Rising, the highly anticipated survival game with a vampire theme has finally woken up from early access and it has been worth the wait. Stunlock Studios developed V Rising which combines survival, crafting and action RPG creating an interesting experience for fans of the genre.
Gameplay: The Joy of Being a Vampire
V Rising is essentially a survival game but one that lets you play as an all-powerful vampire. Starting off helpless and famished after a slumber lasting hundreds of years, you need blood for rejuvenation. This sets the stage for an absorbing pursuit as you search out blood supplies, avoid sunlight’s heat and construct your own vampire castle right away.
One of the most exciting parts of V Rising is its combat system which is very involved. They have borrowed a lot from Diablo having implemented isometric viewing to provide an addictive hack-and-slash feel to gamers. One can choose between different sorts of skills such as dashing when attacked or powerful AOE moves while using any primary weapon.
Combat also gets unique trickles where vampires can suck enemies’ blood when they are nearly dead; this activates the game’s skill tree gifting gamers with new vampire abilities in return for their progressions.
An alternative to conventional levelling is the way progression works in V Rising. Instead of using experience points, the player’s power is determined by how good his/her armour is. This encourages players to concentrate on producing and collecting materials which become a vital part of gameplay.
With your progress comes unlocking a large number of vampire abilities thus enabling you to build a game style that perfectly fits into your unique vampire persona.
Survival and Crafting: A Delicate Balance
V Rising makes staying alive difficult through its oppressive sun. Going out in daylight will result in your rapid incineration; hence it has become necessary for you to stick close to shadows. Dying can be punishing as your corpse will be dropped with its contents forcing you to go back to pick it up again.
But an extensive range of server options exist within the game allowing players customization opportunities relating to day length adjustments, resource respawn time changes and even removal of inventory caps turning off inventory limits for fast travel.
In V Rising, crafting is so important that it enables you to create weapons, armor and tools to help survive. The game gives players a number of materials to collect, ranging from the basics like wood and stone down to more advanced ones like iron and silver.
Crafting goes beyond just making gear; it also contributes to the construction of your castle which is an important part of the game.
Castle Building: A Vampire’s Lair
V Rising greatly focuses on the building of your castle as its trump card. Castle-building mechanics are great because they offer a lot of customization options. You can build your castle under various themes, stack as many as six stories high or even put it in a torture prison for amusement purposes only.
The castle serves as a vampire’s operational base containing contraptions for squeezing out blood from captives with display rooms for storing trophies.
Building a labyrinthine lair for your vampire character in V Rising takes time and goes step by step. However, it feels great when you finally witness your castle growing from beneath the earth’s surface. Notably, every room and feature in the castle has been designed meticulously by developers thus serving specific roles within this game.
Multiplayer: A Shared Vampire Experience
V Rising offers a rich multiplayer experience, in which friends can construct castles together, trade resources and conquer the land of the living. The game has both cooperative and competitive options and there is an option to join pvp servers for a more intense experience.
PvP servers add another layer of difficulty because players are able to raid the enemy’s castle as well as seize their territories. In PvP battles, however, siege mechanics deployed by the game incorporate summoning golems compound on this excitement.
However, though balanced for the most part, there are some abnormalities that should be addressed. Some early access players complained about it being imbalanced such as higher-level players overpowering those with lower levels.
Nevertheless, developers have gone far in addressing these concerns by making significant improvements on official servers.
Presentation: A Gothic Masterpiece
The presentation of V Rising is incredible, its graphics being one of the things I like best about this game. It’s perfect for capturing a vampire theme with its stunning gothic art style.
The game has uniquely crafted environments in each area that create different atmospheres and challenges. Each vampire is also unique and powerful in character models and animations which are quite impressive too.
The game’s soundtrack is equally amazing with a creepy score that sets the tone for the dark and sinister world of V Rising. The fighting sound effects in particular as well as those of the vampire abilities are satisfying and help in immersing the player.
Conclusion: A Worthy Vampire Survival Experience
V Rising is a good addition to the survival genre, providing an original and involving experience tied up with vampires. This is due to its intense multiplayer options, deep combat, progression, character building and castle-building systems.
Although not without its flaws such as some slight balancing issues and lack of controller support, it still offers a great experience all around. There are efforts being made by developers to make this game better hence future upgrades will definitely deal with these concerns too.
Ultimately though, V Rising should be played by anyone who is a fan of survival games or has ever had even the slightest interest in vampires. The amount of detail put into every aspect of the game from its gameplay loop to how presentable it looks makes it one that stands out in its genre.
Whether you like playing alone or with friends, V Rising provides a captivating experience that will keep players returning for more.
