V Rising Secrets of Gloomrot Preview

Secrets of Gloomrot, the newest expansion released for V Rising a year after the Early Access, is out now! With a new area to explore, new gimmicks, and a slew of changes, it's time to jump into V Rising and explore everything that has been added or changed!

This new expansion adds a lot of changes even before you reach the titular area, and it offers a new and fresh perspective on some of the places we've already explored. Though I did not play a lot of V Rising upon its release, I could tell some of the changes that took place, and that was already a welcome addition!

The area most affected is Dunley Farms, the one that goes right before you enter Gloomrot and start facing scientifical horrors. With new points of interest, changed V Blood enemy rewards, and more, you will have a lot to explore! Starting Gloomrot won’t be the kind of boring and slow adventure that will make you want to breeze through it; instead, you get the opportunity to try out new strengths and powers right before you even start your journey!

Fighting has received a bit of an overhaul in some of the areas, offering instead a randomly generated edge to the combat in the forms of Jewels for spells in your brand-new grimoire and two new weapon types: the double pistols and the greatswords. The Jewels work as a way to upgrade random abilities and get a bit of an edge in battle with various effects, including leech which saved my vampiric arse more times than I'd like to admit, and the double pistols quickly became one of my favourite weapons in the game. However, I'd like to talk a bit more about my favourite new feature — the new legendary weapons.

These weapons drop randomly, including a randomised effect, stats, and weapon type that you will get. This means that whenever you do receive one, you will want to check it out — it might be a game-changer! I went from overusing the sword (because I found a new love for the sword in my adventures towards Gloomrot) to being forced to one of my least favourite weapon types — the new greatsword — because of its leech capabilities... and I ended up loving it.

The legendary weapons and jewel system give you a reason to explore outside of your comfort zone and instead encourage you to try new spells and find new loadouts, and it was a welcome change from the monotone combat where I felt too comfortable with one type and refused to move from it.

 

The most noticeable changes occur when you actually enter Gloomrot, however, and that is when the fun begins.

After struggling for your life in various fights at the Dudley Farms, it'll be time to delve into South Gloomrot — a new area featuring a black-and-white aesthetic that is very reminiscent of old horror movies. Perfectly fitting for V Rising's theme, Gloomrot manages to impress with new enemies, enemy types, a new blood type, and quickly becomes the most disturbing area in the game.

The new Mutated blood type isn't the most useful one in the game, but it does work as an ever-lasting blood for exploration without the need for a quick pick-me-up in the shape of a deer. My favourite addition to the blood type, however, is the way you can transform enemies into mutations to fight alongside you when you bite them, but considering that is a high-quality perk, I wasn't able to explore much of it, and it was a bit disappointing.

New enemies and foes to defeat means new hurdles to face, and V Rising keeps to its tried-and-true method with Gloomrot by not changing the gameplay loop but instead modifying aspects of it — such as the enemies, ores, and production machines — to make it feel fresh and new forevermore. Gloomrot is a great place to explore, albeit a bit smaller than what I expected considering the behemoths that both Farbane Woods and Dudley Farms are, but this isn't a complaint, as the quality is definitely there.

Boss fights continue to take an overwhelming approach that can be detrimental for solo-players and is a disappointing attempt at making the enemies harder, but with enough endurance and patience, no enemy is impossible to defeat. My favourite mechanic, however, is the toxic and mutated sludge that replaces water in Gloomrot constantly spawning mutation enemies that fight everything in its path — human and vampiric alike. This made a strange and unique twist to some of the enemies, as V Blood enemies had to face me and mutated foes, all the while I had to manoeuvre mutated foes properly lest I would incur their wrath.

V Blood enemy design continues to be top-notch, with unique and inventive abilities that force you to work around enemy strengths. The bosses were predominantly enjoyable, and I thoroughly enjoyed walking towards new enemies that I hadn't faced before — most notably, Ziva the Engineer.

Secrets of Gloomrot is proof that Stunlock Studios has the right idea when it comes to V Rising. The developer doesn't move from the tried-and-true method but also doesn't stagnate with repeating the same process endlessly, instead offering new and exciting features and mechanics that keep the gameplay fresh.

Bring your fang to a gunfight and take the fight to Gloomrot now with the expansion out for everyone!