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Introduction

Basic information

Developer Name: Poncle
Full Name: Vampire Survivors
Release Date: October 20, 2022
Released on: PC, Xbox, iOS, Android
Cross Play: No

Initial thoughts

I initially picked up Vampire Survivors on a whim, intrigued by its retro art style and bullet-hell gameplay. At first, I expected it to be a quick, one-and-done experience, but the game’s sheer number of unlockables and hidden secrets kept me coming back for more. Once we discovered that it had a co-op mode, my wife jumped in, and the chaos intensified. Playing together added a new layer of strategy, but it also magnified the game’s technical issues. Despite the crashes, we found ourselves drawn back to it repeatedly, unable to resist the allure of unlocking just one more character or weapon.

Story and setting

Plot overview

The story in Vampire Survivors is as cryptic as it is bizarre. The game never explicitly lays out its narrative, but there are enough clues scattered throughout to piece together a surreal, almost dreamlike tale. You appear to be facing off against a god who has cloned everyone repeatedly, resulting in waves of zombie-like versions of your own characters. The repetitive nature of the enemies and stages creates a sense of being trapped in an endless, nightmarish cycle. A fitting vibe for a game so heavily inspired by Castlevania and classic gothic horror.

World building and immersion

While the game lacks a coherent narrative structure, it compensates with a dark, eerie atmosphere. Each stage feels like a twisted snapshot from a grim fantasy world. From haunted libraries to cursed towers filled with monstrous foes. The constant barrage of enemies can be overwhelming, but it also reinforces the sense of a world teetering on the brink of apocalypse.

Character development

There isn’t much in terms of story-driven character arcs, but each character feels distinct in gameplay, boasting unique starting weapons and abilities that encourage experimentation. Unlocking new characters becomes an addictive pursuit, and each new addition brings new ways to approach the game’s chaotic combat.

Emotional impact

Despite the minimalistic storytelling, there’s a sense of mounting dread as the screen fills with swarms of enemies, each wave pushing you closer to defeat. It’s less about emotional resonance and more about adrenaline-fueled survival.

Rating for story and setting

I have visited multiple aspects of the story and after some thought and objective thinking, I rated the story and setting with a 6.5

Gameplay and mechanics

Core gameplay mechanics

Vampire Survivors may look simple, but its gameplay loop is anything but. Each run starts with a single weapon, but as you slay enemies and level up, you’ll acquire new weapons and upgrades that quickly escalate the chaos. Before long, the screen is a mess of projectiles, enemies, and particle effects, creating a frenetic dance of dodging and attacking.

At its heart, Vampire Survivors is a bullet-hell roguelike where survival depends on your ability to dodge and manage a constantly growing arsenal of weapons. Each weapon levels up with repeated use, evolving into more powerful, screen-clearing monstrosities.

Difficulty and balance

The game strikes a balance between being accessible and brutally difficult. Early runs may seem manageable, but as you progress, the sheer volume of enemies can become overwhelming. Boss fights add another layer of challenge, demanding precise movement and strategic use of abilities.

Pacing of the game

The pacing is relentless, with each run escalating rapidly from calm beginnings to intense, screen-filling chaos. Unfortunately, the game’s intense pace can also be its downfall. The screen becomes so cluttered that it’s easy to lose track of your character amidst the mayhem. And, everything that is going on.

Innovation and uniqueness

Despite its simple concept, Vampire Survivors manages to carve out a niche with its weapon evolution system and sheer variety of unlockables. The constant barrage of updates keeps things fresh, adding new characters, weapons, and stages to master.

Controls and user interface

 Controls are tight and responsive, making it easy to pick up and play. However, the cluttered screen can make it difficult to track your character’s movements, especially in the later stages of a run.

Microtransactions

None. A refreshing change in an era dominated by microtransaction-heavy titles. There are DLC, but they are cheap as hell.

Rating

After combing through many of the mechanics, the pacing and other factors of this game, I rated the gameplay and mechanics with a 7.5.

Graphics and art style

Quality of graphics and art direction

Pixels, but good pixels. The retro art style may not be groundbreaking, but it’s undeniably charming. Each character sprite has a distinct design, and the enemies are delightfully grotesque, evoking classic arcade horror aesthetics.

The game leans heavily into its pixel art style, drawing clear inspiration from early Castlevania titles. Despite the simplicity, there’s a surprising amount of detail in the enemy designs, and each level feels distinct in its visual theme.

Technical performances

Unfortunately, the game’s technical issues are its Achilles’ heel. We experienced multiple crashes, each one erasing 30 to 50 minutes of progress. This severely impacts the game’s overall playability, especially when runs can last upwards of an hour.

Environment and design uniqueness

From eerie libraries to dark, sprawling fields, each stage feels like a unique battleground in this surreal, endless nightmare.

Rating

It took me some time to give the graphics and art style an objective rating. There are many things to consider, but ultimately, I rated this section with a 6.0.

Sound and music

Music score and how it contributed to the game

The soundtrack is a highlight, featuring intense, adrenaline-pumping tracks that keep the blood flowing as the enemy hordes close in. There’s a distinct Castlevania-inspired vibe to the music, with haunting melodies and gothic undertones.

Sound effects quality

Each weapon has its own satisfying, impactful sound cue, making it easy to differentiate attacks even amidst the chaos.

Voice Acting

None, but the game doesn’t need it. The music and sound effects do all the heavy lifting.

Rating

After a lot of consideration, I rated the sound and music section with a 8.5.

