I’ve put more than 100 hours into V Rising and honestly, I could write this review 5 times in the past month. I put it off for selfish reasons, afraid that I wouldn’t come back to the game even if I had what I had to say. I kept telling myself that I wasn’t ready and didn’t have all the impressions necessary for a fair review. But in reality, I was looking for a reason to keep looking at V Rising as an obligation, as something I had to do for work.

I have to admit that these isometric vampires have captivated me more than any other game this year. Maybe I’m embarrassed about it, because I don’t usually say that I like to spend a lot of time on games that don’t have an exciting story. And when it comes to storytelling, V Rising needs to try harder to convey the plot. That is, you wake up as a vampire who wants to rise from nothing and obtain the most incredible power in the land. To achieve this, you will need to master the various heroes, creatures and leaders of this world.

If you want something completely different, read our review of Super Monkey Ball Banana Louvre.

The Gameplay of V Rising

There may be some text somewhere in the game explaining why my vampire is fighting Dracula, a vampire, but honestly, I didn’t care. I accepted V Rising as a game with very little story, no dialogue, no cutscenes, no classic narrative events. There is only one world where characters spit catchphrases, and you must defeat them to unlock new powers and get stronger. The most exciting part of the story is the connection to the Castlevania series, but it still has very little substance in terms of story.

Fortunately, V Rising’s gameplay is so addictive that the lack of a solid story doesn’t ruin the overall experience. The game’s structure always provides a clear goal and drives you forward. Climb your way through a leaderboard of nearly 50 bosses, each of which requires careful preparation and tactical planning. The addictive gameplay will keep you coming back, regardless of the simplicity of the story.

A hint of an Old School Feel

In this sense, V Rising is reminiscent of From Software games, but the great thing here is that the boss fights are partially scripted. Many bosses roam the map, i.e. the world, and fights vary greatly depending on where you encounter them or where you ambush them. Sometimes, two hostile enemies will meet and fight each other while waiting for the right moment to defeat them. Or, in the middle of an intense battle with a boss, another boss will appear out of nowhere, thwarting your plans and forcing you to retreat. This is very important during battles, since vampires cannot stand the sun for long periods of time during the day and the lack of shade can be deadly.

Whether you play alone or with others, confrontations in V Rising are always exciting. Cooperative play introduces an additional layer of strategy: B. Distract your opponent and have someone revive you when you fall, and you may win the game. Actions are very challenging, but the difficulty can be adjusted. Combat does not depend on quick reflexes. Instead, positioning and mobility on the field are important, adding a strategic element to the gameplay.

Old School MOBA Feels

It is similar to MOBA games (after all, the developers have worked on games in this genre before), but the range of available attacks and powers is much narrower than in Dota or LoL. V Rising has around 10 types of weapons and 6 types of magic. However, the magic often consists of variations of the same skill with different stats and characteristics. For example, some types of magic projectiles can drain the opponent’s energy. In contrast, similar projectiles of a different type of magic deal 15% more damage to the opponent per attack. This whole skill and magic system could have been more interesting for me, so I kept using mostly the same attacks throughout the game, only changing attacks if a certain boss kept turning me into filth.

Game Mechanics of V Rising

Interestingly, V Rising’s progression is different from most other games. Here, he is exclusively tied to equipment, without which your character will not get stronger, but will only unlock new forms of magic and special abilities, such as transforming into a wolf, rat, human, etc. From zero to connection. All he needs is equipment that matches you after you’ve spent hours playing. This is useful if you don’t want to start from scratch and want to play with someone later.

V Rising is truly a game that adapts to your preferences. You can customize all rules, not just the difficulty of combat. For example, if you find the rule that restricts teleportation when carrying certain items annoying, you can simply turn it off to improve your gaming experience. This customizability ensures that the game fits your personal play style, making it more fun and exciting.

V Rising is also suitable for players who prefer something other than resource gathering mechanics. Again, resources are important for everything, but once the first third of the game is over, you can create an army that you can send on resource gathering expeditions. This isn’t required, but it makes things easier and adds some extra involvement, since you have to equip your minions with weapons as well as yourself. This micromanagement was a lot more fun than I expected. I loved accumulating resources “remotely”. Every 24 hours (real time), I would start a game, see what my minions had gathered, make something of value out of it, give it to my minions, and send them off on new expeditions.

The Building System

I usually don’t like micromanaging in games like this, but V Rising knows how to make it as painless and hassle-free as possible. However, this only applies partially to the components, which I found tedious. In the game, you can build a magnificent castle (or castles) with floors, gardens, etc.

Although these creations are not as impressive as those in Minecraft, I challenged myself to build a castle with the best room layout and sky roads. From the workshop to the library, basement, and prison. It is tedious when you need to move or build locks or have construction restrictions such as: B. Not being able to place objects diagonally does not help.

Building castles and armies slows down the gameplay of V Rising, but I don’t think it’s harmful. The good thing is that the game offers a mix of action and management. While the main goal is to become strong enough to defeat Dracula, the game also has side activities.

You can trade to unlock new equipment recipes, collect crystal shards for passive skills, and summon monsters with rare resources. There is also the ability to raid other players’ castles on PvP servers. There is always something to do and build in V Rising.

The Look and Feel of V RIsing

The easiest way to play this PC game is with your mouse and keyboard. This is an isometric game, with camera aiming and rotation being separate actions. In more intense combat, camera rotation becomes very important, but is more intuitive with a gamepad than with a mouse.

Left and right camera rotation on the gamepad was initially set to the combination of the triangle and L2/R2 buttons. This was later changed to a better combination of L2 and the right analog stick. Still, it’s much easier to aim with the mouse, and it’s a shame that the PS5 console doesn’t support this playstyle.

Visually, V Rising has nothing special, but it has a good visual style and plenty of on-screen action with over 20 enemies chasing you. Technically, the vast world is commendable. Nothing is hidden and there are no long loading times. h.When you enter the game, you only see it during teleportation. The music is involved in the game’s progression, but it sounds good. I enjoyed the game’s soundtrack using an Xp-Panther Blush gaming headset, which made the whole mess more enjoyable. In other words, if you go slowly, you’ll hear a lot of repetition. However, like everything else in V Rising, this is easily bearable thanks to the addictive gameplay loop.

In Conclusion

For me, V Rising is the kind of game I know it’s not the best I’ve played this year, and probably won’t be the best, but I’m still going to spend a lot more time with it than I would have with any other. The progression system here is so simple that no motivation is needed beyond the list of enemies to stand in your way.

The game is as challenging as you want it to be, and instead of quick reactions, it requires multi-layered preparation and strategy to choose the right moment for a clash. Overall, V Rising is a guilty pleasure that I would happily play again and again if it was in a live service format. There could be more content added to the game, but even now it offers enough content to be a reason for all vampire and dark fantasy fans to play.

I give this game an 8.3 out of 10.

V Rising is rated T by the ESRB for depictions of gore and violence and is not recommended for younger audiences.