Preferably, this would be with a group of friends, but that isn’t going to be an option for everyone. Once you get to grips with the basics, I’d recommend jumping into a bigger online world. V Rising is very much designed from the ground up to offer a PvP experience. However, that isn’t really the point of this game in the first place. The actual PvE aspects of V Rising are nothing special, and other games in the genre do a better job.

The source of a lot of the criticisms I have of V Rising are due to it not being a great single-player experience. Luckily, while in your base you can easily construct a device that shrouds you from the harsh rays. Although I can see some players absolutely loving this extra factor that isn’t as important in other similar games. Even so, I think that the pros of this system are outweighed by the hindrance it causes. Deforesting your base’s surroundings is going to make traversing very difficult, so it’s probably better to move outward first. There’s an argument to be made that this creates an interesting dynamic where you have to consider where you farm wood. One of the biggest problems is that most of the natural shade you’ll be relying on comes from trees, but you have to cut down these trees as wood is used for a lot of crafting and upkeep. But there’s no doubt that it does get annoying at times. It does help the game stand out thematically using the vampire theme as an integral part of the design, rather than just a fancy coat of paint. I’m not sure if I enjoy this mechanic or not. This can be particularly tricky to deal with during combat, where an enemy’s attacks can force you into the sunlight. If you want to operate during the day, you have to move between shadows. Doing so will cause the sun to burn you alive, dealing huge amounts of damage. However, there is a huge downside too: the sun is your number one enemy.ĭuring the day you cannot step into the light for an extended period of time. The positive side of this is that you can drink the blood of your enemies to heal and gain new powers. Some players may prefer the more simplistic combat found in other survival games, but I appreciate the additional complexity that V Rising brings to the table.Īn interesting aspect of V Rising is that you play as a Vampire. This means that positioning and effective keybind usage are skill sets you’ll have to develop to win fights. Unsurprisingly, given Stunlock Studios’ origins as a MOBA developer with Bloodline Champions and Battlerite, V Rising‘s overall combat flow feels very MOBA-like. Some of the more complex fights will require you to learn attack patterns and switch up your abilities. The combat itself is well-thought-out, with bosses having a good variety of attack types. Several structures and crafting recipes are also locked behind these boss fights, so it’s necessary to overcome them to progress further. Defeating these bosses and feeding off of them can secure new abilities to make various aspects of the gameplay easier. Once you gain access to the Blood Altar, you can track down and kill special enemies that serve as the game’s bosses. Hunting is the main objective of V Rising. In between resource gathering sessions you expand your base and hunt. It’s a tried-and-tested progression model that works well. To get better resources you need better equipment, and so the loop continues. To get better equipment you need better resources. You head out into the open world, harvest materials, bring those materials back to base and use them to craft new machinery and equipment. The core gameplay loop of V Rising is as expected. But is V Rising in Early Access worth it, or is this just another unnecessary addition to the genre? The latest addition to this family is V Rising, a vampire-themed survival game developed by Stunlock Studios. From Rust to RimWorld to Valheim, some of the most popular titles on Steam are indie survival games. Indie game developers have taken over the survival genre.

V rising game play