Vampires: Bloodlord Rising

Now that character customization has been added, getting into this game is more immersive. It's headed in the right direction and runs well. No issues so far. You play as a recently awoken vampire who needs to rebuild your sire's previous kingdom. He's gone, but something of him remains. There's gathering, hunting, town management, vampire thrall management, and a storyline. So far it's good. You need to make sure you select proper vampire thralls to join your bloodline, as some come with either good, bad or neutral attributes. Some improve aspects of hunting or gathering, while others improve morale. Some, like short-tempered, will randomly make them demand you dismiss another vampire and drop their own morale. Or they may demand you embrace someone into the bloodline (that you may not want). It's better to cut them loose and replace them. I know there are comparisons to V-Rising, but I'll be completely honest here: I just couldn't get into that game. V-Rising is just a bit too... arcade-y for a vampire-immersive game. I prefer this one by miles and I know that's just personal preference. There are not very many immersive vampire games out there. This one has the opportunity to be something special. It seems the devs also listen to the community because the one, and largest, demand was for character customization, and they delivered. Don't know if this was always the plan, but it's a welcome addition. Easy recommend from me, particularly if you are feeling starved for a vampire game where you can hunt, build up a home, meander through towns in "aristocrat" form, and selectively turn others into clan members. One little edit: Sprint/Dodge is bound the the Shift key, while Parry is bound to Right Click. I would recommend that you switch these keys (Right Click to Sprint/Dodge and Shift to Parry) if you play. You spend much more time sprinting and dodging and parries are not imperative. Holding your pinky on shift constantly, and especially in combat, can become a bit cumbersome. Its very common to be fighting multiple enemies, and right clicking to dodge and sprint feels much more natural. The last thing I will mention is how it runs. It seems some people are either unhappy with how it runs or report problems. My PC specs are listed. I run it on default settings and have had no issues with how it runs or plays. Seems to run very smooth for me. No crashes. The game does have a bit of jank, but it's not enough to say it's bad or unplayable. Do not expect a AAA experience but it's also far from slop. Looking through some of the more negative reviews, aside from performance complaints, it seems there's also backlash about the character creator itself. Specifically, instead of gender you instead have "body type". I suppose if this is so upsetting to people it's a valid complaint. Personally, I really don't care and don't understand the general rage about this kind of stuff. It's one thing to have genuine concerns about how a game runs and optimization, but to get so angry over something so trivial is just beyond me. Just temper expectations and sink your fangs into it if you are looking for a gothic vampire survival/building game. Play out your dream of being a vampire.

As a lifelong fan of Dracula and vampire media, I am doomed, now and for all time to scour the world for satisfying vampire media. Yet year, after year, after year I find nothing but toothless duds, and politically correct swill. When I think vampires, I think horrible, hairless revenants living in caves; sucking out the guts of infants, wrapped in black rags, eyes blazing like blood red stars. Not fond of the characterization of the head vampire as this, "kind, gentle, friendly neighborhood" lord. Blech. For a game as barebones as this I would expect the story to be back to basics. You're a vampire, a monster; one of the damned and the fallen. Its entirely possible to characterize the head vampire as a ruthless, evil tyrant, and make the faux Catholic Church corrupt. It takes me out of my immersion as is. I'm here to play a rampaging monster, and hope as the game develops that becomes a playstyle. Sure, you can have your high humanity saint playthrough, and there should be. There should be rewards for playing it like a bastard, for playing it pragmatic, and for playing it saintly. I don't expect it from another craft survival sim, but a man can dream.

This is the first game I've ever posted a negative review for. The quality of the gameplay and mechanics should be acceptable for its asking price but the game has been plagued by unacceptable bugs since launch and they have never been addressed. My favorite is that the vampire thralls you aquire will randomly dissapear from your castle. Finding high quality humans to turn into servants is the most important and time consuming task in the game and those prize finds will randomly dissapear on logging out and back into the game. The game has been publically available for way too long for these sorts of crippling glitches to be acceptable.

I was in the playtest and really enjoyed it, and I gave extensive feedback in a document and made several posts. The same with when it first come out in early access. I just went to try the character creator, it's sad that you've sold out with this complete nonsense 'body type' bs. Manipulators will pretend "it's no big issue" but what it represents absolutely is a big issue, attempting to redefine reality that is not able to be redefined and does not exist. Catering to a small amount of crazy people. Sadly I said this at first that I expected it and was right. If I knew this I would have absolutely not brought the game and I would refund now if I could. Even worse, I just explored it more and they fully catered to this nonsense even more than just the 'body types'. Disgusting. Complete sellouts.

I had fun, cozy early access experience in this vampire survival game. They've done several updates, it looks great, has a unique feel among the other vampire survival genre games, and I look forward to coming back when they've patched in more plot. I am reviewing after I completed the available game on single player, maybe 25-30 hrs. PROS: -The game world has a great personality- many cool areas with tragic, beautiful, or creepy vibes. -The dialogue & villager notes you discover have simple, fun humor & add a layer of curiosity. -Good voice acting, holds up to AAA production standards. -Fun power fantasy, lets you dominate the landscape as a stronger & stronger vampire. CONS: -The tech tree isn't done yet, but they've clearly left room to build more on what you have. -Some of the core mechanics duplicate/repeat mechanics & items from similar "vampire survival" genre games. -No player-specific weapons, the claw attacks can get repetitive by the end, more arcade-like. I would love to see continued options for player customization, additional/deeper interactions with thralls & villagers, more quest variety for both optional & main quests, and things that vary up the combat. Not out of entitlement, but because I genuinely enjoyed playing it enough, that I hope to come back after a few patches & see what they add. But at the current price, the game is already worth, delivers a lot for a very reasonable cost.

Also zunächst möchte ich sagen, das ich dem Spiel eine Chance geben wollte, da ich die Idee eine Art V-Rising aus der Ego Perspektive sehr gut fand, jedoch nach der anfänglichen Charaker Erschaffung und dem darauf folgenden Intro (das leider eher eine schwache Kopie von V-Rising war), ließ sich das Spiel auch nach mehreren Versuchen nicht starten. Daher habe ich ein Refund beantragt. Ich kann jedem, der Interesse an diesem Spiel hat, nur empfehlen noch einige Updates und Patches abzuwarten bevor man sich so ein unfertiges Programm kauft. Definitiv keine Kaufempfehlung vieleicht in 1-2 Jahren.

new update deleted my world and my entire layout i spent 6 hours mapping my entire space just to come back and it be completely erased. i get this is in early access but damn implementing updates shouldnt mean restarting on a game that incentivizes you to really sink your time into building.

I recommand but need some work, Some crash happens too often but the game has huge potential