My Review of Vampire Survivors

[Freeman1255]

(Before anyone asks, steam reviews literally said I went over 5000 into the character limit, so I'll make an exception and put it here)

But I wanted to post it here, not to stroke ego, but as a fellow indie developer myself, I wanted to do the game justice


(Actual Reveiw)
No one and I mean no one expected a game as simple as Vampire Survivors, or VS to be as big and monumental as it has become

Even the games creator, Luka, who's mentioned he had career struggles and just wanted this as a fun project, never thought he'd get as far as he has, and to that, I can tell you this Luka

God bless you and I and MANY nerds, nerdettes, gamers, and pop culture fanatics are proud of you and you ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ deserve this buddy


This game is right here up with the Binding of Isaac, Super Meat Boy, Shovel Knight, and many of the other greats of the indie game revolution so to speak, and for good reason

How did Vampire Survivors do it?

(As an indie designer/developer myself I am going to give a personal opinion/personal breakdown on how I think Vampire Survivors hit the mark, but in turn its also why I recommend the game, keep this in mind as I break things down)

In my opinion, what Vampire Survivors did to achieve it's success is it created it's own formula and subgenre by taking the best from it's inspirations, amalgamating them, and furthermore it took the flaws of it's inspirations, but rather than neglect them, it improved upon them. Top this off with Luka/poncle using his own experience making other smaller games, and this, with a bit of luck and persistence, is what makes Vampire Survivors so special, and furthermore why the term "Survivors Like" and "Bullet Heaven" is slowly becoming a sub genre in it of itself

Bullet Hells as whole, but precisely the game TITLED "Bullet Heaven, a spinoff of Epic Battle Fantasy

Don't get the wrong idea,and Bullet Hell's have been done before (For that matter there was LITERALLY a game called Bullet Heaven, which was the first of it's kind at being a "reverse bullet hell" however, it was good and it still IS a good game, but Vampire Survivors took that title and amped it up, Bullet Heaven itself was still a bullet hell, but it brought enough to the table that you could essentially "throw that bullet hell back" to the enenmies for lack of a better term

By that I mean that game gave you enough different characters and abilities that meant dodging the tornados and storms of bullets were no longer the ONLY way to survive, Vampire Survivors took that element of that game, dialed it up 1000x more, and instead of avoiding the bullets and taking down waves of enemies schmup style, you MADE the chaos of the bullet hell yourself, and fought off the hordes that way, Vampire Survivors isn't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ kidding when one of it's taglines is "Be the Bullet Hell"



RPG Elements/Metroidvania Elements

Aside from using a tile/sprite set that was ltierally meant to be an homage to Castlevania, which should alone be a dead giveaway, that and the supernatural vibes make it CLEARLY obvious that Vampire Survivors takes heavey inspiration from Metroidvania's and Symphony of the Night, granted that game itself is NOT a Metroidvania or 2D platformer in it of itself, but it took the backtracking of that and the leveling up of those games and implemented them into the gameplay loop

Rogue Likes/Rogue Lites and Auto Battlers, but with a deceptively simple design

Vampire Survivors would've made an EXCELLENT arcade game if it came out in the 90s or 2000s, it would feel like a mix of Taito's and or Sunsoft's approach to shmups with wild difficulty but have Midway esque convoluted hidden secrets, it would've easily made BUCKET LOADS of money

ANY OTHER TIME, you'd think the idea of locking a feature like a map, bestiary, or a stage select behind unlocks is terrible design, and it is under NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES, but there is one CRUCIAL reason Vampire Survivors is a much well deserved exception to this rule

It's because its simple to understand and play, but VERY DIFIFCULT to master and becomes a MUCH MORE COMPLEX AND DEEP GAME once you spend enough time and dig into the "meat and potatoes" of it so to speak

Plus, unlocking these otherwise basic features is also connected to an achievement and or corresponding in game unlock, such as new characters, additional modes. bonus and or special stages etc

In short, just like MANY well designed arcade games, Vampire Survivors looks, feels and plays good and fun while at the same time kicking your ass and always getting that "just ONE MORE TRY" feeling in you, and even more so that euphoric explosion so to speak when you make it to completing a stage within the 30 minute time limit

But this wouldn't mean ♥♥♥♥ if VS was made poorly with this in mind right?

That's where you are wrong if you thought so

This entire game takes that "hiding things away" approach, and puts it in a "wrapping paper" if you will, of a genre mishmash that feels like it's part auto battler/endless runner, part rogue like/rogue lite, and part horde mode

Every map, like a rogue like made in this particular style, has familiar item placements and or "rooms" so to speak, or in the case of VS specific items you may be able to find on the ground at specific locations in the map, ways to unlock secrets are also within fixed places on each map, such as hidden characters within coffins, usually having a type of puzzle or enduring challenge to open it

However, everything else, like the weapons you can pick when you level up, to the monsters you'll encounter , to what you'll find after destroying candles/light sources to even the treasures you get from chests and the free items within them, are randomized



But as you mix and match and synergize passive and weapon items, you'll unlock everything from weapon evolutions and passive items (Evolutions are when you have a maxed out weapon and passive item fuse into something completely new, often VERY powerful)

To completely new maps and features, such as mutators and randomized events, everything from a turbo to an endless mode is on the table, but again, i won't say how to get them, just that those are there, but crazily enough, unlocking these features are fun because they are INTEGRATED into the gameplay and genius design.

