I have no idea how this game feels in multiplayer. But in solo... it's kind of fun. Combat will take a while to become interesting, same as base building. But about 10 hours in - and the game actually starts feeling interesting.
[h3]Story - 6.5/10[/h3]
They tried. That's as far as I can go with this. The setting is there, the lore is there, most of it relies on indirect narrative. Some bosses have kind of interesting stories and locations also tell a bit about what happened in this world before, and what perils it's facing now. But the main story is essentially you just waking up from the grave and choosing to challenge Dracula himself, to climb at the top of the food chain. And in order to do so, you're just going through a number of lesser bosses, each one located in farther and farther biomes, and each one providing you with either major upgrades to your character, or recipes for crafting new structures and/or gear.
Kind of like Valheim, but without procedurally generated world and way, way more bosses.
[h3]Gameplay - 7.5/10[/h3]
It takes some time to pick up. At first, it's painfully simple. Just slowly move around, dodge every once in a while, and button mash your attacks to both fight and harvest resources. Base building is pretty limited at first, too. If you, however, manage to go approximately to the middle of Act 2, you'll unlock enough skills for combat to actually start feeling interesting. Three skills on weapons, multiple weapons to choose from with each feeling pretty distinct, and three spells from different schools to complement them. By then, you'll also have access to different armor versions, trinkets, gems to upgrade your skills, etc - in other words, you'll start forming an actual build. And the game starts feeling less like mindless button mashing, and more akin to just a decent, top-down slasher.
Bosses are where the combat shines the most, naturally. And credit where credit is due - the devs really tried their best to make bosses feel fresh, distinct, and have few tricks up their sleeves to make them stand out. But, again, only on late act 2 and onward. Don't let the first several hours of the game bore you out of your mind.
In terms of the survival elements, the grind is a bit tedious, and made even worse by the fact that you're a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ vampire lord, who can even have servants and human cattle. But for some reason, still forced to regularly go to chop wood or mine ore. Building your lair, on the other hand, is quite enjoyable. You're rewarded for planning your base, creating designated rooms for different purposes (workshop to get better timber yields from sawmills, forge to get better yields from furnaces, etc.), and you get quite a lot of potential for decorating and creating a truly beautiful castle, worthy to be called a lair of a vampire lord.
[h3]Graphics - 7.5/10[/h3]
The style is nice, the locations are diverse and beautiful, boss design is also pretty cool. The armor and weapon design, all the effects from your skills and spells - all of it is very edgy, which... works really well for the game about vampires XD
[h3]Sound - 6.5/10[/h3]
Nothing noteworthy here, I'm afraid. It's not off-putting, but I really can't even remember anything noteworthy about this game's voice acting or sound design, or even soundtrack.
[h1]Conclusion[/h1]
7/10. It takes a while to pick up the pace. If you enjoy base building just for the heck of it - it's nice. If you enjoy vampire thematic in particular, with a lot of different aesthetic of weapons (swords, whips, scythes, pistols, etc.) and witchcraft (all elemental, necromancy, blood themed or purple void themed) to choose from - you might enjoy it, too. I have no idea how it plays in PvP or even in coop. But for a slow paced, relaxed evening with a bit of farming, some boss fight and some base building - it will hit the spot just fine.
