Stunlock Studios’ vampire survival game V Rising has exploded in popularity just days after its release, celebrating an extremely impressive milestone for a Steam Early Access title. V Rising is an open-world survival game developed by the studio behind Battlerite and Bloodline Champions. Players awaken as a newly spawned vampire and are thrust into the unforgiving world of Vardoran with the goal of regaining their strength by hunting humans, drinking blood, and restoring their castle. V Rising’s open world has world bosses, villages, bandit camps, and dangerous magical creatures to encounter, all while the playable vampire is forced to hide from the sun and avoid garlic for fear of disintegration.
Though the vampire genre has been beloved for a long time, V Rising could rejuvenate interest in the blood-sucking creatures. Though Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt are both bringing vampires into the mainstream again, V Rising is a welcomed addition and certainly proves that the vampire genre is far from dead. It has been said that V Rising offers one of the darkest takes on vampire lore that gaming has seen, as players drain human enemies of their blood in exchange for experience, gaining tremendous power so more havoc can be spread across Vardoran. V Rising’s horrifying enemies also help solidify it as a particularly dark take on the genre.
According to the official V Rising Twitter account, the vampire survival game exploded in popularity days after its release. In the announcement, V Rising claimed it reached an enormous total global player count, confirming that “500,000 Vampires out there have stepped into Vardoran,” the game’s virtual world. “Thank you all for joining us on this journey,” the post continued. 500,000 total players are quite the mark, especially for an Early Access Steam title. As of May 22, V Rising was listed in the top ten on SteamPlayerCount, above Elden Ring and Rainbow Six Siege.
V Rising’s milestone is nothing to scoff at. Immediately after its release, developer Norsfell’s Tribes of Midgard celebrated 250,000 downloads and planted 40,000 trees for reaching the impressive goal. V Rising’s gameplay mechanics are similar to those in Tribes of Midgard, in which players interact with the world to scavenge for resources, defeat world bosses, and attempt to survive against difficult odds. Though some gameplay features between the two are drastically different – like V Rising’s incorporation of PvP elements - the top-down perspective and PvE focus are the main commonalities. Considering both games are on level playing fields, it’s certainly remarkable that only a few days after launch, V Rising doubled Tribes of Midgard’s player count. Perhaps this is evidence that players are eager to explore alternative genres, jumping into game worlds that are diverse.
V Rising has a lot of unique things to offer, expanding Tribes of Midgard’s third-person survival formula. Though V Rising has similar fast-travel mechanics, a large open world to explore, and a requirement for resource collection like Norsfell’s popular alternative, the vampire title does emphasize its PvP combat, as opposed to Tribes of Midgard’s cooperative gameplay. It’s likely that giving players the option between PvE and PvP servers is what’s heightening interest, skyrocketing its popularity. Perhaps more vampires will join the fray and V Rising will have more milestones to celebrate sometime soon.
Source: V Rising/Twitter, SteamPlayerCount