Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors Reviews
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.
A most excellent take on the beloved Vampire Survivors in a new genre
Vampire Crawlers oozes charm both in its visual presentation and gameplay loop. It truly hits that ‘one more round’ feeling and knocks it out of the park. Whether the game will shape a new genre quite the way its spin-off predecessor did is probably unlikely. However, when it comes to card battling games – and that’s a very competitive field these days – Crawlers has already launched itself right into being one of the most impressive ones on the market. Playing it on the go with the Switch 2 is a bonus as it is the perfect match for taking a quick 15-minute break from work, or as a time sink on a plane or bus journey. Priced at a tenner, the guys at Poncle have also taken on board the benefits of a competitive price point at attracting both fans and casual gamers alike.
Vampire Crawlers is a weird spin-off, as it has almost nothing to do with Vampire Survivors other than it exists in the same world and contains the same characters and items. And yet somehow, this fast-paced dungeon crawler manages to be just as moreish as the game it is derived from.
Unbalanced and a bit rough, yet hypnotic and long‑lasting: Vampire Crawlers is an imperfect sequel that successfully carries over the gameplay and atmosphere of Vampire Survivors into a card game.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Vampire Crawlers isn’t exactly scraping the bleeding edge of technology or anything, but it can get pretty busy at times with its various effects.
Vampire Crawlers is also a much more limited game than its prequel. There are far fewer secrets, progression is more linear, and therefore less intriguing in some ways, precisely because there's much less to discover. It can be almost completely completed in about twenty hours .
Review in Italian | Read full review
If you love Vampire Survivors, you’ll understand all the references in the game and maybe you’ll want to try it out. The gameplay will be a bit hard to learn at first if you haven’t played similar games, but you’ll get the hang of it quickly. If you love games like Slay The Spire, you’ll love Vampire Crawlers even if you never played Vampire Survivors.
This game is a hoot. It’s silly and remembers that games are meant to be fun and not take themselves too seriously. Sure, you’re vampire hunters, but who’s to say a vampire hunting team can’t consist of a giant panda, someone’s dog and a nice lady with big guns? This game lets you do that!
Vampire Crawlers is a confident little mutation of a formula that did not need fixing, but clearly had room to evolve.
Vampire Crawlers offers a simplified and enjoyable roguelike card-based experience. While it doesn’t introduce anything groundbreaking to redefine the genre, it remains a fun and light option, especially for fans of the original game looking for a quick, addictive fix.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
Vampire Crawlers is deep but still accessible, crazy but readable, immediate but full of systems to master and, most importantly, damn fun.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Vampire Crawlers is an excellent spiritual successor to its predecessor. Even though I’m not a huge fan of deck-building games, this title completely hooked me. Much of the credit goes to the speed and smoothness of its gameplay: runs are quick, satisfying, and consistently rewarding. Even after a defeat, players never walk away empty-handed, since every run grants resources useful for progression. Compared to its predecessor, Vampire Crawlers increases both strategy and depth while remaining approachable. It constantly encourages replayability: one run naturally leads to another. You may start thinking you’ll only play for a few minutes, only to realize hours have passed. That same simplicity, however, may flatten the challenge for veteran players of the genre. Still, the large number of unlockable characters and hidden secrets will keep players entertained for many hours. In conclusion, Vampire Crawlers is a more than solid title built around a pure and rock-solid gameplay loop. The game embraces the same philosophy as its predecessor: delivering a high-quality arcade experience without taking itself too seriously. Its ironic and lighthearted style once again steals the show.
Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors turns a risky genre shift into a sharp, compulsive offshoot, pairing punchy deckbuilding with familiar chaos. A little repetition creeps in, but its momentum, humour, and build variety keep the crawl rewarding.
While I wouldn’t have believed it when I started playing, this faster-paced dungeon-crawler-meets-deckbuilder surpasses the great roguelike that inspired it
A surprise entrant for GOTY for me, Vampire Crawlers is a spin-off that I prefer to the original game, and scratches that itch of the classic tile-based dungeon crawler lover in me, whilst giving the gameplay flashy modern touches that add to the enjoyment and remove the elements that can make the genre feel sluggish, creaky and occasionally impenetrable. A title that feels right at home on the Switch in handheld mode, and one that will be installed on my device for a long time to come, awesome stuff!
Vampire Crawlers is exactly the kind of follow-up you hope for from a studio like poncle. Taking everything that made Vampire Survivors so addictive and making it work in an entirely new genre is no small feat. Yet, they pull it off here with the same knack for excellent game design that made the original a phenomenon. The visual effects and soundtrack are tantalizing, the dungeon crawling adds a fun element in between the action, and the deck-building depth and addictive progression system will keep you locked in. The shared Evolution combinations from Survivors take some discovery away for veterans, but it’s a minor drawback for an otherwise outstanding experience. Between Xbox Game Pass and the $9.99 price point, Vampire Crawlers is the easiest recommendation of the year.
Vampire Crawlers is a risky attempt that mostly works out in the end. It rethinks a formula designed to be simple through a more strategic lens. The result is a game that is easy to get into but also surprisingly deep, with the same "just one more run" pull but in a very different way.
The task was difficult, but Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors managed to deliver another fun, challenging, and addictive experience. The game competently combines the roguelike and deck-builder genres, with many interesting gameplay mechanics to face all types of enemies. I'm hoping for more content in future updates, especially in the form of DLCs, so that the title becomes even bigger and better.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review