Current Events > I didn't think much of Vampire Survivors at first...

(+) Yeah! (+)

But after playing it for a while, upgrading my characters and finally hitting the 30 minute mark before meeting my inevitable encounter with death itself, I'm starting to see the addiction.

I think it was the Windows 95/98 aesthetic of the game that turned me off. Maybe that was the point, maybe not, but I wasn't sold on the game for that reason. I needed to remind myself that graphics don't make a game and that gameplay does.

I knew nothing about the game until I visited a buddy Tues night and he introduced me to it.

Was hooked in less than 2 minutes

Easily one of my favorite indie games in years. Such a simple, addictive gameplay loop. My only real complaint is that there aren't enough weapons or items. You end up going for the same combination and leveling of upgrades until each round becomes identical after 15-20 minutes.

This game is awesome. I've only had it for a week and I'm hooked. Can't believe i almost let this one slip by...

Also, are you supposed to die automatically after 30 minutes. Or do I just suck

I really enjoyed it during the Switch Online game trial. It's a fun little gameplay loop and the bestiary and other flavor text is hilarious.

CRON posted...

Easily one of my favorite indie games in years. Such a simple, addictive gameplay loop. My only real complaint is that there aren't enough weapons or items. You end up going for the same combination and leveling of upgrades until each round becomes identical after 15-20 minutes.

Keep at it. There's an absolute fuckton of stuff to unlock. Especially with the Castlevania DLC which is filthy cheap for how much extra it brings to the game.

You should try out the other Survivors-likes, very cheap as well and they usually have something unique going for them. The standout is Death Must Die that mixes in Diablo-style equipment and loot drops to runs.

SauI_Goodman posted...

Also, are you supposed to die automatically after 30 minutes. Or do I just suck

You can beat that, but it's difficult. And you need a specific build

BunkerBoy posted...

You can beat that, but it's difficult. And you need a specific build

Ah ok. I mean it happens so fast lol

-Crissaegrim- posted...

Keep at it. There's an absolute fuckton of stuff to unlock. Especially with the Castlevania DLC which is filthy cheap for how much extra it brings to the game.

I've heard good things about it but I'm broke as shit. I already have the Tides of The Foscari DLC

I've been playing for a while now. Just about everything ends in an encounter with one unkillable reaper or another and despit beating the hard boss and rolling the kredits, I haven't seen a single undead blood-sucker. Why does a game kalled Vampire Survivors have little to no vampires or surviving in it?

SauI_Goodman posted...

Ah ok. I mean it happens so fast lol

There's an item that makes any hit do a max of 10 damage. That stops the one shot.

SauI_Goodman posted...

Also, are you supposed to die automatically after 30 minutes. Or do I just suck

Its allegedly possible to beat death. Ive never done it, even with any of the recommemded builds ive tried. I dunno.

SauI_Goodman posted...

Ah ok. I mean it happens so fast lol

The build he's talking about takes a lot of game progress, but it will make beating him something of a formality.

-Crissaegrim- posted...

The build he's talking to takes a lot of game progress, but it will make beating him something of a formality.

Well, you do unlock something cool for the effort

Yeah it took me a couple of hours to really "get it" as well. First few runs are kind of boring and unless you get lucky with drops/choices, you don't get far enough to really make a dent in the meta progression

I don't know if it was the first game to do it, but many people call similar games "survivor likes." So its definitely the first majorly influential game that used its formula.

Choose a character. Upgrade constantly, have a time limit (which you can optionally challenge, even in Vampire Survivors where killing the first Reaper will unlock a character).

Its basically the perfect combo of an upgrade game, a time limited game, and more, even to a point of memes (especially with DLC).

Clovershroom posted...

But after playing it for a while, upgrading my characters and finally hitting the 30 minute mark before meeting my inevitable encounter with death itself, I'm starting to see the addiction.

Oh man wait until you kill death.

I'm just waiting for formal online coop.

It is so easy to sink a couple of hours into the game in the blink of an eye.

I just wish they'd add more difficulty modifiers at the same time they add crazy power inflation.

It's a fun game. I think Holocure made a few improvements on it (like being able to aim weapons in a different directly than you're facing)

BlackScythe0 posted...

It's a fun game. I think Holocure made a few improvements on it (like being able to aim weapons in a different directly than you're facing)

I actually played Holocure before Vampire Survivors.

sabin017 posted...

You should try out the other Survivors-likes, very cheap as well and they usually have something unique going for them. The standout is Death Must Die that mixes in Diablo-style equipment and loot drops to runs.

My son is hooked on Brotato at the moment

Yeah, Vampire Survivor sucks for the first thirty minutes or so, when you're stuck using the whip and have no idea what to combine to get upgrades. But, after that, the next 80 hours or so kick ass.

BunkerBoy posted...

You can beat that, but it's difficult. And you need a specific build

You don't need a specific build with enough eggs!

