Man, I cannot put this game down for the life of me. V Rising is a combination of game elements I've been dreaming for all my life to get put into one game, and though it doesn't do it flawlessly it does it with an incredible amount of fun and confidence that it's just really hard to put down.

Just to get it out of the way, I wanna clarify some burning questions a lot of people might have at face value when looking at this game

• The game is not a looter, it's a survival game; you're not going to find loot from enemies that'll give you unique stats on your gear. but instead you'll have to craft gear that's of a set value.
  
• The combat's a lot more akin to something like Dark Souls or Valheim than it is to something like Diablo: positioning is key and your cooldown for your skills are very, very long all things considered (but expect to use all of them about a dozen times during a short fight). Your choice in weapon type matters a lot and I find myself often switching a lot over the course of a fight.
  
• There is a PvP mode, a copious amount of PvE content to cut through, and yes, even an offline mode. No, not an always-online solo mode: I mean an offline mode where you're not connected to the internet. This was honestly the selling point for me, doubly so because it was actually added after people were clamouring for it.
  
• Worth mentioning, but each server you join has a separate character profile for you; you cannot carry over your work from one server to another, and this is largely due to the base building and PvP elements.

I really love this game. It's rare to find a game that really nails the fantasy that's trying to sell, even the vampire ones, but this game does it in spades. One of my favorite aspects is the "blood type" system, where enemies you find will have a "blood type" (think class or subclass) and a purity level. Draining their blood then provides you with their blood type and their blood's purity, effectively changing you to those values. For instance, if you get a 4% rogue and then eat a 14% rogue, you will become a 14% rogue. What a lot of people don't like is that it doesn't stack, and if you eat a lower ranking type of blood then you'll swap to exactly that value (i.e. Going from 14% rogue to 4% rogue). But to be honest I actually really love that because it makes scouring the world for the really good blood types before a big boss fight so much more engaging, and it really makes me weigh my options and consider if I want to risk fighting with a stronger blood type that's about to run out, or go out and get a weaker blood type to replenish myself while I'm in dangerous territory.

There are a ton of bosses (not Elite units) in this game, and many of them move around the map at random. Often I'll find myself tracking one boss, only to find another in my path that's considerably more dangerous. Sometimes I'll even catch them fighting each other which I can exploit to reap the rewards for both. The whole world feels especially dynamic, even without bringing other players into the equation. To date, they were all really fun to fight, but I haven't gotten all that far in the game yet, completing only about eight of them. Gear level obviously goes a long way to determine your success, but I'm surprised how careful usage of positioning and skill seems to be paramount when fighting any of them, helping you punch above your weight class to even deal with bosses you weren't supposed to be fighting yet. I haven't even tried the PvP yet, but the PvE content so far is very content rich and I can see myself playing through it again and again.

Thinking back on it now, I don't think there's anything about this game that I actively dislike beyond the fact that players can just build their castles to block off a lot of territory. It gets annoying and there doesn't seem to be a mechanism to prevent them from building in entry ways, so you'll have to really look out for the best spot and hope nobody builds their castle in front of your home to troll you. I haven't had that happen to me directly yet but I did have a lot of trouble finding a place to start building my castle. There's also the fact that it has some performance issues that can get pretty severe depending on your build, but obviously it's not ideal for a game that's primarily PvP focused.

Other than that, I just think that most of my qualms come from things I wish would be in the game but aren't or shouldn't be. Things like randomly generated maps or dungeons, looting gear with stats, things of that nature. But it's not that kind of game, and what it does do instead solidly feeds into its design philosophy. I can't recommend this game enough.

That being said, having vampire NPCs whose castles you can raid or who can raid you would be amazing.

Man, I cannot put this game down for the life of me. V Rising is a combination of game elements I've been dreaming for all my life to get put into one game, and though it doesn't do it flawlessly it does it with an incredible amount of fun and confidence that it's just really hard to put down. Just to get it out of the way, I wanna clarify some burning questions a lot of people might have at face value when looking at this game [list][*]The game is not a looter, it's a survival game; you're not going to find loot from enemies that'll give you unique stats on your gear. but instead you'll have to craft gear that's of a set value. [*]The combat's a lot more akin to something like Dark Souls or Valheim than it is to something like Diablo: positioning is key and your cooldown for your skills are very, very long all things considered (but expect to use all of them about a dozen times during a short fight). Your choice in weapon type matters a lot and I find myself often switching a lot over the course of a fight. [*]There is a PvP mode, a copious amount of PvE content to cut through, and yes, even an [i]offline[/i] mode. No, not an always-online solo mode: I mean an offline mode where you're not connected to the internet. This was honestly the selling point for me, doubly so because it was actually added [i]after[/i] people were clamouring for it. [*]Worth mentioning, but each server you join has a separate character profile for you; you cannot carry over your work from one server to another, and this is largely due to the base building and PvP elements.[/list] I really love this game. It's rare to find a game that really nails the fantasy that's trying to sell, even the vampire ones, but this game does it in spades. One of my favorite aspects is the "blood type" system, where enemies you find will have a "blood type" (think class or subclass) and a purity level. Draining their blood then provides you with their blood type and their blood's purity, effectively changing you to those values. For instance, if you get a 4% rogue and then eat a 14% rogue, you will become a 14% rogue. What a lot of people don't like is that it doesn't stack, and if you eat a lower ranking type of blood then you'll swap to exactly that value (i.e. Going from 14% rogue to 4% rogue). But to be honest I actually really love that because it makes scouring the world for the really good blood types before a big boss fight so much more engaging, and it really makes me weigh my options and consider if I want to risk fighting with a stronger blood type that's about to run out, or go out and get a weaker blood type to replenish myself while I'm in dangerous territory. There are a ton of bosses (not Elite units) in this game, and many of them move around the map at random. Often I'll find myself tracking one boss, only to find another in my path that's considerably more dangerous. Sometimes I'll even catch them fighting [i]each other[/i] which I can exploit to reap the rewards for both. The whole world feels especially dynamic, even without bringing other players into the equation. To date, they were all really fun to fight, but I haven't gotten all that far in the game yet, completing only about eight of them. Gear level obviously goes a long way to determine your success, but I'm surprised how careful usage of positioning and skill seems to be paramount when fighting any of them, helping you punch above your weight class to even deal with bosses you weren't supposed to be fighting yet. I haven't even tried the PvP yet, but the PvE content so far is very content rich and I can see myself playing through it again and again. Thinking back on it now, I don't think there's anything about this game that I actively dislike beyond the fact that players can just build their castles to block off a lot of territory. It gets annoying and there doesn't seem to be a mechanism to prevent them from building in entry ways, so you'll have to really look out for the best spot and hope nobody builds their castle in front of your home to troll you. I haven't had that happen to me directly yet but I did have a lot of trouble finding a place to start building my castle. There's also the fact that it has some performance issues that can get pretty severe depending on your build, but obviously it's not ideal for a game that's primarily PvP focused. Other than that, I just think that most of my qualms come from things I wish would be in the game but aren't or shouldn't be. Things like randomly generated maps or dungeons, looting gear with stats, things of that nature. But it's not that kind of game, and what it does do instead solidly feeds into its design philosophy. I can't recommend this game enough. That being said, having vampire NPCs whose castles you can raid or who can raid you would be amazing.