Oh hey this is in 1.0 so I can complain about it now.

I am a survivalcraft sicko, I've played so many of these games that it's probably a DSM-V diagnostic, so believe me when I say this one isn't too great.
Once the novelty of this being a top-down survivalcraft game wears off you're stuck with what's definitely one of the weaker entries to this genre.

Progression is a very boring and binary upwards climb where you do an endless cycle of kill boss > yoink blueprints > craft upwards > hit wall > kill boss > ad nauseaum. If you want variety well, too bad. It's hold melee and cast spells on cooldown forever. This game is somehow rinsed in the variety front by Terraria, a 13 year old game also centered around crafting and bossing.

Despite offering the option for PvE, V Rising is a PvP game at its core so the combat is incredibly simple and feels very MOBA-esque to facilitate it. Fine for PvP if that's yer thing, but for PvE it makes the game feel miserable and repetitive since bosses don't bring much to the table.
Perhaps more egregiously, the topdown angle brings with it the same issue that lots of Diablo-likes/CRPGs with it also have: There's not much impact to combat, and with the heavy health bars everything feels weightless and tedious.

There are a few mechanics that I hoped would get fixed up for 1.0 but haven't at all.
Sun damage is as boring as it sounds; if you're in the light too long your health PLUMMETS even with mist braziers around, as there's more sun than shadow.
Blood type seems cool at first but only having access to one at a time and needing to constantly scout out refills or better blood leaves the entire mechanic feeling like a sanguine game of cat and mouse.

And crafting timers... Eesh. So, this review has a lot of cuts in it because many potential gripes are somewhat mitigated by how customizable the difficulty is. It's pointless of me to whinge about some resources not being teleportable when there's an option to disable that mechanic, right? Of course!
But crafting timers are an annoying one because they're very deeply tied to the gameplay loop. By default they are far too long, ostensibly as a motivator for you to leave your base and go do some of the myriad tedious busywork the game expects you to do.
The option is there to shorten them, but this presents its own problem: Go too fast and you're basically cheating, try to meet the game halfway and you'll end up doing even more busywork. Lower them, and the game becomes an AFK simulator.

Not helping matters is that a lot of things, mist braziers especially, need fuel. Fuel that will eventually run out unless you keep it topped up. Again, busywork.

I saw a meme in the middle of last month that jokingly separated every single game into one of two categories: Menus (wherein engagement is defined as clicking through a UI) or parkour (wherein engagement is defined by movement or action).

I sort of agree with the underlying theory, but I'd suggest a third category: Tasks - games where the method engagement is irrelevant because what you're chasing is a daisy chain of unlocks and Get X of Y.

V Rising is tasks, and unlike similar games in its category the tasks are very linear. The cycle up above has little room for deviation, and given that bosses are automatically tracked for you there's not even much room for exploration.

There are way better games in this genre, even after VR hit 1.0 it's still a mess. Project Zomboid is in early access and it runs rings upon rings around it while still hitting many of the same notes. Hell, even Palworld is a better choice.

quick summary of thoughts after 1 evening play session in PVE (mostly in context to Valheim), got to gear level. i apologize that i am not interested in PVP and base raiding. i don't have time for Ark Survival evolved i play games when i can, not have games play me 24/7

+ custom difficulty modifiers/sliders, reducing weapon deterioration and increasing resource gain (while not increasing resource spawn rates) feels like a nice change for someone who doesn't love the grind
+ borrows a lot from MMO combat (World of Warcraft), which while being unoriginal, is a nice inspiration. early bosses have some unique map design elements which is a very nice touch.
+ some improvements to UX over Valheim, item management, inventory, etc.

+/- spells feel very samey. this dodge heals, this dodge does damage, this dodge slows... overall they add some flavor.
+/- you don't lose your weapons/equipment when you die. i like this... but then you'll never have 1 hour sailing adventures to your body across the map. and that memory will stick way more than any death in this game.

- having your gear level track which monster you want to fight is silly. especially because if you unequip a powerful item it removes the ability to select a target? lmao.
- add mods plz
- no DLSS. AMD FSR 1.0

Les premières heures sont top, puis le pique de difficulté est idiot, les premiers équilibrages n'ont rien changé j'ai donc arrêté de jouer. Une grosse mise à jour est sortie et c'était mieux, mais une fois arrivée au contenu de la maj, la difficulté absurde est de retour, j'ai la flemme. Je n'évoque même pas le besoin de ressource exponentiel plus on avance dans le jeu, si je n'ai pas le temps de jouer à quelque chose comme Albion dont je vais très largement préférer la montée en difficulté, alors je ne vais pas non plus avoir le temps pour celui-ci.
Alors certes on peut modifier les règles du serveur pour rendre les choses plus simples, mais il fallait le faire à la création et ce n'était plus possible une fois le serveur créer la dernière fois que j'ai lancé une partie. Et même si c'est possible maintenant, je n'ai pas vraiment envie de relancer le jeu.