“Vampires, Bloodlord Rising” is the latest title from developer Mehuman Games and publisher Toplitz Productions. The latter has some outstanding titles to their name, so I was excited to jump in, with the developer describing this title as “In this dark, open world adventure, you awaken as a vampire lord. Build and customise your castle. Hunt for blood, fight, craft, and gather”. It’s ticking all the boxes for me, so let’s jump in. Also, the media notes stated this was an early access build as they continue to upgrade and push to early access.

You awaken as a weakened Vampire Lord in your old lands of Sangavia to rebuild your fallen empire. Being a Vampire, you are only allowed out at night and have to sleep in your coffin during the day. You also have to feed the Vampire core from your past with blood and rebuild your castle as a sign of strength and prosperity, which will aid you in taking back the kingdom that was once yours, with your unhelpful brother, Razvan, to guide you along the way. You can solo the experience or play along with up to four of your friends.

You have the unique ability to switch between clothing forms; when you do, you are engulfed by bats in a visually pleasing display. The Aristocrat clothing allows you to interact with humans and learn about the villagers and what has been happening. From this information, you gain knowledge of who is helping in the city and who isn’t pulling their weight or poses a risk to your return to the crown.

This helps you create an association list for those who are behaving badly. The interactions when speaking with villagers are still a little buggy, and they jump around when you are talking to them. The second clothing form is the hunter suit, which enables you to creep around, gaining blood from humans and animals alike.

The smaller animals are hard to track down, but the larger deer still have some work to do as they get stuck on rocks and can be taken down easily, something I am sure they will fix. The downside of this form is that you will scare humans, lowering your village’s wealth, which reduces the amount you can tax the village once you progress through the storyline.

You can charge the city taxes once you regain your status and strength for protection, so stealth is the key in this form.  Another downside to the hunter clothing is that it alerts the inquisition guards, who will attack and try to destroy you and send you back to the realm you awoke from. It’s a very neat system and gives relevance to the storyline.

Vampires, Bloodlord Rising has a wide range of genres, and it all actually works. Survival, base building, city management, and a great storyline. The survival gameplay is based around hunger (keeping the Vampire core and your own core filled with blood), and monitoring the night/day meter to ensure you are close to a coffin when daylight is coming. Vampires have superior strength and health; you won’t take fall damage, and health is of little relevance unless you are fighting the Inquisition or future enemies.

The building offers almost endless possibilities with blocks, shapes, and furniture, all with a satisfying gothic undertone. The building system is accessed via the middle mouse button and the tab keys, and it features a polished UI that’s easy to grasp. City management in this game is also one of its strengths via the ability to recruit villagers for your castle upkeep and mundane tasks. 

If you have ever played “Conan Exiles”, it is basically the same system; you perform a “Kiss of Eternity”, which turns a civilian into a vampire.  Once you have provided them with a coffin in your residence, you can then assign them to a workbench to begin crafting, gathering resources, or to complete buildings you have blueprinted to be built.

The skill tree, or Arcanes as it is called in-game, gives you the ability to upgrade your skills. There are fifty different options, each with its own unique ability or buff to assist you along your journey. There is also a progression tree for your physical ability – Explorer, Hunter, Guardian, Artisan, and Echanter, which gives you another 100 progression choices.  If you focus on Artisan – building/crafting, you will level up that skill, use less blood, and use 5% less material when crafting, for example.

The map is a living world with four biomes currently; the developer has stated that more will be added as development progresses. Currently, you have Medrest, Fey Marshes, Grove of Sorrows, and Hell Chasm. These sections of the map are unlocked as you progress. They all have their own twist and are noticeably different, with interesting points hidden along the way. At one point, I found myself overlooking the village, the full moon in awe of its beauty; it just seemed so peaceful.

There are different resources as well; you have to knock down trees for wood, gather stones, and break up large rocks for limestone. Sand and clay, which are used to make mortar, are found in clumps along rivers and streams. I was a bit disappointed that you just walked over the mound and hit “E” to collect it. A digging mechanic would have been more profound, but once again, I have to remember this is early access.

The soundtrack is actually soothing and relevant to the gothic genre, not my scene, but it just felt right. The noises of the night, animals rustling, villagers talking, and hearing villagers snoring in their houses as you walk by, it’s all there.

For early access, this game has massive potential. They have already hit and exceeded so many marks and other games in my view, with the storyline and epic building, to name a few. In the media release, they advised that they are still adding to both, which is hard to imagine where it will end up, as it feels complete already. They have also stated that new world dangers, enemies, expanded lands, and more character abilities and forms are coming as they progress.

I can certainly see why Vampires, Bloodlord Rising has over 200,000 wishlists on Steam.  If you are looking for an infinite sandbox game that has massive potential, yet is already a stable and visually appealing game to play, add this one to your shopping list; you won’t be disappointed!

Written by: Mike Bridge