2024 was my first full year at RPS, and as a guides writer, it was a year packed with the sort of games that make you roll your sleeves up, wipe sweat from your brow, and stare up at the sky from the trenches, ruminating on what life is like when you aren't dealing with back-to-back Soulslikes interspersed with gacha games that feature incomprehensible lootbox mechanics.
]]>Vampire Survivors was our best game of 2022 and one of the best roguelikes, period. And over the years it's received a slew of updates that make it a bit bigger and a bit better, but nothing that's been mega substantial. That is, until today's announcement that it's getting an Ode To Castlevania expansion, classed by developers Poncle as the game's biggest DLC yet. More characters, more weapons, a weapon selector, an enormous stage. I simply can't wait to devour more packets of crisps as I play this.
]]>Chaos and comedy. Death and rebirth. Luck and, uh, running out of luck. A good roguelike doesn't treat the player like other games do. Roguelikes won't guide you helpfully along a path, or let you cinematically snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. They're more likely to dangle you deep between the jaws of defeat and fumble the rope until you go sliding down defeat's hungry gullet. This is their beauty, and it's a part of why we keep coming back for another go. Next time everything will go right. Next time you'll find the right pair of poison-proof loafers, the perfect co-pilot for your spaceship, a stash of stronger, better ropes. Next time.
Here's our list of the 19 best roguelikes on PC you can play in 2024.
]]>Over the past while a few games have had post-launch patches, the exemplars being Starfield and Stardew valley, which have post-launch patches of different kinds and for different reasons. We take some time on the Electronic Wireless Show podcast to talk about this patch of patches, and what it was like in the good ol' days, where a broken game came out and stayed broken, gosh darn it!
Nate isn't here today, which means I can make fun of him for owning fish, or whatever it is he does, but in his stead James steps up with an RGB lighting-themed game where I have to guess what accessories people stuck lights on to turn into gamer accessories. This is because Razer stuck RGB lights on a pandemic mask and are in trouble over it now. Naughty Razer. Plus, we talk about the games we're playing right now, and dish you up some juicy recommendations at the end of the show.
]]>Unveiled last night at the IGN x ID@Xbox Digital Showcase, Vampire Survivors has received a free new update called Laborratory (yes, with two 'r's). It includes one new character, one secret character, three weapons, one stage, and a bonus go-cart racing stage. But perhaps most importantly of all, Poncle say they'll answer the question that's been on everyone's lips: "Why is it called Santa Water?". This is something that's puzzled me since the game's inception, and therefore, I will be thrusting myself back into the game where there are, in fact, no vampires at all. I need to know.
]]>Revealed at the Triple-I Initiative just now, Vampire Survivors is getting another cool DLC, this one a crossover with classic Konami run 'n' gun Contra. It's called Operation Guns. Get on board. Trailed with, as is now traditional, a cool animated trailer that suggests the game is a Saturday morning cartoon and not a top down pixelated nightmare that will flush out any latent photosensitivity lurking in your skull (complimentary), Operation Guns is arriving on May 9th, so about a month away.
]]>Vampire Survivors received yet another update this past week. The Space-54 update adds two new characters, four new weapons, a new relic, and a new bonus stage. It also introduces cross-save support between Steam and Android to the Steam public beta branch.
]]>What happens when the biggest indie game of 2020 meets the biggest indie game of 2022? We’ll find out soon enough, as Among Us is headed to Vampire Survivors in a piece of DLC titled Emergency Meeting.
]]>Vampire Survivors is getting an Adventures update that will add "self-contained miniature story modes that reset and remix the game's content, following the Survivor's cast on a series of wacky sidequests". That's according to developer Poncle, who are clearly in a whimsical mood this week. After all, if there's one thing this game about auto-massacring ever larger crowds of kamikaze night creatures has been lacking, it's some proper narrative context.
]]>Vampire Survivors is the gift that keeps on giving, dropping a local multiplayer mode, flashy new engine and a whole bunch of other free stuff on top of a game that is already more than well worth its modest price tag. In the case of the screen-filling slay-’em-up’s next big update, it’s now a Christmas gift that keeps on giving, with a Santa’s sack worth of winter-inspired additions on the way. Oh, and it all arrives tomorrow. That’s nice.
]]>Vampire Survivors' snazzy new engine upgrade is coming this month, but developers Poncle seem to be cooking up something even more exciting for their dopamine-fuel bullet heaven shooter. Vampire Survivors: Directer’s Cut is supposedly a major overhaul to the smash hit roguelike, although it unfortunately “may or may not” ever be released.
