Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors Reviews
There are moments of fun, especially towards the end, but too often I just wanted to ram a garlic-flavoured stake through Vampire Crawlers repetitive, grindy heart.
It's in that realization that Vampire Crawlers begins to reveal its true end goal: making you smile as you dispense pure carnage.
If you're going to create a deckbuilder out of Vampire Survivors, I think Vampire Crawlers is pretty much exactly the result you'd hope for – minus some bugs. It combines all of the weapons and power-ups from the first game with clever fusions and twists on traditional deckbuilding tentpoles.Even things that are annoying - not being able to check your deck when selecting upgrade and, hard to track damage numbers - feel like quirks of the franchise. It scratches my brain in a familiar way, and the euphoric feeling of creating a broken build still feels great.
The gameplay loop is fun and addictive, rewarding experimentation and offering countless opportunities for different builds. Exploring dungeons has never been more fun, and I'm far more eager to see more Vampire Crawlers content than a sequel to Vampire Survivors.
I don't need games to be life-changing, but I do need a bit more mechanical depth than what Vampire Crawlers has, and while you can craft some incredibly entertaining combos as you play, and each new characters offers new cards, the core concept remains the same throughout. I think this is a solid dungeon crawler, if not fantastic.
Like Survivors, Vampire Crawlers has a wealth of things to unlock along with permanent upgrades to give you a boost. Early on, things can feel a bit limited, but after putting in a couple of hours, you'll start to see far more, like whole new features in the hub, and new rewards waiting in each stage.
Vampire Crawlers is a strong proof of concept that the Vampire Survivors formula can be applied to other genres. In this case, we have a rock solid marriage between card game and dungeon crawling mechanics, thereby creating an addictive and gratifying gameplay loop. I can't wait to see what updates are in store for Vampire Crawlers.
You might be happy to know that there are no vampires in Vampire Crawlers. You've got to hand it to developer poncle for committing to a bit, an...
Vampire Crawlers blends deckbuilding and roguelike action into a surprisingly addictive loop. It may not click with everyone, but for those who enjoy experimenting with builds and chasing “one more run,” it’s an easy recommendation, especially at its price point.
At first, I felt slightly betrayed that Vampire Crawlers couldn’t offer more ways for me to die but, with some time to mull it over, I am thankful that I can complete it and leave it behind me. Vampire Crawlers was a fling, but an intense one.
...considering the hours you will get from Vampire Crawlers, it's hard to give it anything more than an enthusiastic recommendation. As a dungeon crawler, it is both competent and fun, but as an experience, you will likely find yourself enraptured. If you, like me, are the type of person to spend an entire weekend in a hotel room just playing Vampire Survivors on a Steam Deck, the exact same thing will happen with Vampire Crawlers. For the time you spend playing it, it will likely swallow you entirely, and whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing is up to you and your loved ones.
Vampire Crawlers is one of the best roguelike deck-builders on the market right now. It’s fast, charming, addictive and tremendously well-crafted. Poncle has done it again.
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Review in German | Read full review
Vampire Crawlers is a well-constructed dungeon looter with quite an engaging card combat system, let down by repetitiveness that arrives a little too soon and a complete absence of any story whatsoever.
"Upon the announcement of Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors, I felt somewhat like the leaders were becoming the followers, that poncle might be jumping on the deck-building bandwagon after successes like Slay the Spire and Balatro. Having now rolled credits on Vampire Crawlers, my fears are abated. This new entry brings a fresh spin on a well-worn formula, perfectly recreating the sense of wonder I felt starting the original."
Vampire Crawlers is probably the best Roguelike deck builder ever made, with fast paced combat and so many synergies to discover and break.
poncle's done it again. Vampire Crawlers is a wickedly crafted, addicting, original game with enough potential depth to rival the Mariana Trench. If, or hopefully when, DLC is added to this game, it's only going to expand the possibilities even more.