The quality of blood also matters you get increased stats if you drain the blood of more powerful creatures. Your blood drains naturally over time, and can be spent on some abilities, like a self-heal. In place of the usual hunger and thirst meters, you have only one need to fulfill: the need for blood. It’s definitely one of the more interesting environmental hazards I’ve seen in gaming, although I imagine dodging the sun could start to become tiresome if you spend a lot of time in the game.

You need to be careful about going AFK because the movement of the sun can bring deadly light to a once-shady area. The detection of shade versus sun is quite intelligent. Luckily, like any good gothic horror setting, the world of V Rising is blanketed in dense, gloomy forests that offer plenty of darkness even by day. It’s only direct sunlight that hurts, so as long as you stay in the shade, you’re safe. That doesn’t mean you can’t move by day, but you do have to be careful. At night, you can roam as you will, but by day, you run the risk of taking massive damage any time you venture into the sun for more than a few moments. For one, you really want to pay attention to the day/night cycle. There are some fresh mechanics around the fact you’re playing as a vampire. There’s some interesting flavor to the opening sequence of the game, as you claw your way out of your coffin and begin harvesting local skeletons for their bones, but upon venturing out into the world, you’re back punching trees and rocks like you would in almost every other survival title. Unfortunately, that isn’t really what I got. It was my hope that this would be a genuinely fresh take on the genre, not just a latecomer “me too” survival title. Enter V Rising, a new survival sandbox with the twist that you are playing an ancient vampire come to retake their dominion over humans (and other vampires).ĭeveloper Stunlock Studios was kind enough to offer press access prior to today’s early access launch, and I took the opportunity to get the game’s measure. I enjoy a lot of the survival experience, but the games as a whole never really deliver what I’m looking for. I’m still searching for a survival game that fits me.

V rising reviews