Genre-populariser Vampire Survivors has gone down in history as one of the greatest indie darlings of all time. Charging under £5 on first release and offering hours of content, complete with free updates, the game is a power fantasy “Bullet heaven” dopamine generator.

You might have heard of Bullet Hell, in which your character exists in a world filled with enemy projectiles at almost all times. “Bullet Heaven” was a breakout term for the opposite: Games where your own projectiles and attacks decimated screenfulls of enemies at a time.

Vampire Crawlers is the follow-up: a turn-based dungeon crawler with cards representing all the tricks and traps of the Vampire Survivors universe, as well as it’s diverse cast of weird and wonderful characters.

Despite the radical change in genre, the soul of Vampire Survivors lives on in the art, music, weapons and over-the-top progression.

Vampire Crawlers at a Glance

Reasons to Play

• A roguelite that understands how much content the genre actually needs to stay relevant and feel fresh
• Unhinged combinations ranging from luck-stacking RNG fests to precise, cyclable 12-card decks
• No timer on levels, all player controlled and player-instigated with games as fast-paced or as leisurely as you like
• Wall Chicken

Reasons to Skip

• It’s a turn-based deckbuilder. Okay, it innovates on how you order your cards, but if you abhor turn-based card-based roguelites then…this is one
• You wanted Vampire Survivors: 2. If that’s the case, the closest thing to that is the upcoming Warhammer Survivors, as it is an official release by Poncle and a Survivors game. It is not a skin pack for the first game, it’s a new original title
• The game can be “turn your brain off” style gameplay if you’re the sort of person that can make deck decisions instantly once you have a goal and plan in mind. But, if you want as much a “hands off” experience as Vampire Survivors, this is definitely not it
  

Most Unique Feature

Learn to count

The tagline for wizard game Magicka was “learn to spell”, as you had to manually combine spell effects with buttons on your keyboard. Vampire Crawler’s mana system could comfortably be the counterpart: “Learn to count”.

If you play cards of ascending mana costs, each card is buffed in turn. So, if you play a Mana 0 card, all Mana 1 cards are buffed if you play them next. Then, all Mana 2 cards, and so on. You find yourself constantly counting “0, 1, 2” and judging the best places to start combos based on your available mana. 5 Mana could be 5 different 1 Mana cards…but could also be a 2 Mana followed by a 3 Mana card for a combo. You only play 2 cards that way, but do benefit from the combo multiplier.

The muscle memory of clicking from lowest to highest makes runs easy to start, and then once you have added some synergies and strategies to the deck on deeper floors you begin having your own little “rules” for the deck that slot in ontop of the basic ascending cost combos. Things like always playing passive damage buffs until you reach at least 50%, then prioritising attacks.

The core mana combo mechanic is stretched and manipulated through playable character buffs, “reverse combo” gems that make it count backwards, and all manner of other effects like gaining mana back, drawing cards or getting armour.

A veritable cascade of content

As I mention in my Frame Imperfect article, Vampire Crawlers understands that throwing a barrage of characters, levels, cards and upgrades at you is the best way to let you experiment, play and explore the game. There’s a pre-set progression to which levels become available, but by-and-large the meta-progression is incredibly malleable to whatever you as the player fancy doing.

With over 10 different characters, just as many weapons and twice as many modifier gems there’s an unspeakable amount of buildcrafting to be done. The nice thing is that even if whipping up synergies and deck balancing isn’t your forte, each Crawler starts with a selection of cards that, if you just upgrade / add to, will provide a generally functional deck.

Some later characters, like the RNG-heavy Panda, are inherently a little tougher to play, but in general you can relax as much as you want to by selecting easier maps, upgrading passives and blacksmithing cards.

Dip your toes in and see if you drown

The best advice for a game like Vampire Crawlers is just to play it. Even if you aren’t playing on Game Pass the game costs as much as 3 chicken strips and chips from your local kebab place, and there’s a chance it pulls you in with its ocean of content and keeps you entertained for many, many nights to come.