It's time for another survival game to take the Steam charts by storm, a full year and a half after Valheim became available for early access. An isometric vampire role-playing game available only on PCs, V Rising is visually appealing, affordable, playable, and addictive. Although it's not as crass as Valheim was in the past, it's still somewhat unbalanced. More significantly, V Rising is designed with cooperative gameplay in mind for both PVE and PVP. Valheim was a paradise for loners, but if you avoid other people's company, it becomes difficult at some point.

In V Rising, you are a part of a long-gone vampire society that was forced underground by humans millennia ago. The time of the great awakening is coming, and you have to contribute to the revival. The only real difference between this game and other isometric ARPGs is that base-building is a crucial component of game growth. Right now, survivalism is applied quite "thinly." There's not much more to it than feeding on people or other animals to replenish the blood pool.

Hoping for a less straight-line path

The first hours of V Rising provide a simple experience. The majority of everything you'll harvest for your dwelling's early stages is simple things. A quest system is in place to help you construct your initial castle and gear step-by-step. Since progression is linear, completing those missions exactly will be necessary for you to advance. As you gradually earn the better goods, you'll battle bandits, skeletons, wolves, bears, and other beginner opponents.

Bosses are a crucial component of most unlocks, and they will soon be included in the game. Each fight reveals something new that is inextricably linked to the development of abilities, gear, and inventories. Compared to a few monsters in Valheim, those bosses are much more frequent, and their level of difficulty increases gradually. Later ones will test your nerves and talents; the first ones will be easy. The fact that you can never outgun most bosses makes things harder. Their downfall is invariably correlated with superior spells and equipment.

In addition to combat, the majority of your time will be spent on base construction and resource management. Your structures and valuables will either be secure or up for grabs, depending on the kind of server (PVE or PVP). If you don't like being robbed or ganked, the game itself suggests playing with three or four other players. However, in order to keep your holding intact on the PVE server, you must place the blood essence in the hearth of your castle to stop it from deteriorating. Since that essence is a result of eating, there will always be a sizable excess.

The Sun is attempting to murder me.

Sun, naturally, kills vampires. In V Rising, this well-known issue is a major gameplay problem. Throughout the twenty-four-hour period, the clock steadily ticks away, with nine hours of brightness and fifteen hours of wonderful, delicious darkness. You may move about throughout the day as long as you strive to limit your exposure to sunshine by streaking between shadows. You are granted one or two seconds of immunity before the rays begin to sizzle your fair skin, so you are not immediately scorched. However, fighting, even against low-level opponents, is quite taxing in a bright setting. It's very impossible to go AFK outdoors since the shadows change throughout the day. If you stay under the large oak for more than a quick pee, you'll return to a burnt corpse since the lovely shade under it eventually exposes to the sun. An intriguing and well-considered idea that is yet bothersome.

You'll exhale with relief when darkness finally descends—or, I dunno, pull off the vampire equivalent. You will not experience any special advantages on a typical night; it would make sense, for example, that human enemies would have impaired eyesight. You may travel more quickly and have less ability cooldowns only during the occasional red moon.

Not very appropriate for lone wolves

V As Rising has just been made available to early access users, tempering expectations is more important than pointing out all of its shortcomings. However, there is one issue in particular that has to be addressed right away: completely restricted advancement. The only way to advance in the game is to kill the bosses and drink their blood, since doing so unlocks almost everything. In principle, it's okay, but

But I've struck a brick block at gear LVL 30-33. Nearly unbeatable was Clive the Firestarter, whose job it was to activate the explosives that would open the path to Bandit King and iron weapons. Due of Clive's unpredictable moves, crowds of people from every part of the sulfur quarry have joined the conflict. I made an effort to spend the whole night eliminating every group, but the respawn timer ticketh after I daydreamed. As a result, every time I tried to kill old Clive again, mobs would progressively reappear, overwhelming me. Time and time again.

I could have formed a group with another player, but it would have gone against my vampire solitude huh. Thus, I spent sixty minutes of my real day refining my strategy until I eventually caught him. Then I remembered that in between efforts, I had been waiting for the night, camped out in the shadows, and constantly turning on and off my mobile podcast for at least two hours. Forget about it.

Another Valheim?

Given that a pandemic has affected all of us, it becomes logical to presume that nearly nobody enjoys being placed under lockdown. I'm not familiar with vampires firsthand, so I can't speak to their preferences, but I assume they have similar feelings of being confined during the day. However, what if waiting while perched on your ass takes up one-third of the game? Will you give up or accept the (justifiable) inconvenience? That's probably the second important issue that has to be resolved by the developers if they want to maintain the strong commercial momentum. If V Rising can get over its primary inconvenience, it may become the second Valheim.