Review: VAMPIRE SURVIVORS is So Incredibly Good You Should Go Play It Now
Several months ago, I was listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Get Played, and one of the hosts, Nick Wiger, talked about a new game he was playing called Vampire Survivors. At first the game didn’t sound very exciting, but then he came back week after week after week talking about it. They eventually did an episode about the game and it earned tons of praise. About a month or two ago, the game joined Xbox Game Pass and then about a month ago I downloaded it on my Xbox Series S and finally gave it a try. My life has not been the same since.
Before I go into the nitty-gritty of the review, let’s go over some basics for Vampire Survivors. The game was developed and published by poncle and is available to play on PC and Xbox (affiliate link) with a DLC recently launched! There’s also a free (and non-predatory) mobile version of Vampire Survivors for Android and iOS devices although it’s a bit behind (no DLC for it yet and more bugs). The game is an action roguelike with pixel art graphics. You auto-attack and so the only inputs needed are a movement, a select, and a back. It’s very simple. However, that simple gameplay creates a very addicting game.
What’s the premise of this simple game? Well, from a story perspective, I have absolutely no idea. However, from a mechanical standpoint, you choose a character and face wave after wave of enemy creatures. You’ll gain experience and with each new level, you can gain a new ability or weapon or level up one you already have. You go until you die and each level has a time limit as well when a big monster basically automatically kills you (I do believe I’ve heard you can kill it though). You also gather gold which can be used to purchase permanent upgrades for your characters as you go forward such as increased experience, increased damage, decreased cooldowns, etc. One cool mechanic is that the weapons can evolve if they get fully upgraded and you have the matching item (for instance, the Whip weapon requires the Hollow Heart item).
The art feels very retro which is both good and bad in my opinion, but it’s very charming and consistent. This makes it work even if it’s not your favorite. The music is okay as well. I don’t love it, and wouldn’t mind muting it to listen to something else, but it’s not awful and there are times where it’s a lot of fun. The sound design though is really spectacular. The weapons have very pleasant sounds to go with their fantastic animations and when you open a chest, the song that plays there is a real banger!
As I mentioned before, the gameplay is so simple. You literally just walk around and the game does everything from there. You do have to sometimes make a selection like in the menus or when you level up, but that’s it. This leads to easily sinking hours upon hours playing Vampire Survivors. The trick is figuring out which weapons and items are the best ones to use with your character’s build during a particular run.
One final thing I want to talk about is the mobile version of the game. It’s free and on both Android and iOS devices. It has the same gameplay and everything, with very minor differences. First, there are some extra bugs although I haven’t found anything game breaking or problematic. The DLC also hasn’t been released on mobile yet. I am glad with how the poncle team has approached the free-to-play market. Instead of aggressively hounding you to spend money, the team has really held back. After you die in a run, you’re usually prompted to either quit or watch an ad in return for a revive. After a run, you’re also prompted to watch an ad in return for extra gold. That’s just about all the monetization that I’ve seen in Vampire Survivors. Honestly, I would’ve paid a few bucks to not even have those as an option, but I was thrilled that they have taken the approach they have. I understand poncle doesn’t have a huge team to support the mobile release and that’s why there are more problems and no DLC yet, but I hope they’re able to keep it going as-is.
Vampire Survivors is a wickedly fun and simple game. It definitely feels addictive though so be warned. The price is too good to pass up at under $6 for the base game and DLC if you decide to go with the PC or console route. This is a huge winner in my opinion. If you have Xbox Game Pass, you can even give it a try before you buy.
