VAMPIRE SURVIVORS
This exhilarating power fangtasy deserves its Early Access success
Developer/ publisher Poncle
Format PC
Origin UK
Release Q4 (Early Access out now)
Videogames have always placed us in fights for survival against impossible odds. Vampire Survivors belongs to the same lineage as Robotron: 2084, with one player-character facing off against ever tougher and more voluminous swarms. It escalates to a level of gleeful chaos that recalls the likes of Treasure’s Bangai-O and the EDF series, albeit (largely) without the slowdown that often accompanies such a barrage of enemies and ordnance. And in its way, it’s as compulsive and straightforwardly entertaining as any of those.
Its biggest point of difference is that firing is automatic; all you need focus on is movement. The primary verb, at least at first, is ‘avoid’. Then, slowly, surely, you gain the firepower to stride confidently into the storm.