]]>Vampire Survivors is getting an engine upgrade! Don’t expect any fancy ray-traced textures like Minecraft or Cyberpunk, but the upcoming switchover for the addictive Best Game of Last Year will bring with it some very welcome improvements to performance and stability when it lands next month.
]]>Having fallen in love with Vampire Survivors, a game you can play with one hand in a packet of jelly snakes, I can't help but think it's ruined Diablo 4 for me. I want nothing more than to play it with an auto-attack feature popped on, where all of the blood novas and axe spins are handled for me by a satisfying toggle in a menu. In a game about as engaging as mowing the lawn, I feel like it makes sense to embrace the tedium and let me play as if I'm barely present.
]]>As if you needed more of a reason to while away the hours listening to Vampire Survivors’ strangely entrancing OST while mowing down thousands of skeletons, ghosts and vampires, 2022’s more moreish and BEST game is getting local co-op.
]]>RPS' coveted game of the year 2022, Vampire Survivors, is getting another update, which means there are now even more reasons why you should play this game if you haven't already. Like, seriously. The big 1.5 Overwhelming Update brings with it new brain-overloading shenanigans which you can see in the trailer below, first revealed at the PC Gaming Show. Oh yeah, and the update is available today (June 11th)!
]]>We’re one episode away from being in the double digits, folks! Whoop! But for now, let’s dive into episode nine of Indiescovery. This time we're chatting about our biggest Steam sins. That’s right, we’re revealing it all: shamefully ignored indie gems, outrageous playtimes, and games that we promise we’ll return to one day, honest! We also get into what we’ve been recently playing and then end, as always, with our hyperfixations.
]]>Vampire Survivors, aka the best game of 2022, might be getting an animated television series. Developers Poncle have announced that they've partnered with Story Kitchen, a media company headed a Sonic movie co-producer and the creator of John Wick, to make it happen.
]]>Part of the fun of Vampire Survirors lies in discovering new weapons and items, and knowing that there are still surprises to uncover as you construct your monster murder machine. That thrill fades as complete more runs and reach the game's edges, but its DLCs are so far doing a good job of creating new, uncharted territory. The latest, Tides Of The Foscari, is out now.
]]>It's episode seven of Indiescovery and this week, wow, the gang is tired. With a busy four days in Boston for PAX East, mine and Liam's brains were basically mush last week, so Rebecca - an absolute angel - graciously said she could host a special PAX East episode where she chats with Liam and me about the indies we saw on the show floor and try desperately to string together a coherent sentence. She also made bulletpoints of our entire chat so writing up the shownotes would be easier; we do not deserve her.
]]>Vampire Survivor’s first DLC gave fans exactly what they wanted: more Vampire Survivors. The bullet-hell auto-shooter’s next DLC is aiming to do the same in just two weeks as the Tides Of The Foscari expansion launches on April 13th, developer Poncle have announced.
]]>The BAFTA Games Awards were held last night - an annual show where a jury of developers throw weighty man-head statues at the crowd, celebrating the best games of any given year. The 2023 BAFTAs celebrated the best of 2022 with a mixed bag of games, awarding big blockbusters alongside popular indies, but the jury agrees with RPS on one front: Vampire Survivors is the best game of 2022. Good BAFTAs.
]]>I had a brief, intense relationship with Vampire Survivors last year, but a steady stream of early access updates and now post-release DLC has kept other players in its thrall for much longer. Those updates have been successful enough that its developer says that they'd only make a sequel if it offered "something radically new."
]]>RPS’ favourite game of 2022 Vampire Survivors is getting even more content to suck me back in. Does this make it eligible for 2023’s Game Of The Year? Developer Poncle announced the new 1.3 Chaos Update is coming to Vampire Survivors on all systems tomorrow, February 9th. The Chaos Update brings a new challenge stage, two relics, and more features to the bullet-hell indie, but some fans are convinced the 1.3 update is actually an homage to Sonic The Hedgehog.
]]>Vampire Survivors was one of 2022 biggest hits, sinking its teeth into me and countless other victims. The RPS Treehouse even named the bullet hell beast the best game of 2022 In a Steam community blog, developer Poncle celebrated the mega-successful year they just had, highlighting their accolades and the fact they were the most played game on Steam Deck over the last six months - half of that playtime probably came from me in my bed; you’re welcome, Poncle. But, despite their Vampire-y success, the devs have already begun to tease something "not exclusively related" to their big hit.
