc there is one designer who is 100% responsible for Mrs Thorn. She is pretty much his character. So I wonder if that's the case for other characters. I know Safia was originally a character named Elif, how much did she change between versions? That sort of thing.

Senior character artists Tim Turner, Kjartan Tysdal, Kei Kasai, Ryan Ashfield, Alona Stupak, Manoj Kumar Singh, and Amrut Shinde are the credited lead character artists for our main cast. Turner mentions being responsible for fully sculpting and texturing his work. The Chinese Room (TCR) and integrated teams, Sumo Digitial & K9 Digital all worked on the newer version of the game.

Hardsuit Labs (HSL) characters were in some cases likely used as references or a basis for some of our current cast, but with new or refined sculpts and new textures. It isn't really possible to divine an absolute answer in every case, and I'm not an authority on any of this.

We have changes between the older version, and then we have changes within the current version itself.

Safia, like you said, is partially based on the HSL character Elif, both visually and narratively (hidden in plain sight blood covered final boss). Earlier versions of the TCR narrative had Safia as a Tzimisce elder named Cemile, who hounded The Nomad, a territorial obsession based in her Compulsion. This was kept as part of the Phyre as Gideon plot.

In the end, Safia was made Tremere, Fabien’s role was expanded and from the Gardener, they made Gideon.

Regardless of who did the details I appreciate that they exist, and assume what was kept and refined, was kept with intention :D.

Below the cut are some visuals for older HSL build characters/some with comparisons I compiled a few months ago. Not comprehensive and with some guesswork. But might be fun to look at.

Seriously, though. I really appreciate you doing this stuff that's a godsend for fanartists and fic writers. I can't access the files, and I can't even play the game anymore, so these resources are gold to me. Sometimes I just need to know my blorbo's eye color or whether it looks like they bite their nails or whatever insane detail no one else but me would care about.

I’m glad any of its been useful! I hadn’t originally intend to do some of this, but I really enjoy it & hopefully work will clear up in a bit so I can get to making some more.

I WILL look into the hair for you anon even if you meant it as a joke…sadly lacking so far with a few exceptions imo. rebar killer doesn’t matter. someone look into who is shaving these licks nightly. I also have something in mind for the characters with tattoos at some point?

I do have a running list of little details I find when compiling the models. Some characters have moles, blemishes or just little quirks that won’t ever be seen. Things that show the care that went into making them. I could go over them sometime.

VTMB2 Feature from the July 2025 Issue of PCGamer