V Rising News

[h2]Blessings for the bloodthirsty![/h2]

With great enthusiasm, we bring you yet another developer update from the crypts of Stunlock Studios! Today, we’ll be delving into changes with the progression. From how spells are acquired to recipes and the quality of unlife that smooths the whole experience into a delightful, intuitive process, we aim to put a new twist on how you play, delivering much-desired changes in unexpected packages.

Light some candles and put on some haunting tunes to set the mood. It’s time to settle in to read more about the future of our villainous aspirations.



[h2]The Many Paths of Victory[/h2]


Hunting V Bloods in V Rising gives you some flexibility in how you carve your way through Vardoran. You can opt out of defeating certain bosses if their spells or unlocks don't interest you, and often, each ‘tier’ of roughly same-level bosses allows you to tackle them in whatever order you like. You can even strike out and face foes well outside your level range if you’re looking for a challenge.


Underleveled? Nah, I’d win.



On the other hand, if you want to rain down burning violet fire with Chaos Volley, you have to track down Lidia the Chaos Archer and drink her blood. Over the course of your journey through Vardoran, you’re pretty much guaranteed to get the exact same spells in pretty much the exact same order. The opportunity for variety exists, but you often have to go out of your way to get it. The first ultimate ability you unlock is always Merciless Charge from Quincey. There are many spells you don’t get until far later in the game that very rarely see any use due to only having access to them for a short period of your adventure.

The intention is for you to get your hands on the more complex spells and ultimates later in the game, as their varied uses may be easier to grasp with the context of some solid hours of gameplay under your belt. The path to becoming the ultimate Vampire is one we crafted with volumes of twisted love, but we want to give you more.

Let’s shake it up and add some deadly spice to your life. A little deviation for you deviants who enjoy multiple playthroughs. Flexibility for everyone, including those enjoying their first dive through the challenges of embracing their vampire nature. Introducing Spell Points! When you slay certain V Bloods and drain them of their power, in addition to any recipes imparted through their blood knowledge, they give you a fraction of magical energy.

These Spell Points come in various flavors, divided by spell school and then further divided into three tiers. For instance, slaying Clive the Firestarter now awards the recipe for the Alchemy Table, Minor Explosive Boxes, and one Tier 1 Chaos Spell Point.


A Chaos Spell Point icon in the bottom left, looking mysterious.



The Spellbook, which has been redesigned with these changes, has the spells divided between the three tiers. Each tier represents a level of complexity rather than strength. Vampires will be introduced to more complex spells after they’ve gotten their feet wet, unlocking the second tier of spells fairly early in their journey into Dunley Farmlands with Vincent the Frostbringer and Kriig the Undead General.


No fancy chaos dash for you yet.



This will offer tremendous flexibility in the journey without sacrificing meaningful progression or overwhelming newer players with too many confusing options. For instance, by the time you’re making your way into Act 2, where you only had access to Merciless Charge, you could now have access to two of four potential ultimates… including a new one that we think the necromancers out there are really going to enjoy.


ARISE MY CHAMPIONS!



This also offers us more freedom in how we design V Bloods for the future, which we’ve been able to employ in the designs of the new bosses in 1.0. Spells can be built without needing to closely associate or theme them with a boss to accompany them, letting us be a little more creative in our magic and monster design going forward without them restricting one another.



[h2]Master Your Magic[/h2]


We aren’t just changing how spell progression works, there’s more to it than that! We’re also adding new ways to advance your Vampire through a new station we’re calling the Altar of Stygian Awakening. Here, you’ll tap into ancient knowledge to unlock your forgotten potential.


Uncover dark secrets and grab hold of their power.



Each spell school has a tier of passive effect that can be unlocked to provide bonuses that modify your gameplay. Some are as simple as situational boosts in effectiveness. Others provide unique opportunities like spawning Blood Orbs that you can pick up to recover health or summoning a skeletal warrior after you feed.

Being tied to your altar, these effects can be unlocked by gathering materials from the new endgame zone events and pooling together with your clan mates to unlock them one at a time, in whatever order you like! This means you all share a sort of clan-wide progression, encouraging you to work together towards a common goal that empowers you all and prepares you for the oncoming challenges of facing the greatest threats to your rise.


The details of these effects and UI layout may change before launch.



[h2]Everybody Hates Moving[/h2]

Let’s talk about one of the more unique features we’re working on, though we aren’t entirely certain it will be ready for the 1.0 update. Still, we’re interested in hearing your opinion on it because it tackles an issue that survival game players are very familiar with.

In the gothic dark fantasy world of Vardoran, nobody seems to have a friend with a pickup truck. Moving has always been a pain point for players, and getting stuck in Farbane and not having the energy to pick up and move your entire castle into the more convenient end-game areas has been a point of agony for Vampires everywhere since we first launched V Rising back in May of 2022.

