Remember V Rising? It’s temporarily going free-to-play, with a free Halloween-themed DLC

V Rising is the vampire survival game from Stunlock Studios that hit Early Access in May this year. Not only did the indie gem surpass 500,000 sales in its first three days, but it eventually reached over a million in just a week.

That said, this initial excitement for the game definitely wore off with time, but there are still thousands of people playing V Rising each day (according to SteamDB). So, while vampire life wasn’t for the few hundred thousand who initially purchased the game, there’s no denying it has a level of vampiric charm that’s got some players hooked.

If you’ve never tried out V Rising for yourself, now is a better time than ever. Just in time for Halloween, V Rising will be going free to play on Steam from October 28 to November 1. The huge open-world RPG allows you to start your own empire, as you avoid the sunlight and hunt for blood, and if you don’t mind a short grind to success, you’ll likely find something to love about V Rising.

On top of the game's free weekend, Stunlock Studios has also issued a large update for V Rising which deals with your usual bugs and other necessary fixes, but the update will also introduce the all-new Mad Hunt preset to servers. You can go ahead and check out the specifics of the patch notes via Stunlock's blog post on the event.

The Mad Hunt preset changes the settings of the server, and ultimately randomises the V Blood locations, V Blood spell unlocks, and V Blood technologies across the map. Of course, Stunlock has ensured there are certain limits in place so that players will be able to acquire all the technologies they need at some point or another.

Last, but not least, all players of V Rising will be able to pick up a free Halloween-themed DLC pack called the Haunted Knights Castle Pack; this is available from October 24, to November 7, so you’ve some time to complete each quest and acquire every item.

As for the items included, you’ll be able to get plenty of objects that’ll help spruce up your castle and prepare it for Halloween. For example, you’ll be able to grab the following (after completing their associated journal quests):

• Haunted Nights Wall Decor (2x Wallpapers)
• Haunted Nights Gourd Lanterns
• Haunted Nights Stained Glass Window
• Haunted Nights Carpets
• Haunted Nights Floating Gourd
• Haunted Nights Standing Mirror
• Haunted Nights Skull Candles
• Haunted Nights Laughing Pumpkin
• Haunted Nights Grinning Pumpkin
• Haunted Nights Wailing Pumpkin
• Haunted Nights Web Drapes for Pillars, Walls, and Windows
• Haunted Nights Coffin
• Haunted Nights Small Stash

That’s all for V Rising’s latest, so here’s to a happy bloodfeast, and if you need help with the initial grind, we've got plenty of guide on gathering Blood Essence, what the best weapons are, and how to play PvP!

Will you be picking up or revisiting the game over Halloween, or have any other horror-fuelled titles got your eye? I do read these comments, and I love seeing what everyone is playing!