Play this vampire survival hit for free this weekend on PC

By Carli Velocci Published September 13, 2024

Two vampires holding out swords and approaching each other in a throne room. — Stunlock Studios

I’ve been on the fence about V Rising, which came out of early access this past May. On the one hand, it’s an RPG where you play as a vampire — hunting for victims and building your influence in a dark, gothic world. On the other hand, that comes along with survival game mechanics, which can be difficult to balance between intricate and fun. Off the bat (pun intended), you have to manage your days to avoid sunlight and drink blood regularly, which feels similar to more challenging survival games that require you to eat and drink.

If you’re like me, you might be interested in this limited promotion from the developers at Stunlock Studios. From today, September 12, until 1 p.m. ET on September 16, you can check out V Rising on PC for free as long as you have a Steam account. If you become drawn in during the event, you can get the game for $25 (30% off), along with all cosmetic DLC for 20% off, until September 24. The full V Rising game and DLC bundle is 31% off at $72. This matches the biggest discount on the game since launch to date.

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V Rising also released a Legacy of Castlevania special edition at launch in June, with various Castlevania-themed cosmetics for both PC and PlayStation 5 players. The Steam version of this DLC is also on sale for $16.

Unfortunately, there is no such deal for PS5 players. Sorry, PlayStation owners. Maybe next time.

V Rising launched in early access before taking off on Steam. Seems that a lot of people took to its genre mix, open world, and resource management since Stunlock was able to boast 500,000 players within the first five days, and a million in the first week. So far, a lot of people have been enjoying this free weekend. At the time of this writing, SteamDB has it tracking at around 10,900 concurrent players.

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Contributor, Games

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

Gaming

PlayStation reverses course on controversial Helldivers 2 PC change

Two soldiers hug in front of an explosion in Helldivers 2.

Sony will no longer require PC players of Helldivers 2 to create a PlayStation Network account in order to access the game. This reversal followed a weekend of controversy that saw both Helldivers games getting review bombed on Steam.

If you're unfamiliar with this controversy, Sony and Arrowhead Game Studios angered Helldivers 2 players with an announcement last week. They planned to start enforcing a PlayStation Network account requirement that Helldivers 2 on PC had ignored since shortly after launch. This already didn't sit well with PC players who flock to Steam in order to avoid making accounts elsewhere, but the situation worsened once players noticed Helldivers 2 was sold and purchased by people in regions where people can't create a PlayStation Network account. This resulted in a massive review-bombing campaign on Steam, Valve allowing refunds, and Steam delisting the game in regions that don't allow PlayStation Network accounts.

Gaming

V Rising – Legacy of Castlevania crossover will let you fight Simon Belmont

Castlevania's Simon Belmont in V Rising.

Stunlock Studios and Konami have revealed that the survival crafting game V Rising will feature Castlevania crossover content when it leaves early access this May.

V Rising is a survival game where players control a vampire, and this crossover adds Simon Belmont as a hunter who's constantly trying to track down and kill players. If Simon Belmont is defeated, players will be able to equip and use his whip as a weapon. While that content is being added to V Rising free of charge as soon as it hits 1.0, a paid Legacy of Castlevania Premium Pack DLC will also be released. Purchasing it will net players Castlevania-themed decorations and music for their lair. These are all fitting crossover spots for a game that already heavily features vampires and pumps some life back into an unfortunately dormant game series.

Gaming

Try these 6 excellent, free PC game demos during Steam Next Fest

A train passes a windmill in Station to Station

Every couple of months, Valve holds a Steam Next Fest event on Steam. During that time, lots of indie developers briefly release demos of their upcoming titles to gain more in-development feedback on their games and build some prelaunch hype for the titles. We love trying out some of these games and rounding up our favorites each time a Steam Next Fest rolls around. This year, we've already talked about how two climbing game demos really stuck out to us, but that's not all that's worth checking out.
There were six more indie game demos that we tried and fell in love with during the June 2023 Steam Next Fest. From a sci-fi hospital sim that's full of character to a game about cleaning up trash and gunk underwater, these are six of our favorite Steam Next Fest games that you should check out before the event ends at 10 a.m. PT on June 26.
Saltsea Chronicles

The latest game from Mutazione and Sportsfriends developer Die Gute Fabrik, Saltsea Chronicles is an adventure game about the motley crew of a ship looking for their captain throughout a flooded world. Digital Trends actually had the chance to try the demo early at Summer Game Fest Play Days this year. We came away impressed with its witty writing and gorgeous art, and we were even surprisingly good at its optional card game called Spoils. If you're a fan of adventure games, definitely give this demo a shot.
Saltsea Chronicles is in development for Nintendo Switch, PC, and PlayStation 5. It will be released sometime later this year.
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