This is the feedback we’ve been receiving for quite some time, with the inability to move your lair causing difficulties for players across every level of engagement. The initial wave of vampires on any server tends to settle in the first area, Farbane Woods, and never move on to more convenient castle plots for later game content because it’s such a hassle. This makes it harder on players who join later and can’t find a plot, which can cause servers to stagnate long-term because of the lack of fresh blood!


How am I going to move all of this slime?



We’re experimenting with a way to make it easier! Simply relocate! In a feature we’re working very hard to try and make available for 1.0, we’re making moving your entire castle from one location to another as painless as possible.

The process is fairly simple. Place a new structure we’ve made that will act as the castle heart in your relocated castle in an unreserved territory, then interact with it. You can now connect that heart to a real castle heart that you have ownership of.


Oh, we also have a new icon for the open-world markets.



When you do so, you get access to a new version of the build menu. Within this build menu, you have access to every individual piece placed in the connected castle and can piece together an entirely new stronghold using the parts you already own.


Just getting started moving a smaller castle.



When you confirm it, your old castle disappears, and your new one solidifies and forms. Any pieces that went unused are reduced to their base materials for you to reuse as you like. Just make sure you remember to make space for your prisoners and servants. There are some structures you must place to complete the move, so you won’t be able to leave them behind.


The UI for this section is not final, but it should give you the right idea.



Just like that, you’ve relocated entirely! From one corner of Vardoran to any other, as easily as placing it down to your castle heart’s content!


If you were worried about it taking forever to put your wallpaper back down after the move, that’s also been made a lot easier. Also, wallpapers no longer cost materials!



[h2]Portents of the Night[/h2]


We truly hope you enjoyed this peek into what’s right around the corner for you, our most precious night kin. As the year goes on and the sun rises, the shadows grow longer and darker, and it is within those shadows that you will find promises of approaching greatness.

Big announcements are right around the corner. Things are about to get very interesting.

Have you got feedback about the potential new castle moving feature? Want to discuss it with other Vampires, or make sure we hear your opinion? Connect with us on our socials down below!



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Lots of love and a pint of blood,



/The Marketing Team

V Rising remains on track to reach 1.0 in the second quarter of this year, in what finance people call Q2 but I like to call Aprilmayjune. The latest developer blog post goes into detail on some of the new features coming for the full release and in particular its changes to PvP, higher tier weapon and armour, and vampire fashion.

Read more

[h2]Greetings, creatures of the night![/h2]

We hope you’ve survived the winter frost and long nights as well as us. The crypts at Stunlock Studios have been as busy as ever, our plans unfolding within the dusty depths to our sinister excitement. You have been quite patient with us, and perhaps we should reward that patience with a nugget of knowledge to fill the dark months with hope for the coming year. Before we begin, thank you all for the overwhelmingly positive response to the big console reveal during State of Play. We're thrilled to welcome a new audience to the world of V Rising, and delighted to offer elder vampires and new kin alike the opportunity to immerse themselves on your TV or experience it with the newly introduced gamepad support on your PC.

It's time to discuss a topic that players have been frequently requesting ever since first setting boot on the untamed soil of Vardoran. Players have long since been asking for more options in player expression, from a need to show your unique slaying style to a desire to specialize your gear with more focused and themed stats to match your combat preferences. From the decadent countesses to the ghoulish necromancers, you’ve wanted to show what makes your Vampire unique from your distinguished peers. In today’s update, we delve into the practicals, visuals, and aesthetics of everything equippable!


Early concept art for what would become the Bloodmoon Armor set.



[h2]To Go Even Further Beyond[/h2]

As we’ve mentioned in earlier blogs, the full release of V Rising has us looking at the end of the player journey in the world of Vardoran. Rising to face the greatest foe to date, the ultimate rival, you’ll need every edge you can get. That means advancing beyond what we were once capable of and finding innovative means to conquer the threats swarming in from realms beyond.

Tapping into ancient powers and unlocking their secrets, we’ll craft an entirely new tier of armor and weapons to elevate yourself into feeling your true mastery of the Vampire arts. This is the apex of your journey, and it should feel that way. For this reason, we’re adding a higher equipment tier and adjusting the sets and rarities of the later equipment to give a smooth and satisfying progression.

In addition to obtaining higher tiers of armor, legendary weapons will undergo comprehensive rebalancing across three tiers. This update also introduces a groundbreaking tier of artifacts, featuring specific and distinctive weapons for each weapon type. These weapons won’t just be unique in their names and statistics, but they’ll entirely modify the way you play with advanced weapon skills.


There’s some potential here.



… but wait, there’s more!

Endgame PvP battles often involve competition for the Shards, buildings you can place in your castle and provide powerful stats and buffs to friendly Vampires who attune to these powerful monuments. To get ahold of one of these coveted items, a properly prepared Vampire needs to acquire them from powerful top tier V Blood Bosses or steal it from another Vampire’s stronghold.

