We tried the beta version of V Rising, Stunlock Studios’ vampires survival

Survival are subtle games: their loops seem slow and boring at first, but the intriguing mix of material gathering and survival struggle takes little time to develop into a routine that can glue a player to the screen for hours. Of course, this mainly happens in quality exponents of the genre, often in extraordinarily flexible sandboxes or those that can stand out from the crowd due to some unique features, but the “dope” element is an integral part of almost every game in this genre, and therefore its potential users are likely to be in the millions right now. .

Clearly, there is no lack of competition in an increasingly popular and easily adaptable field online, and standing out requires not only good technical skills but also a fair amount of creativity. This Stunlock Studios – the team has been active for several years – so they chose to give their new kid a distinctly darker tone: they named it V Rising and decided to replace the players as ruthless vampires eager to regain their dominance over the entire race. Human.

The overhaul of survival in a “vampire” key is undoubtedly an interesting starting point, but Stunlocks wasn’t limited to that… we’re still talking about the team that created the Battlerite and Bloodline Champions – competent, but unfortunate competitive online games have a top view – and as such, A group of experts in combat mechanics with decades of practice behind them. That’s why V Rising doesn’t limit itself to suggesting a marginal variation of the classic survival cycle and deploys systems that are much more refined than average when it comes to conflicts and progression. Of course, it will all be played with a relaxed bird’s eye view.

we tried V Rising beta for a few days and today we are ready to present you our preliminary analysis.

We take back everything that was Dracula

V Rising, like most games of its genre, starts with a pretty stingy tutorial: a mix of objectives that prompts the player to try out the crafting system, pushes him to build his first shelter, and gradually teaches him to recover essential resources. all first steps. After the entrance graveyard, you will be immediately abandoned on a large map full of vegetation and outposts of various types, normally populated by humans or various monsters ready to attack you when they see it. And let me tell you, all this aggression is very justified: as a vampire, your alter ego is an incredibly powerful predator, capable of brutalizing almost anyone and sucking the blood of its enemies and then exploiting it in various ways (mainly through healing). itself. ), so much so that his nature as an assassin is closely linked to the progression of the game.

Unlike many other survivals that are mostly exploratory, in V Rising your progress and equipment go hand in hand with the living (or undead) creatures you decide to destroy. your Centre and indeed all “looms” are activated by a core that consumes vital essences, and in addition the title also offers some. boss Similar to the popular Valheim, which must be gradually found and eliminated to unlock additional vehicles or optionally equipable mystical powers (for up to two active powers at a time, an dodge and a ‘weapon’ technique, in addition to an ultimate ability).

And no, in case you were wondering, these bosses are too useful to be considered optional. In fact, your primary goal in V Rising is to build a majestic one. gothic castle – it’s actually pretty intuitive to set up, at least if you’re aiming for simplicity – and you’ll need crafting benches, which can usually be unlocked by killing one or another elite opponent, to easily have a lot of the ingredients needed to create anything.

If that’s not enough, some of these bosses also offer alternative formats, such as one. turning into a rat or a wolfsecondly, it is very important to move quickly around the map in the early stages (where there are no mounts available).

Only one will remain. The one with the sharpest canine teeth.

This formula forces you to keep moving, guided by a comfortable altar of blood from which you can choose targets, and it works great thanks to a simple but well thought-out combat system taken from previous games in the house. The vampires (up to 40, apparently) that populate each server still have at their disposal magic bullets, poison mines, dodge explosive clones, and a host of other abilities broken down into elements very similar to the powers seen in Battlerite. Almost every spell will be manually directed or have a specific area, and most of these are useful defensive barriers or abilities that temporarily stun enemies, which is, in short, the routine of any competitive arena title.

This mix of possibilities has to do with bosses, of course, given the intricate move sets and the same general danger, but it’s also about the fact that the game includes some stuff. PVP server, With many possibilities where vampires can gather in clans or try to destroy each other, to destroy or conquer other’s castles (provided they build expensive mystical keys) and rob anyone killed from all inventory. In short, Rising servers already in PVE V tend to have a much more tense and competitive survival than the norm, where they can compete for the elimination of a certain region boss before the next respawn, but in the absence of those who are not. Aggression governs how things get really chaotic and brutal for those who like constant competition. However, the development of the vampires and the path chosen for the combat described above make everything noticeably more fun and robust than the vast majority of the competition, an element that cannot be underestimated in the long run.

It’s hard to say whether everything will run flawlessly at launch, but we have to admit we’re impressed with the beta’s robustness. The crafting of the game is already very rich, the bosses surprised us with their diversity, the powers available are varied and decently balanced, and in general, V Rising seems to have few weaknesses for a fan of this type of game. To make a qualifier, we noticed some spikes in difficulty at certain times (mainly between levels 30 and 36), a very fast day-night cycle (at least annoyingly if you think the sun can hurt you during the day). you don’t move in the shadows) and some mismanagement of teleporters scattered around the map (rare and unusable if you’re carrying materials). Overall, the Stunlocks seem to have a potential winner on their hands. Who knows if they will be able to conquer a large and passionate community as well.