]]>With all the doors on our RPS Advent Calendar well and truly busted open for 2022 now, we thought it was high time to gather all of our favourite games of the year together in one handy location. If you've been diligently scoffing our Advent treats throughout December, then you'll already know what our game of the year picks are for 2022, but just in case you missed them or want to go through them one final time, we've got 'em all right here for you in our definitive Games Of The Year list. Enjoy!
]]>We've reached the very last day of our RPS Advent Calendar for this year! That means that behind this door is our actual Game Of The Year. The GOTYest goat for 2022. Unfortunately, behind the door are also a lot of bats, ghosts, zombies, oh man that looks like a giant praying mantis I think? How on earth are we going to get through all this?
]]>Two months after leaving early access, Vampire Survivors yesterday launched its first paid expansion. Its name is Legacy Of The Moonspell, and it adds a new map along with new characters and enemies and weapons, all inspired by Japanese folkore (including a variety of yokai and oni). For a mere £1.50, it is perfect. Do you like Vampire Survivors and want more? Buddy, it's right here.
]]>Vampire Survivors' development seemed to rocket across 2022, with 1.0 of the vast, inexpensive bullet hell arriving in October. If you still hunger for more, then fret not, more is still coming. Vampire Survivors: Legacy of the Moonspell is coming on December 15th, and it's a DLC that will add a new new stage, 8 new characters and 13 new weapons.
]]>A tiny bridge makes so much sense as a late-game Vampire Survivors challenge stage. The game's arguably at its most captivating when the hordes start clogging up your death machinery, squeezing you into tighter and tighter corridors as you pray for a power-up or multi-item chest. It's pleasantly squirmy, but will the bridge added in yesterday's appropriately titled "The Tiny One" update be too squirmy?
The update also added a couple new achievements, and an item that lets you banish a weapon or power-up of your choosing across all of your runs. Come see.
]]>Vampire Survivors is a game where you control a little pixellated person who auto-attacks periodically. Your aim is to survive for as long as possible as hordes of slime and bats close in around you, and it's an excellent time. So excellent, in fact, that it's already seen a few spin-offs.
And having sampled a couple of Vampire Survivor-likes, it's made me appreciative of the game's visual clarity. Yes, things can get messy, but at least you're able to make out what's happening on screen. I don't think it's something the subgenre has quite grasped yet.
]]>Vampire Survivors is morish. Pulsating lights stretch in a vertical column from the top to the bottom of my screen, scattering into deadly particles like notes played on an accordion of cosmic destruction. Fireworks burst in every corner, thanks to the evolved version of my diamond-spewing runetracer weapon that’s now called ‘NO FUTURE’. Monsters go pop by their thousands. Flaming meteors still abound.
Vampire Survivors is an arcade-style survivathon about weaving through fields of enemies as your weapons automatically obliterate the oncoming hordes. It’s still about collecting upgrades until you’re the locus of an unstoppable death machine, and now that it’s left early access that death machine comes in more colours and more flavours. There are new maps to conquer, new characters to conquer with, and new secrets to uncover. If you haven’t played since the early access launch then yes, it’s worth checking out the new stuff. If you haven’t played at all, then God yes, please check out all the stuff. Or like, most of it.
Vampire Survivors is still morish. Up to a point.
]]>Vampire Survivors will hit version 1.0 on October 20th. Developer poncle announced the release date today as planned, but didn't say what new features the full release would contain so that its additions remain a surprise.
Although reaching 1.0 means leaving early access, it's also not the end of Vampire Survivors development. Work on porting the game to a new engine continues with the aim to "release it by the end of the year."
]]>Vampire Survivors has announced the released date... for when they'll announce their release date. That makes today the release date of the release date for the release date, if you like.
Anyway, the vampy reverse bullet hell will reveal the launch date for 1.0 on September 29th. In the meantime, today brought the release of minor patch 0.11.3, which includes a new weapon, a new secret character, and the final Arcana.
]]>So two weeks ago I let you know that Vampire Survivors wouldn’t be getting any more patches before it launched into its 1.0 version. The cheeky scamps at poncle have only gone and made me look like a right sausage today, surprise announcing another patch. This time, they’re adding in a new game mode, quick start, and a very odd new character.
