hit indie games Vampire survivors gets a sequel that’s in a completely different genre, but still has the same old-school graphics and satisfyingly addictive qualities.
Given the bad first impression it gives, we’re still shocked that Vampire Survivors became such a massive success. Considering that second and third impressions aren’t much better, it seems a small miracle, but despite the ugly visuals and seemingly shallow gameplay, Vampire Survivors is a great game, with a lot more depth and nuance than it first appears.
However, taking advantage of this success presents a problem (beyond accepting a film adaptation). The game keeps getting updates, but what do you do in terms of a sequel? A sequel that looks more or less the same doesn’t make much sense and neither does a big budget 3D version. So instead the creative poncle, which started as just one indie developer in Londonmade a low-budget 3D version, mixed up the gameplay a bit, and the result is Vampire Survivors.
At more than double the price of the original (which still makes it incredibly cheap), Vampire Survivors is subtitled ‘The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors’, which is a reference to the fact that it’s essentially a deck-building game, albeit portrayed as an old-school first-person dungeon crawler. It’s not exactly Slay The Spire 2but it’s proof that ponchos aren’t doomed to be a one-hit wonder.
Vampire Crawlers isn’t a complicated concept, but it’s a bit more complicated to get your head around than Survivors. As before, there is no distinct story, except that vampires abound and you must escape them and their evil friends. This is achieved by starting from a village in a number of areas – most based on locations from the original game – which are represented as small mazes of dungeons that you traverse in measured, grid-based steps – like the old Atari ST classic Dungeon Master.
The game is also available on smartphones, so the interface is not complex, and neither is the combat, which is technically turn-based, but designed to be played at a fast pace. Each venture from the village gives you a new deck to play with, with the full selection of available cards being added each time you level up, much in the way you gain new weapons and powers in Survivors.
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Which cards you start with is affected by the character (or trailing) you choose to accompany you, but most cards require a certain amount of mana to use. Try and play cards in ascending order of mana requirements for a combo bonus and that’s pretty much it for the first hour or so.
Like Survivors, you are initially convinced that Vampire Crawlers is the dumbest and simplest game. It’s arguable a bit too long before it starts to prove otherwise, but after two hours or so you start having trouble powering up all the cards you want to use and you realize you need to focus on support cards as much as offensive ones, especially ones that increase mana or the number of cards in your hand. At first it’s only three, but actually, we’re not sure there’s any hard limit.
You’ll soon be introduced to the idea of attaching gems to act as buffs for your cards, as well as some stats you can increase during a run that do things like increase the number of projectiles you fire or the power of your attacks. Cards can be combined together to make more powerful variants, again just like in the original game, and each map is filled with secrets that often reveal lucky cards or other bonuses.
The addictive factor is not only due to the fact that you realize there’s more to the game than first appeared, but also that even an unsuccessful run usually results in some sort of reward, whether it’s a new creep, a new relic that acts as a buff or permanent feature, and things like a blacksmith that allow you to add more precious slots to your cards.
Discovering new areas and dungeons is rewarding enough, but the other all-important “just one more move” incentive is the Achievements-like unlock system, which, you guessed it, also works the same as Vampire Survivors. These give clear clues as to how you can unlock new card types and creeps, among other things, and usually involve repeating a task like collecting X number of coins or getting a character to a certain level.
Once you really get the hang of how the game works, you can start racking up combos, to the point where it feels like you’ve broken the game – as you hammer away at enemies for ages after their health is gone. However, nothing is broken, it just seems that way, and being able to take full advantage of the game’s systems this way is incredibly satisfying, especially when things go off the rails late in the game.
Not only does Crawlers have the same irreverent humor as Vampire Survivors (and the same obvious love for Castlevania, to the point where you’d swear they stole some of the original sprites), but the graphics are mostly the same. They look ridiculously low-tech turned into textures for a 3D wall or as enemies standing in front of you, but somehow they have more charm than many modern ray-traced games.
The last thing Vampire Crawlers would want you to do is take it seriously, but beneath its amateurish exterior lies a disarmingly complex game that manages to overcome some of the original’s flaws, particularly its odd pacing, which starts very slowly and then ebbs and flows with no apparent pattern. This is reduced in Crawlers so you no longer feel like you’re going through the motions at the start of a run, which are also usually much shorter than a Survivor game.
There is still an element of randomness, which may seem frustrating at first, but after you unlock some relics and buy additional help in the in-game store, it can be hidden. We’ll have to wait and see if this one will be as big a success as Vampire Survivors, but we’re happy to say it’s already crawled into our hearts.
Vampire Crawlers Review Summary
February: An impressively successful sequel to Vampire Survivors, featuring completely different gameplay but a deceptively similar sense of depth and nuance to its charmingly low-tech action.
The pros: The game is much more involved than it first appears, as you slowly expand your skills and range of weapons. Very easy to learn and impressively fast paced for the genre. The low-tech graphics are very attractive.
Disadvantages: There is still a significant element of randomness in the action. The first couple of hours make it seem very shallow and uninteresting and even deep into the game you can end up playing it almost on autopilot.
Result: 8/10
Formats: Nintendo Switch (reviewed), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, iOS and Android
Price: £9.99
Publisher: poncle
Developer: Nosebleed Interactive
Publication date: April 21, 2026
Age rating: 7
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