So, why are we talking about the shards in this lovely update all about equipment if they’re a bunch of fancy buildings?

It’s because they’re not buildings anymore.

Shards will now be a necklace item with powerful stats and buffs and will also provide a unique ultimate ability that overwrites your currently equipped one. On a PvP server or server with the appropriate settings, this necklace will be one-of-a-kind! That means to use it, you’ll have to risk it. There will also be a running timer on the shard, and recharging it will require going out into the world and replenishing its energy at events that spawn in the final zone. It’s our hope that this encourages a more active and exciting experience for everyone while also providing interesting perks and innovative gameplay for Vampires who like to play it a bit more friendly. You might not like PvP, but you probably DO like a novel piece of gear with exciting abilities!


One possibility for a new shard ability.



[h2]The Vampire Court: Knights, Warlocks, and Assassins[/h2]


So, we’ve heard you!

You've made it clear: you want to fully embody your Vampire fantasy in V Rising. Many of you have pointed out that sometimes, the night stalker you view yourself as isn't quite reflected in the world of Vardoran. It's not just about looks; it's about gameplay too. Some of you thrive on spell-slinging, others prefer the art of hit-and-run tactics, and then there are those who throw themselves into the fray and hammer enemies into a bloody pulp. Entirely valid! In fact, beautiful, you deserve to be the bloodsucker of your dreams.


Names, UI, and Icons are all subject to change.



As part of the equipment overhaul, every other tier of armor has been expanded. In fact, we’ve added four armor sets with unique stats and appearances for every second tier of armor after bone, represented by the core fantasy archetypes of the primary combat-focused archetypes: brute, warrior, rogue, and scholar. Over the course of your journey, advancing in your crafting will now offer you avenues of specialization. Warrior armor will offer more bonuses to physical damage. Scholar armor will offer more spell damage, and so on.

With 10+ new armor sets, you'll be more effective in your combat specialty and look even better doing it!


Concept art for one of the rogue-themed armor sets.



[h2]Infinite Impeccable Inspirations[/h2]

Ah, perhaps even with all these shiny new armor sets, you're still feeling limited. Maybe you aren’t comfortable being put inside of a box, and your unique flair is something we couldn't have foreseen in our plethora of styles and options. Perhaps you enjoy mixing and matching sets, or your sinister warlock spellcaster prefers a stylish coat like a duelist's rather than a flowing satin robe. Do you dress in devilish reds, garish greens, or stick to the timeless elegance of pitch black?

Fear not, nightkin! It's time to cast off those shackles and embrace your freedom!


UI elements and color palettes may not be final, but this should give you an idea of the functionality of the system.



The equipment menu has been changed dramatically and now has a collapsible section attached to each armor piece. In this new section, there is a slot where you can place any armor piece, which will overwrite the appearance of anything you’re wearing currently. In this same menu, you’ll find a host of color palettes (currently 31 in total).

Here are just a few early examples of possibilities.


Go to war as a vicious death knight, or elegant moonlight warleader.


Mix magics as a devilish warlock or an arcane scholar.


Play the daring duelist or the rakish rogue.


Or you can wear nothing at all. Much of this UI is still under development.



[h2]Getting the Light Just Right[/h2]

If you have particularly keen eyes, you might notice some subtle differences in the overall quality of the way the game looks. That’s because we’ve had a massive update to our lighting system! Time to crack open those vampire brains to take in a little technical art talk. Here’s a little peek behind the curtain and what it means for the overall look of V Rising!

Before, we relied on the "atmospheric scattering" of the sky for ambient lighting. This meant that you would encounter a bit of awkwardness here and there, like the inside of your castle being affected by the morning sun and nighttime gloom. We now rely on premade ambient lighting data that we blend in and out depending on time of day and the player's position. This gives the environments more suitable lighting and helps ground objects in the scene. It's also more lightweight than the previous system, saving on those precious frames per second!


That moonlight feeling.



The changes also have a big effect on the way materials are displayed, which is most noticeable in the textures of metallic objects. While it doesn’t allow for perfect reflections, we can simulate much more realistic-looking metal. Combined with all the new armor sets, this unlocks a whole other layer of appreciation for your fresh Vampire wardrobe.



So shiny.



[h2]The Night Fast Approaches[/h2]

With the winter solstice behind us and the days growing longer, one might be mistaken for thinking the days of the Vampire are behind us… and we will, this once, forgive that ignorance. 2024 will be dense with delight, and this has been only the beginning of what is looking to be the most promising year for V Rising yet! Look forward to the 1.0 update, currently planned to drop sometime in the second half of Q2.

We look forward to uncovering more mysteries of Vardoran with you soon, and as always, you can get a little closer to the crypt walkers here at Stunlock by following us on all our socials down below.



Subscribe to our newsletter!
Join The V Rising Discord Server!

V Rising Tiktok!
V Rising Facebook!
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V Rising Instagram!



Lots of love and a pint of blood,



/The Marketing Team