]]>Earlier this month, arcade roguelike Vampire Survivors added a cheat menu of ‘spells’ in its Not One patch. They’re going not-one better with the 0.11.100 patch today, christened The All-In-One, by adding in more cheats, a new character and two more weapons. Witness the arrival of Queen Sigma in the fancy trailer below.
]]>Vampire Survivors updates to 0.10.0 today, dubbed the Not One patch, and there’s a secret new unlockable menu that can really trick the game out. Your survivor can kick it old school with a whole bunch of cheat codes to enter, styled as “spells”. Get a glimpse of the cheating potential in the teaser trailer below.
]]>Vampire Survivors has received another patch, which adds 2 new Arcanas, a new challenge stage called Boss Rash, and a surprise new unlockable character. The new character is called Gyorunton, and is a blue, three-headed and armless dragon, who has a Bracelet as a new starting weapon. Where does it wear the bracelet? I don't want to know.
]]>I've enjoyed the early access experience of Vampire Survivors, hopping back on every few weeks to check out a new update and do all the new stuff (and make all the new explosions). The roguelikelike survival arcade game has grown a lot, and fast, especially considering it started as a solo project. As it nears version 1.0, the latest big update has added a new final boss to the final level, a flashy battle.
]]>Game Pass is particularly ideal for two kinds of games: indie games you're not sure you'll like enough to commit to the upfront cost, and decent-not-great blockbusters you know almost certainly aren't worth the cost but would quite like to play for at least a bit.
There are plenty of games that fit into both of these categories joining the subscription service before the end of May, including Vampire Survivors, Hardspace: Shipbreaker, Sniper Elite 5 and Jurassic World Evolution 2.
]]>How do you evolve your weapons in Vampire Survivors? Not to be confused with upgrading weapons, which is a relatively straightforward case of levelling up for increases to stats and a few bonuses, weapon evolutions in Vampire Survivors require you to apply certain ingredients to a base weapon in order to create an entirely new weapon form.
]]>How do you unlock all the playable characters in Vampire Survivors? I'm a sucker for a game with an expanding roster of playable units with unique powers, and that's just what roguelike fantasy shooter Vampire Survivors provides. The urge to catch 'em all is a powerful one, and once you know that there are a total of 24 playable characters in this game, completionists will no doubt be in agony wondering how to fill out their collection.
Well, worry no more, because on this page we'll be giving you a run-down of every playable unit in Vampire Survivors and instructions on how to unlock them.
]]>2D bullet hell game Vampire Survivors is surely one of the most interesting success stories of the year, as what was a simple mobile game became popular almost overnight. Its very minimalistic roguelike style captured players looking for something casual, but still engrossing. You pick one of several characters and move them around the screen as they auto-attack. As enemies are disposed of the player levels up, along with changing weapons and gaining power-ups, with the ultimate goal being to keep the ever growing mob of enemies under control. On death you unlock new weapons and characters by spending coins gained in battle.
While the game currently sits on Steam with an “overwhelmingly popular” based on almost 70k reviews, success is definitely not what solo developer Luca Galante was expecting when he first started working on it.
]]>There comes a point in a Vampire Survivors run when I know my build is good enough to go the distance, because the violence is so intense and colourful that my framerate grinds down into single digits. I like that point. To me, that's the real win; any minutes remaining before the actual end are a victory lap. Alas, this will change. The devs have laid out revised early access plans and, alongside loads of extra wizards and things, they're moving to a new engine with potentially a tenfold increase in performance. Booo?
]]>It wouldn’t work without the sounds. The thwop of your whip, the thwick of your dagger. The electronic twinkle of health-restoring chicken, which sounds uncannily like the shield’s up sound from 1999 classic 3D Astro Blaster. The ‘boo boo de boo, boo boo de boop’ of the chest-opening jingle, to which my shoulders cannot help but shimmy. Best of all: the plink of picking up an XP-granting gem - at first a sporadic treat, soon a near constant hum as the tide of enemies grows from a trickle into a flood.
Vampire Survivors is a simple, early access, arcade-style game about dodging an ever-growing horde of monsters while acquiring spells that fire automatically. You can (and should) play it with one hand while eating a bag of crisps. It’s a very good way to spend £2.
]]>Vampire Survivors is an action RPG boiled down to its core. You walk around, you kill monsters, you level up, you get stronger, you kill more monsters. In place of story, an inventory, or even the need to fire and aim your own weapons, there is pixel art spectacle.
On my last life, I killed around 24,000 monsters in 30 minutes. I am hooked.
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