V Rising has just released its first major content patch, and there’s much to unpack.
Games that try to switch things around by making you the bad guy are nothing new. Dungeon Keeper was the first of its kind, putting you in control of a demonic overlord tasked with building and defending an evil domain. V Rising is an ARPG that has you take on the role of a vampire lord in a world where your race has been mostly eliminated. It’s up to you to build a castle and strike fear into the hearts of your enemies.
New building options
Creating your castle is a lot easier now, since you will unlock the entire area when placing down your castle heart. In the past, you had to unlock every tile surrounding it, which was a hassle. Verticality is also an option now with the help of stairs. Your castle can have up to three floors now, allowing you to cram more things in a smaller area. Another quality of life addition is short-range teleporters. These come in various colors and work quite easily. Place two of the same color in your base, and you can instantly travel between them.
World expansion
While the world is almost the same, most areas have been revamped and tweaked. Waygates that allow you to fast travel between areas have been placed in locations that make more sense. More resources are scattered across the map, ensuring that you’ll always have multiple areas to farm in. There are also some new environmental effects specific to biomes. For example, the Cursed Forest biome can now stack a Fog curse on you. Reach 100 stacks and your character will be surrounded by fog, with your map and minimap also becoming covered in fog.
New weapons
Scattered around the map are ancient shattered weapons that you can restore at the Ancestral Forge. Most of them have additional attributes as well as being able to inflict elemental effects. You can also get your hands on two new weapons, a Greatsword and the Dual Pistols. The greatsword has a lot of weight behind every hit with the added bonus of hitting multiple enemies with a single swing. For fans of ranged combat, the Dual Pistols offer some great mobility with the Exploding Bullet ability that will push enemies back if you need some breathing room.
New enemies
12 new V Blood bosses have been added, each offering you a new mechanic after you take them down. Scattered across every biome you’ll also encounter 30 new monster types, ranging from new spider variants all the way to Rock Elementals. It will take a while to get used to the new attack patterns of some of these monsters, but most of them are a welcome addition to the existing roster.
V Rising: Secrets of Gloomrot is out now for free on PC. And the future looks bright for this title, with two more planned content patches currently on the horizon.
