Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors Reviews
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.
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.
All in all, Vampire Crawlers is a tremendous achievement. Everything here works almost flawlessly, with a gameplay loop that is quick, sharp, and smart. Genre transitions within the same game series rarely work so wonderfully, but Luca Galante and Poncle have created an incredible experience that will make you crave more, even if it overstays its welcome a tad for completionists.
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.
Where it hits is all in how its trademark style and systems translate, the snappy card combat, and of course the banging soundtrack I’m only just mentioning because I’m not great at talking about music. So a thumbs-up from me, but one that comes with an acute sadness at how much more Vampire Crawlers could have been if it had true blobber bona fides.
An impressively successful follow-up to Vampire Survivors, that features entirely different gameplay but a similarly deceptive sense of depth and nuance to its charmingly low-tech action.
But even for now, on day one, it’s 100 percent worth every cent…especially if you put a bunch of time into the demo like I did, since the game carries over all of that progress. Seriously. I launched Vampire Crawlers and had 46 Steam achievements at the ready.
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.
Prepare for another glorious time-sink game from the creators of Vampire Survivors. Vampire Crawlers combines the addictive retro vibes of poncles first title with a turn based deckbuilder.
The next roguelike game from Vampire Survivors developer poncle is just as fast-paced and addictive as its predecessor, with a deck-building twist.
Vampire Crawlers’ deck-building gameplay is incredibly smart, and the runs never feel like they stretch for too long. It takes every smart decision made in Vampire Survivors and translates it beautifully to a new style of gameplay. Even if you’re not usually a fan of roguelites or deck-builders, you need to try Vampire Crawlers.
Vampire Crawlers attempts to recreate the feeling of playing Vampire Survivors through a turn-based dungeon crawler and roguelite deckbuilder hybrid. The experiment is largely successful, although the pacing suffers from a mid-game that relies too heavily on farming, and as it stands, replayability is very low. The situation could improve with the previously announced updates, but what these new features will bring remains to be seen.
Review in Italian | Read full review
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.
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.