Open world, Diablo battles, base building and survival: V Rising throws the most diverse genres into one pot. But does it really fit together? We explain how the vampire game works and why you should definitely keep an eye on it.
Give us some insight into the developers’ vision for V Rising. We explain what the genre-bending vampire survival game is all about.
“Oh cool, another Diablo clone and Valheim knock-off.” This or something similar was the first reaction in our editorial office to the announcement of V Rising. How do vampires and base building fit together? And aren’t the hack & slay battles completely out of place here? Then the whole thing is also online PvP. Who is this supposed to appeal to?
We waited for the answers to these questions for over seven months. At the time, Stunlock Studios didn’t want to tell us much about their game. Over half a year and a few impressive gameplay trailers later, we finally know more about the vampire survival game.
Community Manager Jeremy Fielding answers our most burning questions – and also brings new and exclusive screenshots. In our preview, you can find out what V Rising is all about, why first impressions are deceptive and who should definitely keep an eye on the survival game.
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What is V Rising all about?
If the terms hack & slay, iso-perspective, loot, survival, open world and sandbox make your mouth water, you should definitely make a note of V Rising. What at first sounds like a Diablo clone with a vampire setting that also wants a piece of Valheim’s success turns out to be an innovative genre mix on closer inspection.
In V Rising you do not play a chosen one, a hero in shining armour. You are a powerful and terrifying vampire who does not stop at attacking innocent people to replenish his own blood supply. In a world where vampires, monsters and humans coexist, you fight for your survival with numerous weapons and abilities in Diablo-like battles.
You don’t follow a predefined story, but can let off steam in the sandbox-like open world. Do you want to penetrate dangerous areas and take on stronger monsters? Or do you want to capture a human and lock him up in your self-made dungeon as a snack for later? You decide where to go. Just beware of sacred places, garlic and daylight!
Who are the developers?
The now 30-strong developer studio Stunlock Studios has been around for about a decade. Back then, a few students joined forces to work on a joint project. This university project became the free2play PvP arena game Bloodline Champions, which won the Game of the Year award at the Swedish Game Awards in 2009.
“After Bloodline Champions, we developed more players of that sort. [Such as the Free2Play game Battlerite, editor’s note],” Jeremy Fielding tells us. “Our expertise is in arena brawlers – we’ve always been heavily inspired by the skill-based and competitive nature of those games. For our latest game, V Rising, we want to take our experience and infuse fast-paced, controlled PvP combat into a world with strong PvE aspects, crafting and survival.”
The developer studio has been working closely with Tencent Holdings Ltd. since 2016. In 2019, the Chinese company acquired a majority stake in the Swedish studio. Whether this collaboration will affect any monetisation plans for V Rising is still unclear.
The birth of V Rising
The inspiration for the vampire game came to Martin Lövgren in 2019 through Netflix. The animated series Castlevania set the creative director’s mind spinning: how could the experience from the Netflix show be translated into an open world survival game?
“Our team was then equally excited about the idea of combining vampire fantasy with elements from our other games – and exploring new game design avenues in the process,” says Community Manager Jeremy Fielding. For the studio, V Rising was a chance to try something new and different from what they had done before.
The developers are not afraid of not being able to establish themselves in the field of survival games. V Rising has enough unique features for that, Fielding assures:
“Many survival games focus on the player fighting their way out of hopelessness and becoming a pioneer who conquers a small piece of the wilderness. V Rising, on the other hand, is about becoming the terror and conquering every challenge in every corner of the world. While other survival games are about surviving, V Rising is about a harsh fantasy world. The player is incredibly powerful, but at the same time must face situations that can challenge such power.”
V Rising, with its interesting mix of the vampire setting and base building, should also provide a home for many different types of players: Action combat, open world freedom, base building, PvP, survival, role-playing – it’s all on the menu for the Swedish studio’s vampire game.
The Realm of the Vampires
As a vampire, you roam through a huge, hand-built open world in V Rising. The different areas merge seamlessly into one another, so that you can explore the world at will and without loading screens. You decide where you want to go:
“Some areas are more dangerous than others, but we want to leave it up to the player to decide when hard becomes difficult.”
