V Rising Review

V Rising is a survival RPG developed by Stunlock Studios. Initially released in Early Access on the 18th of May 2022, it is now ready for its 1.0 release. The story is that after a great war where the vampires were basically wiped out, you awaken a couple of odd centuries later, ready to conquer the night once again. However, the journey to becoming a vampire lord isn’t going to be easy, as there are plenty of hunters out there to stop you and other vampires who want their share of the world (likely all of it). Either do it alone or rule together, but if there’s one thing for certain, it’s that blood will be spilt. I’ve seen quite a few streamers playing it but I haven't seen any gameplay until doing this review. So, is it worth waking up the dead or do some things need to stay buried?

The main selling point of this game is, of course, creating and playing as your very own vampire, and it comes with all the pros and cons of being one. Sure, you have magic powers and the ability to shapeshift, but running out of blood or staying out in the shade in daylight will kill you extremely fast. And that’s not the only way you could get screwed over. Fire, garlic, and even silver coins can make your unlife more difficult along with the various vampire hunters, hostile creatures, and other players that are more than willing to attack you… but they’re just as much prey as you are.

As mentioned before, you will need a constant supply of blood, but it’s not only just to keep you alive. Every living creature has a blood type and quality to them, and drinking their blood gives you various buffs to make you better at something, like fighting or harvesting materials. This only lasts until your next victim or upon using a blood restoration item, but it’s a really interesting system that makes you think. Sure, that 99% quality Brute blood is great, but once you’re out of blood to use, you might need to sacrifice that buff for a lowly 5% quality deer’s. Because of the systems, you don’t see any NPC as a living being but as a resource – a means to an end. You have to think and act like a vampire in order to survive. And that’s more exemplified by the V Blood system.

Awaken from your slumber. There's blood to be spilt.

Contained in strong enemies, getting V Blood into your system allows you to learn new and more powerful spells and items to craft, such as obtaining the ability to… go fishing… or sew (from a defenceless old woman). Most V Blood Carriers are strong opponents that won’t go down easily, and you might need some help taking them down, either from other players or by making your foes fight against each other (if they aren’t the same type, they’re hostile!). You’re only getting stronger by the equipment you make and the spells you unlock and enhance, so the main loop is prepping for the boss fight, killing them (or not, go back a step), getting their blood, and then coming back to your castle to do it all over again. Don’t worry if someone else gets to them first: they respawn pretty quickly, and there is some incentive to refight them for their loot drops. However, some of these bosses tend to wander around. Not only does it make tracking them down a little troublesome, but Carriers like Tristan the Vampire Hunter can be encountered in the first area, where most newbies will be horrendously underprepared for.

Speaking of combat, let’s talk about that next. You have access to various weapons and magic spells to cast. From swords and spears to fireballs and ice bats, you’ll have more than enough options to fit your playstyle. Every weapon has its uses, being more effective against certain enemies and having a variety of attacks as you upgrade your equipment. However, I began to lean into range with a crossbow and magic as time went on, with enemies becoming more and more dangerous to get up close. That being said, even if you stop using melee, it’s worth keeping them around and upgrading when you need to. Your weapons also count as tools for harvesting materials, such as maces for rocks and ores and swords for vegetation. It’s a cool idea that makes a lot of sense. Hey, I’m sure pickaxes can do serious damage, too!

Might foes contain great knowledge.

Oh, but you probably need to put those harvested materials to good use, and you should probably find a place to hide out during daylight and store whatever loot you have. That’s why every player can create their own castle, a respite for vampires… and also a fully functioning workshop because there is plenty of crafting to do. Castles can only be set at certain locations, but there are plenty of plots scattered throughout the world. While grid-based, there are plenty of options to create a pretty awesomely gothic vampire keep, with various decorations to ensure your place is as creepy as you like it. And hey, you aren’t forced to choose one spot; You can relocate your entire castle very easily, so there’s a lot of freedom on display here. However, you might want to be a little careful about your design, as other players can go out of their way to raid it, either to destroy it or take it for themselves.

At the centre of whatever you create is your Castle Heart. If a hostile player reaches it with the right keys, say goodbye to everything you own. It also needs its own supply of blood in the form of Blood Essences and will drain over real-time; without it, your castle will decay, and if you don’t have the time to play or decide to stop for a while, you might find yourself without any of your resources once you get back in. It's one thing to encourage daily play and another to force it, although I should note that it’ll take days or even weeks for it to be a problem if you’ve been grinding out Blood Essence. Still, if you like playing with friends or against other people, it’s a worry outside the game. However, if you like playing on your own time, you can always set up a private server where you can play with the settings and have a slightly more relaxed experience. 

A castle fit for a vampire lord...

However, creating your own castle and protecting it is hard work, and any self-respecting vampire shouldn’t be doing such menial tasks, so why not brainwash some humans and turn them into loyal vampiric servants? They'll protect your castle for you and provide a variety of buffs depending on the type of enemy you’ve converted. You can even command them to go on missions to harvest resources for you once you get yourself a throne… but it will take real-time (up to 24 hours). You’ll probably need a lot of servants. There are also plenty of other things you can do with dominated humans, like imprisoning them to have as a convenient source of blood and crafting resources, but this review is long and rambly enough.

Onto performance, it ran at 60 FPS pretty consistently, but I did run into a few hiccups once or twice, especially when loading into a server. It takes a little bit for everything to load, too. As for any other problems I ran into, I found the castle building to be a little finicky at times. Sometimes I wanted to dismantle something like stairs, but for whatever reason, it says it’s being blocked by something. You have to dismantle everything around it before you can do it, which feels unnecessary. At the very least, it could show visually what’s preventing me from building instead of just naming the object.

...That being said, a vampire lord is also a logger and a miner.

I found V Rising to be a really good experience overall. It really puts you into the mind of a vampire, and all its challenges make the game more fun to play, especially with other players watching your back… or being ready to stab it. Sure, you’ll be going through the standard survival game affair but with a bloody coat of paint, but it’s worth the time and effort put into playing to have fun with the gameplay and relationships you build. Also, at launch, there’s a crossover with Castlevania! And that’s cool to see.