Bloodline Champions, Battlerite, and Dead Island Epidemic are some of the games Stunlock Studios is known for. For the past few years, the Studio has been working on an Action Survival game based on Vampires theme. Yes, I am talking about V Rising. Initially, the game might seem like an APRG however, the developer has explained that it is more of a survival experience than just a top-down Action RPG.
V Rising has a release date set for 2022 however, Stunlcok is aiming for a closed beta later this year and after that, they plan an Early Access for the game in early 2022. The game does feature PvP and and a Co-op so this one could definitely be worth of your attention:
We had a chance to talk about the game with the community manager of V Rising, Jeremy Fielding and he was able to share with us some interesting details about the game. The full interview for V Rising is as following:
Q: Let’s start with a small introduction. Tell us about Stunlock Studios and how many people have been working on V Rising and for how long?
We’re the people behind games like Bloodline Champions, Battlerite, and Dead Island Epidemic. For a long time, our focus was action-packed PvP arena games, and now we’re bringing our combat experience into an open-world sandbox environment. I’d say we’ve had the full team of thirty employees, including marketing and administration, all working on V Rising since around August of 2019. Though the idea and pre-production for V Rising started a couple of months earlier.
Q: Looking at the combat and camera perspective, V Rising seems similar to Victor Vran. Any inspirations you may want to quote for V Rising?
It’s been really interesting to see the comparisons to the mood and themes we’ve seen being made to V Rising, it really speaks to the strong cultural interest in dark vampire fiction. In particular, the inciting media that really got our gears turning was the first season of Netflix’s Castlevania series! From there we’ve been drawing a lot of inspiration from classic gothic horror and the many different versions of the Dracula mythos. We want to be inspired, but it’s also important to us to make our own take on vampire mythology.
Q: How does PvP work in V Rising? Could you detail it for the fans?
The current intention is that on PvP servers, the threat of other players will always be looming and PvP interactions are something that happens out in the world. In V Rising the conflicts with other players are entirely player-driven, so if you want PvP you either need to go to it, happen upon it, or it may just arrive on your doorstep. In the current design, you can play in clans with up to four players, so make sure to bring your friends, you will need them to protect your belongings and to help rule the world.
Q: There will be a class system for V Rising, right? Could you explain how the different playstyles will work in the game?
Quite the opposite, actually! We want our players to have flexibility in defining their playstyle, and not be locked into specific classes and archetypes unless they prefer to specialize in that way. Through a combination of the weapons a player has equipped and the spells they’ve unlocked, it’s up to them to prioritize what kind of kit they want to have on hand.
Q: Are you guys planning to have an Early Access for the game or will it be a full release once it’s ready? Any tentative release window you can share with the fans?
The next step for us right now is a closed beta which is planned for later this year, and after that, we’re releasing the game in Early Access. So if anyone out there doesn’t get into the beta, don’t lose hope! You don’t have to wait until full release! Unfortunately, we don’t have a release date we can share with the fans at this time but sometime in 2022.
Q: Any plans to bring the game on consoles?
Right now we’re solely focused on making it an incredible experience on PC, with controls and a game feel that we can be proud of on this platform first. We would love to see V Rising on additional systems in the future, but it’s still uncertain and we can’t promise anything at this stage in development.
Q: How does Co-op work in the game? Players can drop in and drop out at any point of the game? How will loot and difficulty scale in co-op?
A really convenient thing about being a survival game with a persistent living world is that it makes it very easy for players to drop in and out at any time without interrupting other players! So you’ll have our hand-crafted world to share with your companions, a place for you to venture out into and explore together. With more allies, you may find it easier to tackle more enemy-dense areas. You’ll also have your castle to invite your friends in to stay or share crafting recipes and resources.
In a game like V Rising loot scaling isn’t much of a concern, but on certain more dangerous enemies and boss monsters, you’ll find the challenge ramps up to try and match the number of allies you bring to a fight. This isn’t to discourage you from bringing your friends, but instead to reward you with a suitable challenge so as to not trivialize what we feel should be meaningful encounters.
Q: How will difficulty scaling work for the game? Will enemies scale to the player’s level or will it be like low-level areas and high-level areas?
There’s very much a progression of areas you move through in the game, though we don’t have any intention at this time to artificially restrict travel. If a player wants to take on an area that’s beyond their ‘level’ in terms of gear and progression, they’re welcome to take on that challenge! Though I would warn that you may end up in a coffin(again!). There are currently five regions planned for Early Access for players to explore, with different difficulty levels.
Q: Tell us a little bit about the open world of V Rising and its size. How will this open-world unlock for the players?
As mentioned the world is divided into five regions, some bigger than others. You start your journey in the dense old-growth Farbane Forest which once was the land of the vampires and their castles. Later you will find your way to the human settlements in Dunley Farmlands and the twisted Cursed Forest, with all its strange creatures. There is also a winter region, Hallowed Mountains, and a high civilization region, Silver Hills, under development. Silver Hills being the high seat for the paladins and the church of light, which means a whole lot of trouble for vampires.
We’re still working on finding the right world size, but it’s already quite big. Sometimes it grows to make room for content, sometimes it shrinks to make the feel of an area or the impact of its content fit our vision a little better. The further we get into development, the more rapid the changes to the world have become, so it’s hard to get an exact estimate of what it’s going to look like come Early Access release!
The open-world isn’t really something you unlock, it’s something that exists to be explored. Because of the way gear and scaling works, you may find it extremely punishing to try and fight your way through areas beyond your level of progression, but that doesn’t mean you can’t.
Q: Does the game promote grinding for loot or it will be a loot generous game?
‘Loot’ comes more in the form of materials for crafting and recipes. How generous we are with our materials is something that we’re still very much in the process of balancing out.
Q: So players will also be building their castles in the game. What are the benefits associated with it? Do they play any role in PvP?
Your castle is the seat of your power! This is where you keep your materials, build your crafting stations, and contain a lot of the tools of your personal progression. The fantasy of a vampire in a lot of fiction is very much tied to their grand estates and mysterious, looming castles and we want to capture that in the gameplay.
As for its role in PvP, well, it’s your safe haven, but also most likely the juiciest target for other players who are looking for a tasty stash of goods, or maybe even access to some of your crafting recipes. Knowledge and resources are both pretty enticing rewards. Castle raids will definitely be a thing.
Q: Is there any end-game planned for V Rising after players are done with the main story? If so, how will it work?
V Rising isn’t really a game with a ‘main story.’ It’s a survival game with a large, living, breathing world for you to explore and make of it what you will. That said, there will be goals on your journey, and we’re currently working on the final destination.
While there is certainly story and lore to the world to uncover, the narrative of the story is that which the player creates themselves. You are the story. This is your journey.
Q: Any expected price point you can share with us for V Rising?
Not at this time! Stay tuned, though!
Q: Will there be any microtransactions in V Rising? If so, of what kind?
Most likely not.
Q: So from the trailers, we can tell that there are mounts in the game? Can you share if we will get more mounts in the game other than horses?
We’ve certainly gotten quite a few requests for all manner of mounts! Wolf mounts! Rat mounts! Vampire snail mounts! There is a good reason why we have been sticking to horses as our mount, even though there might be additional skins in the future. I can’t spoil this reason here today, but there are exciting things coming!
V Rising is schedule for a release sometime in 2022. The game is planned for PC release for the time being, however, the developer can look for console releases down the road.