So if you want to face the monsters of the Cursed Forest, you can do so at any time. The enemies in V Rising, by the way, patrol their own territory and occasionally push into enemy territory. So you are not the only enemies of your adversaries: “Not only do you encounter enemy creatures at random. The enemy creatures also randomly encounter each other,” explains Jeremy Fielding. “It’s not uncommon to encounter the remnants of a fight between bandits and wolves, or militia and undead soldiers.”
The sandbox nature of the open world allows players to choose their own path and explore the dark fantasy world. As already mentioned, there is no real story. “For us, the gameplay events and the unique experiences that each player chooses are the real story of the game,” the community manager elaborates. “There are many ways you can play V Rising. And we don’t want to dictate anything to our players. “
The online component
V Rising will be an online survival game. On a server you play together with about 70 to 80 players. All vampires exist in the same world at the same time. You can join forces or compete in PvP against your vampire rivals and storm their castles.
In order to appeal to all types of players, the developers also allow private servers. On these you can play together with your friends – whether in co-op or competitively. If you want a pure single-player experience, you can of course also play pure PvE alone on a private server.
Builders with fangs
Have you ever seen a vampire with blueprints and a pickaxe? Well, neither have we. In V Rising, however, base building is also part of the game – as it should be in a survival game. For the developers themselves, this mixture is not that unusual:
“Oldschool vampires always had a castle or a mansion that served as their anchor point,” argues Jeremy Fielding. “For us, a base is not only important to the concept of vampires in our game, it’s also the core of player progression. It represents everything the player has achieved so far – and it’s where they’ll find everything they need to get back on their feet should they fail.”
At the beginning of every vampire castle is a so-called blood well. Filled to the brim, it unfolds its effect and not only protects the castle from damage and decay. The well also allows you to take over other areas.
But the blood well is not the only important object in the life of a vampire. A coffin is not only a cosy resting place, but also serves as a safe respawn point for the player in V Rising. According to the developer, you can also decorate it with knickknacks if you want to wake up in a luxury version of the wooden box.
Don’t forget sunscreen!
The dark vampire setting allows the developers an interesting interplay between day and night. The cycle not only affects the visuals of the game, but also changes the gameplay and the way players can move through the world. For here, no one glitters seductively in the daylight. Instead, vampires burst into flames in sunny weather.
“Our in-game sun is a physical object that moves across the sky,” explains Jeremy Fielding. “The objects down on the ground cast a shadow that changes in real time. We put a lot of work into the day and night rhythm.” So during the day, alcoves shrouded in shadow and darkness are your best friends, helping you escape the sun’s deadly light.
Bloody Meals
There’s one big drawback to being a vampire: conventional food and potions don’t taste good. Sad for the bloodsuckers – good for the survival players! Because blood is – apart from your life meter – the only need you have to pay attention to in V Rising. Instead of fishing for fish, gathering mushrooms and conjuring up a delicious broth at the campfire, you go hunting for victims for an involuntary blood donation.
According to the developer, just about every enemy in the world is suitable for this – provided blood flows through his veins. Different types of blood give the vampires additional bonuses and buffs. If you want to concentrate on your base building, it can’t hurt to use worker blood, which boosts your efficiency. If, on the other hand, you want to improve your critical hit chance and damage value, rogue blood is a good delicacy.
In multiplayer, you can then let your friends suck on your blood vessels and share these buffs with them. It gives a whole new meaning to the concept of blood brotherhood.
Diablo battles with bloody rewards
As a vampire, you don’t just have to watch out for daylight in V Rising. The large world is teeming with human bandits and guards. But fantasy creatures such as monsters, tree creatures, witches, stone formations that have come to life and giant spiders are also up to their mischief. In addition to ordinary enemies, bosses and mini-bosses also await you, whose blood provides you with the bonuses already mentioned.
A variety of weapons are available to you for the hack & slay battles. Depending on the situation and your mood, you can switch between swords, axes and crossbows, among other things. “These are just a few of the weapon types we have,” Jeremy Fielding elaborates. “We’re also considering expanding our arsenal even more. “
How much damage you do to your opponents and how effective your abilities are depends largely on your equipment. But there will also be possibilities to optimise your vampire warrior beyond the armour advantages. However, the developers have decided not to use classic levelling.
