V Rising

[h2]Played it on brutal/100+ Hours on first playthrough/100% Completed. I more than got my moneys worth and then some. [/h2] I had been wanting to scratch a vampire itch for awhile now and have always been on the fence about this game. The appeal of facing tons of bosses, building my own castle, and slowly but surely becoming the number 1 vampire was so alluring. [b]PVE, PVP, or SOLO?[/b] - I played on a PVE sever, so no fighting other players. Which, if all you want to focus on is the bosses and castle building, then this is the way to play. So you dont have to worry about others destroying your castle that you spent hours on. Because once its gone, you gotta start from scratch. The community of players I saw, out in the wild, are super friendly and helpful. At this point in the games life, they are mostly people who have already completed the game several times and are just helping others with bosses. So if you need help, especially late game, they will help. I hear PVP servers can be super sweaty, and very difficult for new players. So play at your own discretion. [b]Castle Building[/b] - was awesome! Keeping in mind, you wont have the coolest things at first, but certain bosses you defeat allow you to craft cooler and cooler things for your castle as the game progresses. From, different lighting options(with several colors), to wallpaper to change up your castles look, flooring, decorations etc...,,you can literally make your ideal castle. Designing each room with different lighting and decorations really made the place feel alive, especially with your servants walking around. I spent so many hours building my castle the way i wanted. [b]Progression[/b] - can feel a little slow. On normal, your usually on an even playing field with the enemies, but on brutal they are typically like 3 lvls above you. So for combat on brutal, its alot of trial and error. Constantly running back to finish the job or pick up your gear. Gathering enough materials can take a bit too, but luckly if your playing in your own server, you can tweak those setting and get material faster. [b]Boss Fights[/b] - good depending on who you ask. Each boss has their own cool design, attack, or gimmick. Like diablo or PoE. They can certainly have a learning curve to them. So optimizing your spells and weapons are a must on brutal. Towards the end game, i did have some help, from other players on the server, for the final boss. It was awesome, their was like 6 or 7 of us all fighting [spoiler]Dracula.[/spoiler] It wasn't easy, we failed dozens of times, due to his scailling with more players. But in the end, we got it done and it felt like i was raiding in an MMO, it was a highlight of this game for me. [b]My only gripes are small nitpicks:[/b] - Your walking speed in crazy slow. A chunk of gameplay is the dreaded walk back to your gear or boss, once youv'e been killed. - Needed more character customization options. The character creation is rather lacking. Wish it was more fleshed out to build my ideal vampire. - If you play on a PVP or PVE server, expect not many plots of land to build your castle. The ideal/bigger plots of land are likely already taken. You wont have to worry about this if your playing on your on solo server. - TRISTAN THE VAMPIRE HUNTER....F YOU. WHY ARE YOU A FREE ROAMING BOSS IN THE STARTING ZONE AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. [b]Biggest Positive:[/b] Shout out to that one castle who had a loaded flower garden for anyone to gather (to use for crafting gear/potions). So helpful. You are the real MVP of this game. [b]Overall 9/10 game.[/b] If i had more time, i would have stretched this game out longer because of how fun it is. But i paid $7 for this, and i got MORE than my moneys worth of it. [b]Highly Recommend.[/b]

I have fallen in love with this game so much! My S.O. and I like to spend time together later in the day playing whatever multiplayer game we can get our hands on. We typically play through a game (or at least a good portion of one) before moving on to the next or getting distracted by something else. It's usually the second. One day he mentioned trying V Rising. At first I wasn't sure, but over time the idea grew on me, especially since it looked fun and fit with my recent aesthetic interests. V Rising is a survival RPG where you play as a vampire, roaming the world, drinking blood, climbing the ladder of bosses, and eventually facing Dracula himself... and that's really all it is! Somehow, though, I fell in love with it. It even became my own cozy game. It definitely isn't a cozy game by design, but it became one for me. You can build your own castle and gardens, transform into different animals, explore a variety of biomes, and place your castle almost anywhere you want. You can play in your own private world, open it up to the public, or simply share it with a friend. Interested? ~~~~ • Art/Graphics The art is pretty good. It reminds me of many modern games with a similarly smooth, stylized look, such as Fortnite. However, V Rising uses that style in a way that perfectly suits its darker theme. The