A Diablo-crawler is the easiest sell for me: all you have to do is say an Action RPG is “kind of like Diablo” and I’m making space on my hard drive. I’m definitely not alone in this excitement, either. Since dropping on Early Access in May 2022, V Rising surpassed over three million sales and got a Castlevania-crossover announcement before it had even officially released. But now that it’s finally reached its 1.0 launch, is V Rising worth losing sleep over, or should it have stayed in its coffin?

A dungeon crawler’s journey takes a lot of hours to really get into the meat and potatoes of it all, and our time with V Rising has barely scratched the surface of its potential. While you find your bearings, the games opening hours have you spend a long amount of time getting accustomed to the world and mechanics. I should also note that I played this game solo on a PvE server, so I’ve got nothing to say about either the co-op or PvP elements at the moment.

Starting things off is a pretty decent character creator; nothing too advanced here, but plenty of fun and unique options to choose from. The hair options are vast, and there was a lot more variety in hair textures and styling than I was expecting. You can make your vampire look like a handsome, Edward Cullen type, or you can give him the ears and overbite of Nosferatu. I made the ugliest little guy I could, accidentally named him “Byron”, and cast him out into the world.

After leaving the spawning crypt, you’re free to explore as you see fit. There’s plenty of tutorials that help ease players into the game. The game instructs you on how to fight, craft stronger weapons, and how to use your vampiric abilities. All standard dungeon crawler stuff, but the most interesting features of V Rising all come from how the game treats your undead affliction.

For example, there’s a day/night cycle in the game. Naturally, try and avoid the sun. Use shadows or wait until nightfall are the only options at first. Eventually, you’ll be able to craft structures like floors, walls, etc to start building your own base. This part of the game is basic Minecraft in the way that you acquire items. Players can hack and slash at trees and stone boulders until gathering you need. Then, either use them directly or craft machines to make better stuff. Crafting stations will upgrade your weapons and armor, while the Mist Blazier will project a sun-blocking shadow over your camp.

Vampires also have to drink blood to survive, so going too long without feeding can start to produce negative effects. Drinking blood fills your “blood pool” and can heal you. However, you shouldn’t feed while in the middle of a fight. The type of blood you drink also determines the kinds of status effects/boosts you receive. Drinking warrior blood will increase strength modifiers, while eating wildlife like deer increases your speed. There’s a lot more to this that I haven’t fully explored. But I absolutely love the way V Rising incorporates these classic vampire tropes into the gameplay.

Enemy types range from skeletal warriors to human beings, to wolves and various magical creatures. Bipedal enemies usually come in different shapes and sizes – swordsmen, slashes and brutes to name a few – and sometimes you’ll encounter a wizard or shaman and run away cursing while he summons more guys to kill you.

As far as lore goes, V Rising doesn’t seem too concerned with filling any gaps. Aside from a brief stylized cutscene at the beginning, there’s not much else. Any ounce of “story” seems to come from player’s exploring and encountering fragments of it in the world. You’ll eventually encounter giant wolves that apparently have the blood essence of Count Dracula in their lineage. That’s as far as that lore goes at the moment.

Stylistically, V Rising looks a bit like a mix between League of Legends and a modern metroidvania. Minus the pop art finish on the cel-shading. The art style lends itself well to the gothic settings, as does the top down angle. It’s like looking at an enchanted painting hanging up on one of old Dracula’s castle walls.

So far, V Rising is an impressive dungeon crawler with a nice added touch of survival/crafting mechanics. There is a lot of the usual here. If you’ve played these types of games you’ll probably get the hang of it fairly quickly. That said, there is also quite a bit to keep genre veterans on their toes and coming back for more.

V Rising is available now on Steam and coming soon to PlayStation5.

Images courtesy of Stunlock Studios