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Vampire Survivors

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Vampire Survivors
Developer(s)Poncle, Ltd.
Publisher(s)Poncle, Ltd.
Programmer(s)
  • Luca Galante
  • David Brown
  • Sam McGarry
  • Adam Goodchild
  • Duncan Stead
  • Mathew Smith
  • Lee Donovan
Artist(s)
  • Alessio Greco
  • Glauber Kotaki
  • Lo Studio CiAbbatte
Writer(s)
Composer(s)
  • Daniele Zandara
  • Filippo Vicarelli
  • William Davies
  • Lorenzo Floro
Engine
Platform(s)
Release
  • macOS, Windows
  • October 20, 2022
  • Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
  • November 10, 2022
  • Android, iOS
  • December 8, 2022
  • Nintendo Switch
  • August 17, 2023
  • PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5
  • August 29, 2024
Genre(s)Roguelike, shoot 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Vampire Survivors is a 2022 roguelike shoot 'em up video game developed and published by Luca Galante, also known as "poncle." Following an early access period that began in December 2021, it was released for macOS, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Android, and iOS in late 2022. A port for Nintendo Switch was released on August 17, 2023, and on August 29, 2024, a port was released for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

In the game, players control an automatically attacking character while battling continuous waves of monsters, aiming to survive the onslaught for as long as possible and unlock additional characters, weapons, and relics for future sessions. The game was initially a small project Galante made while unemployed and released at a very low cost. It drew far greater sales than Galante expected, leading to him bringing on additional developers to improve the engine and expand the game. The game has since had several free and paid expansions, including an official pack based on 'Castlevania, a series Galante had used for inspiration.

Vampire Survivors received accolades at the Golden Joystick Awards, New York Game Awards, and D.I.C.E. Awards. The game was nominated in five categories at the British Academy Games Awards, winning two: Game Design and Best Game. The game is considered one of the first "bullet heaven" games and has led to numerous titles with similar auto-combat mechanics.

Gameplay

[edit]

Players select one of multiple characters, each with different starting weapons and bonuses, and control them on an endless stage featuring an auto-generated, repeating layout. The player's weapons attack automatically, and the goal is to survive as long as possible against constant waves of monsters that inflict damage upon contact. Defeating monsters and exploring the stage allows players to collect experience gems, which are used to level up; "floor chicken," which restores the player's health; and other helpful items. Each level increase gives players the choice of three or four weapons and passive power-ups. Once players have collected six weapons and six power-ups and upgraded them fully, any further levels gained will offer only gold coins or floor chicken.

Another way to upgrade weapons and power-ups is by opening chests, which are dropped by particularly powerful monsters and may contain one, three, or five random items. Most weapons have an ultimate form that can be attained by opening a chest after fully upgrading them and meeting other specific conditions.[1][2]

Sessions of Vampire Survivors have a soft time limit of 15, 20, or 30 minutes, depending on the selected stage. When the time limit is reached, all enemies are cleared from the stage, and a final, immensely powerful enemy named The Reaper spawns. One additional Reaper will appear every consecutive minute thereafter to ensure the player's eventual demise. A session that meets or exceeds the stage's time limit is considered a successful completion and rewards bonus gold coins. Between sessions, accumulated gold coins can be spent to unlock new characters and persistent power-ups. Additionally, by completing challenges, players can unlock new stages, weapons, and characters, as well as various game modifiers, such as an endless mode that removes the soft time limit, a hyper mode that increases player and enemy speed, and a limit break mode that allows players to continue enhancing weapon attributes even after fully leveling them. Players can obtain golden eggs by defeating certain enemies or purchasing them from an in-game vendor, which provide permanent attribute improvements to their currently selected character.

Plot

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Vampire Survivors is nominally set in rural Italy in 2021. Hordes of monsters summoned by the evil Bisconte Draculó (a villain inspired by Count Dracula) ravage the land, prompting the Belpaese family and other heroic survivors to take it upon themselves to hunt down and defeat Draculó.[3] This quest takes them through monster-infested locales such as a cursed forest, a haunted library, an abandoned dairy plant, an ominous tower, and an otherworldly chapel.

Development

[edit]

Italian developer Luca "poncle" Galante began developing Vampire Survivors in 2020 using the Phaser framework while he was unemployed.[4][5] He aimed to create Vampire Survivors to manage a community, drawing from his past experience as an administrator for an Ultima Online server. The game was inspired by Magic Survival, a 2019 mobile game that also featured a character that automatically attacks enemies.[6]

Development of the initial early access version took about a year, during which Galante spent around £1,100 on assets, art, and music.[7] Galante was inspired by the Castlevania games, and one of the art asset packs included sprites in a similar style to the characters in the early Castlevania games. [8] Prior to developing Vampire Survivors, Galante worked in the gambling industry, using his knowledge of flashy graphics for slot machines as part of the appeal for the game's chest-opening animations.[4]

Galante released his initial version of Vampire Survivors on itch.io, but did not see much engagement. He then decided to release it on Steam before the end of 2021, keeping the cost low since the game had minimal art aesthetics. The low price meant that his game could reach a larger audience. However, on the same day, he contracted COVID and focused his attention on his recovery rather than on how his game was selling. In early 2022, he learned that the game had caught the attention of some YouTube creators, which led to an increase in Steam sales.[9]

