Features

V Rising, developed by Stunlock Studios, was announced on May 05, 2021, and its Early Access released on May 17, 2022, released for Microsoft Windows in less than a week was already a success, with more than a million copies sold.

To date, the game is still in Early Access and continues to release updates, themed events, and new content for players.

V Rising is a game that manages to be simple and complex at the same time since it has several mechanics, item-building systems, and structures.

It is worth mentioning that, because we are vampires, we cannot be exposed to sunlight, which, in my opinion, is an excellent immersion tool, along with the system of consuming blood from enemies that guarantees various buffs depending on the race we consume.



Story

I believe that because this is still a game in a very early stage, the game's story is still vague, in my experience with the game, the most I have seen of the story is elite enemies and some quick quests that introduce bosses and hidden locations.

The systems present

V Rising can be played either alone or in groups, in open servers or in the coop, the game experience varies on the play style chosen, in my case, I prefer to play alone or in coop with friends, although the PvP of the game is also quite dynamic, relying on attacks on castles and melee combat.

Open servers with PvP enabled are the meeting point for those who enjoy this style, the servers are very busy and it is necessary to be careful and especially to form alliances.

My experience with PvP in the game was good, although it is not my preference, it was fun to see how everything works when you have a target in your head all the time.

So, the system of killing bosses to get buffs and exclusive recipes is very cool, although the difficulty is not high, they were rewarding experiences, since the loot is worth it.

The building system brings us the true experience of being a vampire, although we start as nomads, the construction of the castle is simply sensational, with several thematic decorations, chandeliers, coffins, and extravagant furniture, as a good classic vampire should be.

The game has a DLC that implements relics of Count Dracula as visuals for the existing decorations, although expensive for the Brazilian market, the skins are really beautiful and give highlights to the castle.



Mechanics

As stated earlier, we can drain the blood of enemies and we must always run away from sunlight to avoid ending up dead.

The battles revolve around the use of weapons that we build and skills that we unlock, only at the end of the fight do we have the option to drain the essence of the target to acquire certain bonuses.

Another mechanic that exists is the metamorphosis mechanic, which initially, after a while of play, we can turn into a wolf to move faster, and later, we can turn into a bear, to help mainly in combat.

In my initial experience with the game, where I advanced considerably, especially playing in co-op with friends, the mechanics fit very well with combat, with the quality of life within the game, and with the maintenance of the castle, which needs blood to function.

Which brings me to the main negative point of the game, when we close the game, the blood we deposited in the structures continues to be consumed, consequently, if we stay days without playing and replenish the reserves, the entire castle begins to deteriorate, which unfortunately will destroy much of what was built.

I have not been able to find a solution to this problem other than through "brute force", farm enough blood to last some time without needing to replenish it.

I believe it is a flawed system of the game that needs to be modified as it "forces" players to be loyal to the system, but it certainly does not take away from all the positives present.



Gameplay

The gameplay is extremely fluid, we have an isometric camera system and very simple controls, which makes the game very fun to play for a long time, not getting tired very easily, especially in the presence of friends.

The game does not have very good optimization, which can sometimes cause a bit of crash and stuttering, but they do not happen often, and are annoying, especially during combat.

I had no difficulty adapting to the controls, it is really very simple and saves a lot of learning time, especially with the manufacturing of items, which takes basically 4 clicks.

The audio of the game overall is very good, there are ambient sounds and music, but unfortunately, it's nothing very striking, it's not bad anyway, but it could be a bit dense.

Localization and accessibility

The game has partial localization in Brazilian Portuguese, being only of texts and there are still some things that were not translated so well, but it is nothing that will hinder the understanding of a mission or the description of an enemy or item. Overall, the translation is great, there is just a need for more attention to some terms and phrases.

The game's accessibility is limited, with only basic settings, such as skipping the game's introductory cinematics automatically and the possibility of customizing controls to better suit needs.



Experiences

Overall, the game is still very new and relatively short, although it has a good diversity of enemies and environments, and the atmosphere is sensational and gives us the feel of classic vampire stories.

All in all, it is a very pleasant experience, with the ambiance of the game really standing out. The features offered are very satisfying and added to my experience.

V Rising will keep you hooked for hours and will have a lot of fun, my recommendation is to call a few friends to play, that for sure will guarantee several moments of laughs and challenges, besides building a giant castle to make everyone jealous.

Thanks to Keymailer for the access key to the game and for this review, the game was played on PC and using the Steam platform.