To put it bluntly and humorously

Vampire Survivors starts simple and basic, but the more time you put in, it really gives you ROI (Return on Investment) and it does it in a way that amazingly makes the grinding and the entire journey AND the destination FUN and ENGAGING, to be funny

If this game were a vampire, then the poor guy started out famished, but found the perfect collection of "necks" to drink out of

But this is all underneath an auto battler where all you need to do is focus on using the random resources of the map, along with the weapon in hand to, just like the game says, survive, and keep on running as you fight off increasingly difficult armies of things like bats, skeletons, medusa heads, succubi, gargoyles, demons, pharohs, and anything and everything else supernatural is out to destroy you

And all you need to do? Is literally move around, your character starts with one weapon, and as you kill monsters, you get gems to level yourself up, and then its up to you to build a badass and over the top crazy build, if you are a mix of skilled, smart, and lucky enough, you just might become VERY overpowered and make it to the wondrous end of a stage at the 30 minute mark. This is all while making meta progression towards new characters, features and improving both overall and individual character stats with gold coins

I was an early adopter who bought this game at 3 dollars (April 22nd, 2022)

And last but not least, and I NEVER THOUGHT I'D SAY THIS

But Vampire Survivors took the "mental hooks" of gambling and mobile gaming, and took out all the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ and microtransactions

Luka/Poncle even mentioned that beforehand, he and or his company would work on slot machines, and it shows

How? Because just like the likes of an auto RPG or BS mobile game, Vampire Survivors plays itself in a way

But there is ENOUGH left open for player influence, it only plays itself in the fact that you are endlessly running and or moving around (just manually rather than automatically) and the games primary function of attacking is automatic

The player choice and control comes in the form of choosing when and how to move around, along with being able to pick from a list of items as you level up, that being both passive and active weapons. while these are randomized in terms of what you can PICK, the player can pick from the list, you just have to hope you are lucky and or be patient enough, as well as picking the character you choose, and obviously each one plays different enough to justify experimenting

Top this off with extremely simple gameplay, and this is a game I genuinely would GLADLY make an exception to play on my phone along with consoles, I normally HATE how predatory and scammy the mobile gaming market is nowadays, but I digress



(For that matter, skipping a level up,re rolling, and even banning items from the pool are unlockables, but again I wont say how )

And as a bonus, the treasure boxes are opened like lootboxes or play out like an actual slot machine, normally this would be an INSTANT turn off, so why isn't it?

Because you get these during GAMEPLAY and there is NO MICROTRANSACTIONS OR IN GAME PURCHASES OR "SURPRISE MECHANICS"

All the mind games and excitement from playing a colorful, vibrant and engaging gambling game, but without ANY of the risk, pay to win ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, or genuine financial damage to your wallet and or life (And I mean that literally in this case)

Fast forward to today, and CLEARLY this is a winning formula, because "Surivovrs Like" and "Bullet Heaven" have become sub generes in it of themselves, and we've gotten TWO great original DLCs PLUS amazing collaborations I NEVER saw coming, and neither did Poncle or Luka

Plus, we have "Survivors Like" and "Bullet Heaven as it's own genres where other games are taking this games winning ideas and expanding on it even further, great examples being Maniac, Soulstone Survivors, Hall of Torment, Crafting Survivors, and even other genres have implemented tidbits from this game

Good examples of "Vampire Survivors but mixed with this game" can be as follows

Gunlocked (VS meets Galaga or Gradius)
Vampire HUNTERS (VS but an FPS thats reminsicent of Hexen or Heretic
Or Satryn Deluxe (VS but plays and feels more like Robotron and is futuristic and level based like its arcade inspiration)

But I digress

Below you'll see an abridged version of what I think of each DLC

Among Us-Most Left Field of them all, but they amazingly made a social deduction game work, implementing ALL its campiness and absurdity into the world of Vampire Survivors

And not one, but TWO big names from ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ KONAMI of all places

It's every game designers dream to collaborate with an inspiration behind your own game, and Poncle/Luka was both skilled, lucky and diligent enough to pull it off, and we have CONTRA AND CASTLEVANIA in this game!

Both of which have EXCELLENT remixes, integrate their roots and features into VS almost perfectly, and we have fan service out the ASS with PLENTY of callbacks to multiple games in both series, from Super Castlevania 4 and Symphony of the Night to the original Contra, Contra Hard Corps, and Contra 3

Legacy of Moonspell and Forescari essentially are Vampire Survivors chaotic and subtly cheeky takes on Japanese folklore and mountain creatures culture and irish/scottish forest folklore respectively in my opinion, Never taking the "tasteless attack' appraoch, and more so like a history/folklore lesson subtly put into the game, but without going full edutainment and still keeping the fun, chaotic and over the top pace and feel of the game and whilst keeping its cheeky and self aware humor hidden underneath

(I do still love Konami's IPs, but I do NOT like how they have in many ways fallen from grace, i do think they are SLOWLY recovering, but they still have a long way to go, but I digress)

Me personally?

If we got any more collab DLCs, I would LOVE to see any of these, some anime could even be integrated, as they would fit into the Vampire Survivors world EASY

(I am aware this takes licensing of course, but this is JUST some suggestions)

Fullmetal Alchemist
The Ancient Magus Bride
Trigun
Bloodrayne
Devil May Cry
Darkstalkers
Infernax
Legacy of Kain

But all of this is why and how Vampire Survivors became a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ worldwide phenomenon, and you know what, us gamers are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ happy for it and proud of it!

And yes, I'd love some more original DLCs, hell, even a spinoff series could be great as well!

Perhaps some original DLCs to come could involve going into a volcano, or maybe some time traveling DLC, maybe even some bigger emphasis on public domain folklore from different parts of the world can be an idea?

Regardless, this game may have went up in price since, but at 5 dollars for the base game and at most 3 to 4 for each DLC this game will PAY FOR ITSELF IN SPADES

if for whatever reason, you don't have this game yet, you SHOULD GET IT, and I ASSURE YOU that you will NOT be disappointed!

To many more coffins being shattered open, and to surviving for many eons to come!