Replayability

Game Length and content volume

For a game that can be played in short, intense bursts or marathon sessions, Vampire Survivors has an almost endless amount of content. Between the vast roster of characters, evolving weapons, and ever-increasing challenges, there’s always something new to unlock. Runs can last anywhere from a few minutes to over an hour, depending on how well you’re doing, and you can easily put in hundreds of hours in this game!

Extra Content

The developers frequently update the game, adding new stages, characters, and weapons to keep players engaged. There is also a lot of DLC, which is cheap as hell and are big expansions!

Replay value

Exceptionally high. Assuming the crashes don’t dissuade you.

Rating

After thoughtful consideration, I decided to rate the replayability and game length of Vampire Survivors with a 7.5

Suggestions and comparisons

Suggestions and feedback

Implement a checkpoint or autosave system to mitigate the frustration of losing progress to crashes. The autosave system needs to be implemented to also prevent infinite loops and crashes. Also, consider adding an option to reduce visual clutter to make tracking the player character easier.

Comparisons

Reminiscent of Risk of Rain, Geometry Wars, and classic Horde Mode games, but with its own unique blend of roguelike mechanics and gothic horror aesthetic.

Personal experiences and anecdotes

Our time with Vampire Survivors started strong, with run after run of intense, chaotic gameplay. The addition of the Castlevania-inspired DLC added even more excitement, with new stages, weapons, and enemies that felt ripped straight from the classic franchise. We loved the gothic vibes, the haunting music, and the new Reaper boss that put our skills to the test.

Unfortunately, that’s where things went downhill. Three times in a row, we reached the final Reaper boss after hour-long runs, only for the game to crash, erasing all progress. The frustration of losing nearly three hours of effort was enough to make us put the game down indefinitely. At least until these technical issues are addressed. It’s genuinely disappointing, as we loved the game’s gameplay loop and were eager to unlock every character. But for now, those crashes have soured the experience too much to keep going.

Rating

Taking in all the personal experiences with Vampire Survivors, I give it a personal rating of 9, before the crashes… and a personal rating of 6 after the crashes.

Last words

Pros

Cons

Vampire Survivors is a wild, retro-inspired roguelike that delivers addictive gameplay wrapped in a gothic horror aesthetic. However, its technical instability and lack of an autosave system can lead to some (REALLY) frustrating moments, preventing it from reaching its full potential.

FINAL RATING

7/10

7

Please let me know what you think of Vampire Survivors in the comments!
I hope you enjoyed reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!
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42 thoughts on “Vampire survivors review”

  1. Avatar

    Imo, Vampire Survivors is like Minecraft, it’s pretty popular and well-known, and is fun to play at first, but it loses its charm fast, when you randomly get interested in it again it’s a lot of fun again, then the cycle repeats, good review though, agree with the points made

  2. Avatar

    Wait, there’s a story to VS? lol, I would never have guessed. Also those crashes sound real rough, if it happened to me twice, I probably would have put VS down forever and never touched it again. I never faced a single crash on my Steam Deck.

  3. Alamar

    Thanks for a review, I think this game kinda of created a new type of genre and similiar games started to be released, i should try it. I agree about save, maybe even better manual safe should introduced (like saving by pressing a key) but it is probably (wrong) thinking took advance here that roguelike games shouldn’t have manual saves and when in when you lose this is the end, this thinking not doing good for the genre in my opinion, such things always should always be customable in options and when starting new play instead insisting that devs know better how to “play properly”. What i like are retro graphics and rich content, audio visual effects 🙂

  4. Avatar

    I played it around the time it was released. I never thought back then that the term “Vampire Survivors-like” would become a thing.

  5. Avatar

    This game is a good time waster. Sometimes, too good. I played it in my phone several years ago..and I think it was free as well.

  6. Avatar

    I have played VS before haha…. My friend used to be addicted to it… it didnt crash for me when u played tho

  7. Avatar

    For me vampire survivors became one of these “another round” games … but to be honest … as you mentioned it was repetitive from time to time and some characters just feel weak … so you choose the same very often

  8. Ilan Vertone

    While this never happened to me while playing Vampire Survivors (so far), I can definitely relate to the fact that losing your progress to a crash is such a downer! Sorry that it happened to you…

    Still, thanks for reviewing this game!

  9. Nicole

    I’ve only played around 10 hours of this game so far but I felt the addiction! I never saw too much crazy clutter on my screen but now I’m scared! 🙀

  10. Delicious Bacon

    I played the base game only and enjoyed it. I just played the story part, and let it go, because it felt addicting.

    However, I never had a crash in those hours of gameplay, it might have been something on your setup. :/

  11. Avatar

    I really liked this game! It can get repetitive over time, but it’s a great way to unwind. I think the maps could be improved, but I really liked the gameplay. I’d give it a 7.5 😛

  12. Avatar

    I also played a game once which crashes often. Even though the game has quick/auto/normal saves, the time required to boot/load the game adds up quickly, and it really takes out all the fun I have left.

    I really hope they will fix this issue with the game.

  13. Avatar

    I like review. I played Vampire Survivors on my android phone and gameplay was interesting for me. Of course, I tried to stay in the race until the last one, until the invincible boss came. In general, I liked the way the abilities that you select and gradually improve them are arranged.

  14. Avatar

    Only 7? I’d say it is like an 8 tbh, a great game.

    While I understand the crashing issues, and repetetiveness, but the no checkpoint system actually makes the game harder and more fun tbh.

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