V Rising will be a new survival game with a unique approach: You play as a vampire, basically just what you usually run away from in other games. The game has strong influences from Battlerite, and the beta is expected to arrive in 2021.
What is V Rising? In V Rising, you play as a vampire and awaken naked and powerless in your coffin. Your goal is to become the “next Dracula,” as the marketing director Johan explains in an interview (via stunlock.com).
The game combines survival gameplay and skill-based action combat with a Diablo-like top-down view in a huge open world. The world itself is said to be dark and gloomy, with castles and buildings in a suitably gothic style.
Blood is one of the core features of the game. The life juice is your staple food, but also a way to empower yourself with buffs. The main source of blood is humans, but rats will do in a pinch. Special blood, such as that from scholars, can enhance your abilities.
You can play V Rising both solo and in clans. According to current information, between 40 and 80 players will be able to play simultaneously on a server.
V Rising is being developed by Stunlock, an indie studio from Sweden. The studio is mainly known for the arena brawler Battlerite, Dead Island: Epidemic, and Bloodline Champions. Some of the mechanics from these games are also utilized in V Rising.
Hunting at night, sleeping in your own castle
These are the features: Not much is known about the details of the features yet, but the contents themselves remind of classic survival components. V Rising comes with both PvP and PvE content:
- Castles are your own bases that you can build and upgrade – there should be 50 castles possible per server
- if you die, you lose your loot and have to pick it up again
- the combat system is a major focus of the game, and the developers refer to action and skills similar to Battlerite
- there will be mounts – even mounted combat should be possible
- multiple weapons for combat and a magic system will also be available
In V Rising, there is even a day and night cycle, which functions entirely differently than you might be used to. As a vampire, you can hunt better at night because humans see you worse. During the day, you burn to ash if you stay in the sun too long. The dangers are therefore exactly reversed.
When and where can I play? V Rising is currently announced for PC on Steam, with no information about console versions yet. According to the developers, a beta is set to be released “later this year”, but without a specific date. You can sign up for the beta on the official site (via playvrising.com).
In the interview, the marketing director jokes about the studio’s location in a small town in Sweden. Many of their “neighbors” there are also indie developers, from which well-known and big games like Valheim, Raft, Satisfactory or Goat Simulator originate. At least Valheim and Raft have already made it into our list of the 25 best survival games for PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. A good omen for V Rising?