Instead, improvements and even special abilities such as spells will be absorbed with the blood of your enemies. The developers do not want to reveal more about this at the moment.
By the way, you control your anti-hero with the keyboard and aim with the mouse. “This is a relatively unusual control in combination with the top-down view,” says Jeremy Fielding. “This is where we can show off the expertise we’ve gained through Battlerite.” Responsive movement and pinpoint attacks should give players a sense of complete control on the battlefield.
It is currently unknown whether the game will also support controllers. However, as in previous games by Stunlock Studios, it would probably not be possible to transfer the controls of V Rising elegantly to a controller, as it would have too few buttons for the individual skills. And workarounds would disrupt the flow of the fast-paced battles.
This is what happens in 2022
Swedish development team Stunlock Studios showcases V Rising’s action-heavy combat and atmospheric backdrops in their gameplay trailer. However, a release date has yet to be announced.
“V Rising is by far our biggest project. Creating such a huge and persistent world for a large number of players has proven to be a truly incredible undertaking from a technical but also from a design perspective. “
Before the official release, there will still be an Early Access. The developers themselves already have a rough idea of when they want to start this and what the game should look like by then. “All we have to do now is stick to our vision and move forward,” says Jeremy Fielding.
Until Early Access, Stunlock Studios is still completing areas, breathing more life into the world, adding additional crafting items and tweaking the balancing – just to name a few of the current construction sites.
“While our overarching vision for the game requires an EA phase and feedback beyond that, we still believe V Rising will be an exciting and rewarding vampire experience – starting on Day 1.”
The chances of the developers succeeding in this are pretty good. What at first sounds like a haphazard patchwork quilt is slowly but surely taking shape. Of course, Stunlock Studios is inspired in many ways by already existing game features.
We know fast-paced combat from Diablo, survival and building elements can also be found in Steam hits like Valheim or The Forest. Even vampires, harmful daylight and regular bloodsucking are not a new invention on the game market. In the indie role-playing game Vampires Dawn 3, for example, we also unlock special abilities with the blood of our victims.
So what makes V Rising special? The unusual combination of all these elements, the clear thread that runs through all the features and the expertise of the developers in the field of competitive PvP games come together in V Rising to create an innovative survival game. The proximity to the community also helps the development studio to gain a good understanding of the numerous target groups in order to make the most diverse types of players happy.
Stunlock Studios also asked us to postpone our interview about half a year ago. At the time, they simply weren’t ready to reveal details about an unfinished game. Instead, they are taking their time in realising their vision.
This makes V Rising seem not just like a Diablo clone or the umpteenth survival game, but like a promising passion project that we should definitely keep on our radar. How the action survival game will ultimately play, whether the different features in the gameplay will feel meaningful and whether both PvP and PvE lovers will really get their money’s worth, remains to be seen.
In addition, concerned voices keep popping up that V Rising could suffer the same fate as its Free2Play ancestor Battlerite. After the live service was no longer profitable for the developers, more and more players dropped out. In the meantime, Battlerite is considered a “dead game” in the arena-brawler community. It remains to be seen which pricing model the developers want to pursue with V Rising. According to the community manager, the developers have already planned the first content ideas for the post-release phase.
You can follow the updates of the development team (on their blog), their (Social Media channels) or on the (Discord server). Hopefully we can read more about the EA release of V Rising there soon. Maybe it will already be in 2022, after all, a closed beta is already scheduled for the end of the first quarter. For the future of V Rising, Jeremy Fielding promises: “Early Access will only be the beginning!”
Editor’s verdict
When I first read the description of V Rising a few months ago, I was confused and annoyed at the same time. Confused because I didn’t understand how this strange combination of very different genres was supposed to work in one game. Annoyed because I had the feeling that now, after the success of Valheim, everyone wants to jump on the survival bandwagon.
But the more I see of V Rising and the more I learn about the game’s mechanics, the more excited I am about its release. Although the ARPG-survival mix makes use of already familiar features, I’m looking forward to experiencing the interplay. I am especially eager to see if the Swedish developers succeed in picking up different types of players. Although I like to play with my friends from time to time, I am a passionate loner at heart. So will I get a full gaming experience as a solo player who is only into PvE? Hopefully we will find out as early as 2022.