world is filled with rich, realistic color palettes that give everything a gothic atmosphere. The textures especially shine when you're building your castle, and oh my... the castles are gorgeous. You can create almost anything you can imagine, and the building system lets you achieve an incredibly high level of gothic elegance. The animal forms are always fun, and the wolf form is surprisingly adorable despite the simple art style. If the visuals aren't what you expected at first, trust me, they grow on you. The game manages to feel sleek, clean, and fast-paced while also being detailed and atmospheric, which works wonderfully with its top-down perspective. It's a beautiful game, and the lighting is absolutely top-tier for me. • Music Originally, the music didn't stand out much to me. I wasn't expecting anything on the level of Castlevania, but it initially felt fairly simple. Over time, though just like the art, it really grew on me. The soundtrack feels mysterious, subtle, and ambient. There were plenty of moments where I'd simply wander through a forest biome, listening to the quiet strings alongside the sounds of nature. It feels dark and haunting while also being oddly comforting. It really captures the feeling of being a vampire, making me think about both how powerful and how lonely they can be. (It reminded me a lot of Alucard from Castlevania.) • Gameplay/Mechanics The gameplay flows beautifully. As mentioned before, this is a survival RPG, but it also plays from a top-down perspective. When you're venturing outside your castle to hunt, gather resources, or defeat bosses, it almost feels like a Diablo-style game. You're constantly collecting materials to bring home and craft into new equipment and structures. Combat is where the game really shines. It's fast-paced, responsive, and incredibly satisfying. Unlike Diablo, however, movement is done entirely with WASD while aiming and attacking with your mouse. At first this feels a little unusual, but it quickly becomes second nature. Your main abilities are mapped to Spacebar, Q, and R, and boss fights can become incredibly intense. There are plenty of moments where your adrenaline spikes because you're constantly dodging attacks and making split-second decisions. There are also many different weapons to suit your preferred playstyle. The Sword, Axe, Mace, and Spear each serve different combat purposes while also excelling at gathering specific resources. Axes chop trees efficiently, Maces are best for mining, and Spears deal extra damage to creatures. As you progress, you'll eventually unlock bows and even dual pistols, giving combat even more variety. • Magic Alongside the weapon system is an excellent magic system. Every boss you defeat unlocks new crafting recipes, equipment, and magical abilities. There are schools of Blood, Fire, Frost, Necromancy, Illusion, and Storm magic (along with passive abilities). They're called different names in-game, but that's essentially what they represent. You can only equip four abilities at once, so you'll need to think about how you want to build your character. Whether you prefer charging headfirst into combat, chaining together fast combos, or staying at a distance while supporting yourself with ranged spells, there's plenty of freedom to experiment. • UI/HUD The UI takes a little getting used to. There are a lot of menus assigned to different keys, and remembering what each one does can be confusing at first. K opens the V Blood menu, J opens your spellbook, B enters building mode, Tab opens your character menu, and so on. Once you get used to it, though, it all feels very intuitive. The HUD itself is clean and unobtrusive. Your current objectives stay tucked away in the top-left corner instead of constantly demanding your attention. Aside from your minimap, the day/night clock, your abilities, and your blood meter, very little clutters the screen. • Overall This game has grown on me so much, and I absolutely love it. It took a little while, but the combination of the art, music, and gameplay creates an atmosphere that genuinely feels like living as a vampire. If you enjoy top-down action RPGs or Diablo-style gameplay, I think you'll really enjoy V Rising. It has an atmosphere that I haven't really found in another game. Even compared to something like Vampire: The Masquerade, V Rising feels unique. Playing it has also made me even more excited for Dawn of the Bloodwalker. For me, it's become a relaxing comfort game. It's incredibly easy to boot up, spend a few hours building a castle, gather resources, defeat a boss or two, and log off feeling satisfied. Unlike many survival games, it never feels overly stressful. Aside from managing your blood supply, most of your time is spent building your castle and progressing through the game's excellent boss system. Overall, I give V Rising a **9.2/10**. I'd love to see another game capture this same feeling but in third-person with even more detailed graphics. Until then, this has become my personal favorite vampire experience, and I'll happily continue spending hours building more castles.