Review of Vampire Survivors: a must-have treatment that cannot be doubted until you reach the end of the game

Vampire Survivor is morish. Shocking lights stretched in a vertical column from top to bottom of my screen, scattering into death particles like notes played on an accordion of cosmic annihilation. Fireworks explode in every corner, thanks to an improved version of my diamond-blasted runetracer weapon, now known as ‘NO FUTURE’. Monsters appeared in thousands. Flaming meteors still abound.

Vampire Survivors is an arcade-style survival game about weaving your way through enemy fields as your weapon automatically destroys oncoming mobs. It remained about collecting upgrades until you were at the center of an unstoppable death machine, and now it leave early access That death machine has more colors and more flavors. There are new maps to conquer, new characters to conquer, and new secrets to uncover. If you haven’t played since the launch of early access then yes, you should check out the new content. If you haven’t played anything yet, God yes, please check everything. Or like, most of it.

Vampire Survivors are still on the move. Up to a point.

The core appeal remains unchanged: escalation. Within 30 minutes, if you survive a level until the end, you’ll go from killing a few daggers to being like a never-ending dagger storm just a small component of the arsenal. your whirling gas. The basic weapons combine into super-powerful, evolved versions of themselves, able to crush monsters faster than kids let loose on British popcorn snacks. Each run earns you gold, which can be spent on permanent stat boosts that make getting into your next run a little more difficult.

Most enemies drop gems when they die, this you can get XP and great sound effects. It only takes a few minutes before that sound becomes a constant pounding in your ears; The power curve is palpable. It still feels generous, with potential explosions occasionally scattered along the way thanks to either the chests holding five items at once instead of their usual one, or the way you occasionally level up. randomly assigned ten times in a row. Go ahead sometimes, Vampire Survivors said. Who cares if you’ve earned it. The last level of throwing a curve ball can turn that generosity on its head, but we’ll get to how we feel about that later.

One striking difference is that every level except the first now gives you targets in the form of one or two objects placed in the far corners of the map. You don’t have to catch them to complete levels, but they do unlock new parts of the game: anything from cheat boards to weapon development to a new system that lets you choose up to three spells. powerful passive aids, such as triggering cribs for certain weapons or tripling the number of times they bounce. Those are all good things, but perhaps the most impactful addition is the unlockable map, which is handy both for casket tracking to unlock side characters and for earning remaining healing chicken drops. left when you find yourself in trouble.

One striking difference is that every level except the first now gives you targets as one or two objects placed in the far corners of the map

Having to keep track of those goals, among other things, also adds to the stress. Instead of bouncing around in optimal XP farming patterns of your own making (such as the wind-dead orbs that I enjoyed spinning in my early access review), the journey means hoping precious harvest time. It’s a welcome complication, finding a balance between farming and tourism. A light pressure, doesn’t require mixing things up a bit.

The new levels are also not the open fields of the first level. None of them completely change what you gain, but they do mean you can get the satisfaction of finding the right weapon and character, for example, a stage where enemies completely coming from top to bottom. Magical accordion, go away.

That said, up until the fifth and final part of the normal phase, I found that I could win mostly by picking tried and tested combos from the first few hours back in mode. early access. It’s a pity that most of the new weapons I’ve tried don’t seem to be powerful enough to justify swapping from the ones I know worked, but the truth is I never really bothered. That lack of need for innovation is fitting for a game that is willing to give me ten consecutive promotions just for the sake of it, a space for flexibility rather than a rock face to navigate. However, beating that final stage proved to be far beyond me.

There’s a very specific obstacle, in the form of a grim reaper that summons a field of blue bubbles at the five-minute mark moving up from the bottom of the screen, forcing me to move continuously upwards with no chance to collect. Collect the gems I need. to grow strong enough to deal with future waves. I can damage him, but so far not enough to kill him. I think the correct strategy involves swapping item combinations I’m not too familiar with, but getting past the bubble man will require experimentation and grit.

I’ve reached the point where Vampire men are distinguished from Vampire boys, and I’ve discovered I’m just a boy. Vampire Survivors sit in this weird space where most of the game, some work is required of you, especially at first when you figure out which weapon to prioritize. , but for the most part you can comfortably sit back and enjoy the ride. There are passages that leave you on tiptoe, trying to turn and turn down any closed safe passage where your weapon appears, but that requires a different kind of perception to solve the problems. with your build choices. It’s also still possible for a run to pop whether you land those lucky powerups or not, and a run that seems to be going great could fall to the ground momentarily – but all those things only started to frustrate me once I got over that final hurdle.

I felt as if I was gliding down a pleasant hill only to find the finish line atop a secondary hill, with a bubble-blowing bastard waiting to push me off my bike and laugh at me. The game I could play with one hand in a pack of crisps now I want me to sit up and learn. Waah.

I’m still glad there’s depth here, that there’s a balanced synergy to mull over, and that the bubble wizard even offers specific constraints so others can find a way out. I might as well, possibly, outsmart him by force if I pursue unlocking the very powerful Special Arcanas I’ve just been looking for. Many people will enjoy that chase, but it’s not for me.

I was in it for the glittering rush of collision with a huge pile of gems. I was in it for five boogie items, the mindless but mindless shepherd monster, the giant meteorite, and the rainbow scythe. All that stuff is still here, and you can head deeper and more dangerous territory than ever before, especially if you go far enough to unlock endless mode or a modifier that lets you keep upgrading weapons beyond their normal score. Vampire Survivors is a bigger, better playground now – although a guarded playground blocks the final swing series.