I have to give “V Rising” credit because it managed to blend two very saturated genres into something that works. Action RPGs and survival games come together in a game that offers more than simple gimmicks.
You are a weakened vampire lord at the start of the game, with nothing to your name but the rags on your back. Like most survival games, those early moments are spent gathering resources to craft meager tools and weapons. Once the player gets their bearings, they can begin working on their first camp.
Any vampire lord worth their salt needs an impressive castle to call home. Unfortunately for the player, they won’t be able to make the lavish castle of their dreams for quite some time. The beginning hours of the game are slow-paced.
A slow start is typical for a survival game, but players who are more familiar with the ARPG side of things might find the beginning tedious. It’s a lot of hacking away at trees and building yourself up before being able to take on the game’s many bosses. Still, it’s worth pushing through the slow start to get to the real meat of the game.
The core gameplay loop of “V Rising” is unique and addicting. Combat and crafting are done from an isometric view. Once the player crafts a decent set of gear, they’re able to take on a long list of boss vampires and use their blood to increase their own power. This also unlocks new abilities for use in combat, and eventually, the player will be able to target specific builds for their character.
The developer has done a great job of blending the gameplay of survival games and ARPGs because they make their elements complement each other well. The vampire castles are also a great reflection of the player’s increase in power as they’re able to create more elaborate layouts.
A big drawback to playing this on a Playstation 5 is the control scheme and menu navigation. Since the player has so many different options and abilities during gameplay, the developer had to figure how to map all those actions to a controller. The result is a confusing layout of buttons and having abilities mapped to awkward combinations of presses.
Even after hours of gameplay, it can be hard to remember what button commands equate to which actions. Beyond that, the menu layouts for character and crafting options are poorly organized. It’s a confusing mess of menu, figuring out what buttons do in those menus and then trying to remember it all.
If you have the option to play this on PC then go to that version because a keyboard and mouse will make the game a lot easier to play. Thankfully, other things like navigating servers and maps aren’t such a pain on console.
While “V Rising” has some multiplayer options like co-op and pvp worlds it’s still a lot of fun completely solo. The core gameplay loop is well-thought out, and it offers dozens, if not more, hours of gameplay. While the console version is far from perfect, “V Rising” on Playstation 5 earns four stars out of five.