I'm envious of people who discover this game at this point in its life cycle. When I played there were a handful of stages and a decent number of secret unlockables. I was hooked for dozens of hours.

Nowadays, it's absolutely loaded with content. Especially with DLC included, which are all very reasonably priced.

Sonic_Cannon posted...

Yeah it took me a couple of hours to really "get it" as well. First few runs are kind of boring and unless you get lucky with drops/choices, you don't get far enough to really make a dent in the meta progression

Yeah, a couple of attempts had me going "yeah, it's kind of addictive". Then I unlocked another level, and just kept unlocking more and more and more content than I ever expected the game to have.

if you like vampire survivor i also recommend death must die, pretty fun mix of VS, hades and diablo

SAlYAN posted...

Its allegedly possible to beat death. Ive never done it, even with any of the recommemded builds ive tried. I dunno.

Time stopping abilities like the evolved clock lancet or shielding abilities will allow you not to die to it while you kill it. If you manage to do that, then you get killed automatically by the one that shows up after.

EmbraceOfDeath posted...

Time stopping abilities like the evolved clock lancet or shielding abilities will allow you not to die to it while you kill it. If you manage to do that, then you get killed automatically by the one that shows up after.

There's a few main ways to kill him. The easiest way is to build that laser combo by picking up the special power ups that take off a % of life on hit then run like crazy while screaming AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA hoping that death doesn't catch you. You'll need a really fast character to do this. This is earliest way you can kill death.

Another way to do it is to build so much area damage because every time death is hit he teleports somewhere else and if you have enough of it you can stop him from ever reaching you because he's just constantly teleporting. This is only for advanced players but it'll be the most common way you kill death in the game eventually.

Late in the same you'll have so many eggs you can just kill him like a normal enemy.

I recently cleared through everything on ps5...after playing it to death on mobile and switch.

Never touched the dlcs on switch or mobile. They really add quite a lot to the game. So much so that it gets very easy to break everything.

Wasn't a huge fan of the among us dlc. And still need to get the castlevania dlc too....that came out just as I had collected all the trophies and most in game achievements.....now there's more. At least they didn't add more trophies

Shotgunnova posted...

Yeah, Vampire Survivor sucks for the first thirty minutes or so, when you're stuck using the whip and have no idea what to combine to get upgrades. But, after that, the next 80 hours or so kick ass.

The entire way you approach the game flips on a dime.

When you first start out, you have to dodge and move around clusters of enemies because you have basic weapons and don't know how things synergize. After about an hour or so, it starts to click and you start putting together buildings that become less about ducking around groups and whittling them down and more about letting you barrel into a screen full of enemies and blend them up with a mixture of overpowered weapons. The weapons aren't any different from what you were using when you first played the game, it's just that now you've twigged on to how to build a loadout around them.

-Crissaegrim- posted...

The weapons aren't any different from what you were using when you first played the game, it's just that now you've twigged on to how to build a loadout around them

Ehhhh... nah. Theyre different. You unlock new ones at a pretty good clip, and lets be real: a fully-upgraded (or fused) weapon plays and handles absolutely nothing like the tiny peashooters you start with.

Ive played through from the start on multiple systems, and that "the first 30 minutes suck" feeling never goes away on a fresh save.

SAlYAN posted...

Ehhhh... nah. Theyre different. You unlock new ones at a pretty good clip, and lets be real: a fully-upgraded (or fused) weapon plays and handles absolutely nothing like the tiny peashooters you start with.

Ive played through from the start on multiple systems, and that "the first 30 minutes suck" feeling never goes away on a fresh save.

The fresh save stuff is what's stopping me from getting into the adventure mode. I got the two trophies and dipped.

It's a good idea, just that the start of the game sucks with little upgrades

see you in 300 hours

I love it, always go to maintain my 100% (except this last update that added achievements for a couple Adventures or whatever they're called... really need to figure that out).

The_Korey posted...

I've been playing for a while now. Just about everything ends in an encounter with one unkillable reaper or another and despit beating the hard boss and rolling the kredits, I haven't seen a single undead blood-sucker. Why does a game kalled Vampire Survivors have little to no vampires or surviving in it?

Well, you're surviving against hordes of the undead. Vampires, well...

Is Dracula in the Castlevania DLC?

The_Korey posted...

I've been playing for a while now. Just about everything ends in an encounter with one unkillable reaper or another and despit beating the hard boss and rolling the kredits, I haven't seen a single undead blood-sucker. Why does a game kalled Vampire Survivors have little to no vampires or surviving in it?

That's the joke. It's super blatantly Castlevania-inspired, but there's no vampires.

Clovershroom posted...

Is Dracula in the Castlevania DLC?

Yes. Kind of a shock, but if you're going to end the joke, an official Castlevania DLC would be the one to end it on.

probably the best phone game ever imo

i have hundreds of hours in it and all the achievements

then it came out on ps5 and I got it all there too, woot woot