When the vampire survival action RPG V Rising launched in early access nearly two years ago, I was already sold on the game from its early trailers. Once I hopped into the game and sank my teeth in (I’m clever), I was hooked. The game was already very fun and Stunlock Studios only had more content planned.
Fast forward to now, almost two years later, V Rising is finally hitting the big 1.0 release and has even more content arriving with the full launch. Last year we got the massive Gloomrot update – the game’s 1.0 release adds another huge region, and its final boss. Has the wait been worth it? Find out in our V Rising review!
V Rising
Developer: Stunlock Studios
Publisher: Stunlock Studios
Platforms: PC, (Reviewed),PS5
Release Date: May 8th, 2024
Price: $34.99
V Rising has been a pretty game even since its pre-release beta. The character designs, environments, building designs, everything in the game looks fantastic and its lighting engine must be praised. This is a vampire survival RPG – the shadows can let you still hunt during the day, but they move in real time with the sun.
All of the weapons and attack animations also look great, but there’s also the spectacular looking spells and various effects that both your vamp and the enemies will perform. Regular old enemies and bosses alike unleash cool looking attacks and abilities, or massive spells.
V Rising is presented from an isometric camera angle and this is honestly the best way to present the game. Whether you have to zoom in tight on your base while customize it or zooming out for big battles, the game looks beautiful and runs extremely well. There’s still not a lot of character faces or hair options but you don’t see your vamps face most of the time anyway.
The overall themes and designs put into V Rising by developer Stunlock Studios absolutely nails a dark gothic, vampire aesthetic. The game is a beautiful yet twisted presentation of high class, vampire decadence. It never gets boring looking at things unfolding in the game, and that’s a testament to both its visuals and gameplay, which is also just as good.
V Rising takes an already crowded and somewhat tired genre – survival and base building – and somehow makes everything feel not only fun but wholly fresh. You go from punching trees to building a gothic castle in a couple hours at most. The game completely respects the player but keeps throwing more stuff at you.
The game has only gotten better since its debut and now V Rising feels like a perfect balance of player progression and challenge. The entire game world wants to kill you and you will die a lot at first, but you can learn and advance quickly. All of its gameplay systems have been fine tuned to be rewarding, not a hindrance.
In earlier builds it was a bit annoying to get blood bags – humans you can imprison to harvest blood from repeatedly – but now there’s a magic stone to teleport them to an empty jail cell in your base. There’s so many things like this added to the game now that have only made it that much better, and more fun.
The world design is something else altogether, Stunlock has to be commended for how densely packed they’ve made the world of Vardoran. Not only is the world rife with detail, it’s gorgeous and endlessly fun to explore and see cool stuff going on. V Rising’s world feels like a real place, but everything wants you dead.
Some later bosses in earlier builds of the game actually felt very hard solo, but now in V Rising’s 1.0 build I’ve been one-shotting most bosses. There is an uptick in difficulty, though, if there’s 2 or more players. Some later bosses are extremely difficult as a group but doable solo, it’s not really a gripe but more of a nitpick.
Base building in V Rising has always been a delight and even its earlier builds had a good number of trinkets to decorate with. Stunlock has only added loads more doodads to decorate your vampire abode with, as well as new functionality like multiple floors and much more.
Resource management has always felt very fair in V Rising, something I wish other survival / base builder games would do better. Even late game resources weren’t that bad to accumulate, it just feels like the game respects your time but also expects some work put in.
Originally the end game in V Rising was a bit of a dead end like many other survival builders, however Stunlock has essentially added two expansions’ worth of content between Gloomrot and the new Mortium region. If you thought the raid-like late bosses in earlier builds were tough, wait till you meet Dracula.
The soundtrack in V Rising is nothing short of breathtaking, with all its tracks composed by Aleksandria Migova. The visuals of the game set the foundation for a gloriously gothic world but its soundtrack cements everything in a real gothic embrace.
It’s hard to explain how emotional and great the music can be without hearing it. A good example of how much I love the V Rising soundtrack is that its “Dawn Comes” theme, which plays when the sun rises in game, has been my morning alarm ringtone since 2022.
While the world of V Rising isn’t set in Stunlock’s previous game, Battlerite, the team has managed to build an entirely new world filled with unique characters, lore, motivations, and its own story. V Rising is a breath of fresh air in a sea of same-y games with uninspired worlds and stories.
The world of V Rising and its characters, bosses, and regions all with their respective lore feel meticulously planned out and well written. It’s the kind of game world and story that makes you want to keep learning about its happenings and characters.
V Rising is a wonderful take on survival games, action RPGs, and a long-overdue unique take on the vampire genre. There’s so much well planned gameplay here alongside its very stylish world and enriched lore, it kept me coming back for more.
It’s hard to find a survival / crafting / building game these days that truly does something fresh, let alone a genuinely good take on the vampire genre. V Rising is a joy to play and cannot be missed by either survival ARPG nuts or fans of the immortal bloodsuckers.
V Rising was reviewed on PC with a copy provided by Stunlock Studios. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. V Rising hits full release on May 8th for Windows (via Steam). A PS5 port is planned for later in 2024.
