V Rising's big free content update introduces a cursed, poisoned forest this week

The oddly square world of vampiric survival-craft RPG V Rising gets considerably less square on April 28 with the release of Invaders of Oakveil, a new, free update that adds a poisonous, accursed forest in the northwest corner of its little continent. Not to be confused with the actual Cursed Forest in the northeast corner, of course.

It's ruled by a terrible witch, the serpent queen, whose venomous powers shrivel the very forest she dwells in. Vampires looking to explore the new area will have to battle her servants, the Venom Blades, who have a lot of nasty lieutenants among them that developer Stunlock outlined in a Steam post.

The 1.1 patch alongside Invaders of Oakveil also includes a new arena for PvP duels, three new weapons, seven new spells, new castle features, and changes that let you tweak and reforge your gear.

There are also two big changes to systems: A new set of "massive" changes to blood types and how those work, as well as eagerly-anticipated improvements to the combat mechanics.

V Rising captured a lot of attention when it released in early access, and the 89% PC Gamer V Rising review felt that it had only improved during its stint in open development.

"My friends and I would jump online every week and stay up until the early morning to work on our cute little vampire castle together, like we were playing a macabre version of Animal Crossing," said writer Lewis Parker, calling the 1.0 version "an even better version of one of the best early access survival games."

You can find out more about V Rising's Invaders of Oakveil update on their website. You can find V Rising on Steam.