V Rising: An Endless Amount of Fun
V Rising executed what dungeon crawlers should be. However, this was something other than a pure dungeon crawler. Thanks to its open-world aspect, this game is a blast from the very start. The grind is a lot. But it keeps you engaged from the very beginning. The feel of this game is very Diablo. Yet, it stands out as its own. With unique skills, a bunch of bosses, crafting to keep you alive, and plenty of weapons, this game will keep you on your toes. Let me break it down:
Let's talk about the world first. It's big, and there is plenty to do, from encounters with humans to bosses themselves. I will get into that soon. The world is dark and gritty, something you would expect from a game based on vampires. The world is very dark and almost goth-like, to be honest. Which, for this type of game, is a plus. The day and night cycle is one of the best things about this game. You have to plan your "day-to-day" intentions to survive. It takes little time to take heavy damage during the day. With other natural things that can hurt, like garlic, this world keeps you on your toes. This world is full of trees for obvious reasons. And that's a good thing—big trees to protect you from the sun during the day.
The grind is significant and rewarding. Let me break it down. Building your castle is very important, as it is your base for upgrading weapons, yourself, and other things. You can even have servants who protect your base and go on hunts. This is very important for the grind, which can sometimes be tedious. Getting resources is very important. However, it is a lot. For me, that is okay. Fighting the bosses is vital because that's how you learn more spells and skills. Yet fighting them takes patience and learning their moves. My advice is to be at least five levels below or at their level before you fight them. You can't be above their levels because that's how the balance works. It's like a single-player game that has no levels. Which is relatively uncommon today, but these games are out there. It's not a soul-like game, but sometimes you must be on your A-Game to take a boss down. Finding all the needed materials is a big grind, but this grind was more fun than annoying.
Blood is the primary resource in the game. And I mean the primary resource. Getting blood is not bad at all. There are many ways to acquire blood: from your enemies, hearts, and the blood pool. I wanted to mention this because there are so many ways to get this valuable resource, which is fantastic. These are just three ways I thought of, but there is more. It's impressive.
The combat is so good. And the boss battles are intense. The battles get pretty hard when you get past the first few bosses, especially when they do many skills in seconds. This is what I mean by being on your toes. It is a good thing that skills can be used during regular attacks. So that's nice. There are a lot of different skills. And every playstyle is different, which can be nice because each run can be different. But having all of these skills can also help you figure out which ones will work best against the boss. So you never know which one will work. As I said, these bosses are not soul-like, but each is harder than the last. Like I said, learning the bosses move the first time you fight them, and then the next taking them down.
Stunlock Studios and Level Infinite are the developers and publishers. These two studios are well-known in the indie world. Stunlock created such a dark game using the Unity Game Engine. Stunlock is responsible for Battlerite Royale, which appeared on Windows in 2017. A Chinese subdivision called Tencent Games created Level Infinite, a publisher, in December 2021. You may recognize Tencent Games. They are responsible for several game engines. These engines were used for games, including PUBG, Need For Speed, and Monster Hunter. Level Infinite is responsible for Tower of Fantasy. These two are working on V Rising and show their expertise. The game was released in early access back in 2022. After two years of feedback and hard work, version 1.0 was released on Steam in May. They then teamed up with Konami, the team behind Castlevania, to bring a big DLC based on the popular franchise. On June 11th, the game was released on PS5, and there are no reports of it coming to Xbox anytime soon. With over six million units sold and a gross revenue of $105 million, this game is a success for a small team and Stunlock's first big game.
Aleksandria Migova composed the music for this game, and her style is eerie, gloomy, and dark; from the darkness of bass strings and cello to the screaming of the violins, she brings the vibes of old-school vampire movies. I enjoyed this soundtrack. There's not much else to say, but it was exactly what I expected for a game like this.
This game is just endless fun. This is what this industry needs from a not-known developer. They did well, and I hope that these vibes continue. And Stunlock has more to come, as they have confirmed that more content is coming.