The success of the game exceeded Galante's expectations and allowed him to quit his job in February 2022 to focus entirely on its development. He was informally assisted by "a few friends" in their spare time. Planned content included additional weapons, characters, stages, and an "endless mode." Galante's intent was to bring Vampire Survivors out of early access by the end of 2022.[10]

In March 2022, Galante hired multiple freelancers to expand the Vampire Survivors team and accelerate development. In addition to outlining the scope of the promised new content with a roadmap, he explained that a major milestone slated for mid-2022 would be porting Vampire Survivors to an "industry-standard" game engine to improve its overall performance.[11]

The full game was released for macOS and Windows on October 20, 2022.[12] The game was also ported to Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on November 10, 2022.[13] Ports for Android and iOS devices were released on December 8, 2022.[14] The mobile versions were fast-tracked for development in response to a number of clones that appeared on mobile app stores with stolen code and assets from the original game.[15] While the game released on other platforms as an inexpensive but premium game, the mobile versions are free-to-play with optional ads.[14]

The Nintendo Switch version of the game was released on August 17, 2023. This also included support for local co-op play for up to four people, a feature that was simultaneously released for all versions of the game.[16]

The Tesla Cars version was released in September 2023 with the 2023.26 firmware update for vehicles with the correct hardware.[17]

A free update, titled Whiteout, was released on October 19, 2023, adding a new snow-themed stage and additional characters and weapons.[18] In April 2024, poncle surprise released the free Laborratory update.[19]

In April 2024, it was announced that the game would be coming to PlayStation systems, with PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions set for release on August 29, 2024.[20]

Downloadable content

[edit]

The first paid DLC expansion for the game, titled Legacy of the Moonspell, was announced on December 6, 2022. Inspired by Japanese folklore and anime, it adds thirteen weapons, eight characters, and a new stage featuring enemies designed after yōkai and oni.[21] The expansion was released on December 15, 2022, for macOS, Windows, and Xbox platforms, with a mobile release in early 2023.[22] A second paid DLC expansion, Tides of Foscari, was released in April 2023. It introduces new weapons and characters and features a new stage inspired by fairy tales.[23][24]

The game has also released DLC expansions featuring elements from other video games. Emergency Meeting, based on Innersloth's Among Us, was released on December 18, 2023.[25] Operation Guns, based on Konami's Contra, was released on May 9, 2024.[20] Ode to Castlevania, based on Konami's Castlevania series, was released on October 31, 2024, coinciding with Halloween. Galante said that Ode to Castlevania was a "full circle moment" for him with the game.[26] [8] The Ode to Castlevania includes voicework from Neil Newbon as Dracula and SungWon Cho as Richter Belmont.[27]

Television series

[edit]

An animated Vampire Survivors television series was announced in April 2023, to be produced by Story Kitchen in partnership with Luca Galante.[28][29]

Reception

[edit]

While Vampire Survivors was initially obscure upon its release, it became a hit by late January 2022, reaching over 30,000 concurrent players on Steam.[7][45] This number continued to rise, with the game surpassing 70,000 concurrent players the following month.[46] Due to the success of Vampire Survivors, Galante was estimated by The Sunday Times in August 2024 to have accumulated £40 million, making him one of the wealthiest game developers in the United Kingdom.[47]

While not the first game in its genre, Vampire Survivors inspired several other titles referred to as bullet heavens or reverse bullet hells, characterized by automatic gameplay and roguelike progression, which were released in the following year, mostly at a low price and in early access.[48] Some of these include Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor[49] and HoloCure – Save the Fans!.[50]

Vampire Survivors received "generally favorable" reviews for Windows according to review aggregator Metacritic;[30] the Xbox Series X/S and iOS versions received "universal acclaim".[31][32]

Ian Walker of Kotaku and Graham Smith of Rock Paper Shotgun praised the game, both comparing it to dopamine.[1][51] Polygon's Nicole Carpenter noted the game's depth, stating, "no one streamer I've watched played entirely the same."[2] Aaron Zimmerman of Ars Technica named Vampire Survivors as his pick for game of the year.[48] Marie Dealessandri of GamesIndustry.biz also selected Vampire Survivors as her game of the year, highlighting its excellent performance on the handheld Steam Deck, which also released in 2022.[52]

Accolades

[edit]
Year Award Category Result Ref(s).
2022 Golden Joystick Awards Best Early Access Launch Nominated [53][54]
Breakthrough Award Won
The Game Awards Best Debut Indie Game Nominated [55]
The Steam Awards Best Game on the Go Nominated [56]
2023 New York Game Awards Big Apple Award for Best Game of the Year Nominated [57]
Off Broadway Award for Best Indie Game Won
D.I.C.E. Awards Game of the Year Nominated [58]
Action Game of the Year Won
Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game Nominated
Outstanding Achievement in Game Design Nominated
Game Developers Choice Awards Game of the Year Honorable mention [59][60]
Best Debut Nominated
Best Design Honorable mention
British Academy Games Awards Best Game Won [61]
British Game Nominated
Debut Game Nominated
Game Design Won
Original Property Nominated

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c Early access version

References

[edit]
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