Game Review: ‘Vampire Crawlers’ is a Devilishly Delicious Deckbuilder
When indie game developer Luca Galante released his first game, Vampire Survivors, in early access back in 2021, it wasn’t an immediate hit. Once streamers took notice, the game rocketed to the top of the charts on Steam, and it eventually morphed into the game most people love and adore. While the game initially came with dozens of characters, a wide selection of stages, challenges, and music, the game eventually evolved with free and purchasable DLC to become the giant it is now. I know it is controversial to say that while I am a fan of the now renowned “bullet heaven” genre, Vampire Survivors never really clicked with me. I, however, can say that the newest release from Poncle has stolen my heart.
Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors is an incredibly well put together deckbuilding dungeon crawler, with all the flair of Vampire Survivors thrown in for good measure. I love it that the developers of the now definitive bullet heaven game can adapt, without compromise, everything that made Vampire Survivors magical and transform it to a whole other genre with very few flaws. Over my 30 hours with the game, I was able to completely unlock everything the game currently has to offer, including all 161 achievements.
While the game is relatively short compared to its bigger sister, it’s important to put things into perspective that this title is very likely to have a steady rollout of updates, DLC, and other additional content. Vampire Crawlers is currently available on Playstation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.
A game of decks and dungeons
Upon starting a new game in Vampire Crawlers, you’re treated to a short prologue of sorts that teaches you the very basics of the game. Once completed, you’ll discover the town where you’ll pick a character, here called Crawlers, you’ll be using to explore and conquer the dungeons.
As you progress through the game, you’ll eventually unlock the blacksmith to forge gem slots for cards and determine how rare specific upgrades will be during your runs. The real fun of this game is actually exploring dungeons and advancing past hordes of enemies, using your deck, and coming up with the right strategy to progress forward.
There is no better feeling than building up a powerful deck, taking out monsters and other ilk, all while trying to survive and reach the end of each floor. This culminates in a final battle when you reach the end of the area. There are a total of 15 areas in this game, each being divided into anywhere between one and six maps, with some being much larger than others. This might not sound like a lot, but trust me when I say that you will struggle with some later areas if you are not properly prepped and ready.
I struggled on Gallo Tower, one of the most difficult stages, about halfway through the game. Why you may ask? I had gotten myself into a good groove and wasn’t striving to get stronger, so while I failed the final battles in this six-floor dungeon, I eventually overcame this by grinding out gold and focusing on specific builds. Of course, once I found a good rhythm with the Crawlers I liked, I used this stage to make a large sum of gold that basically made unlocks trivial.
Behold the wonder of Vampire Crawlers
During my time playing Vampire Crawlers, I spent around eight hours alone just focusing on grinding for gold and better relics from earlier stages. Be careful when progressing, as the game may try to direct you to harder areas without completing all the previous stages.
For example, I finished a Level 3 difficulty stage, and instead of continuing down to the Level 4 stage, the game tried to put me into a different area with a Level 5 stage. This was a slight annoyance, until I figured out exactly what was going on and what I needed to do instead. Thankfully, with all the planning and possibly over-leveling I did, I was able to overcome most challenges.
Each stage has various enemies, with each floor introducing newer and more difficult enemies. Each floor ends with a miniboss battle, and when you hit the very last floor, you’ll be challenged and have to utilize everything you’ve learned up to this point. Every single card you’ve picked up, every upgrade gem, every evolution, and the mana you’ve amassed will provide you with an advantage.
The Crawlers you choose will also change the way you play, as not only do these Crawlers come with their own unique ability cards, but each of them has their own passive and active abilities. So make sure to play around with all the Crawlers you unlock and have fun with it all.
Longevity and design of this game
The design of Vampire Crawlers is nothing but exceptional. The game literally takes the already well-established designs from Vampire Survivors and turns it all into a first-person dungeon crawling experience. I know that may sound simple, but translating what worked in Poncle’s previous game into what this game has to offer could have been a disaster.
Thankfully, what is presented here is nothing short of exceptional. Being able to see the same enemy sprites and the various powers straight out of Vampire Survivors is fantastically well done here. The developers didn’t have to do much here, but it somehow works. Going through waves of enemies as you dish out damage from your deck, it’s both familiar and new, but it remains just as satisfying. Oh, and don’t you worry, the evolution of taking two weapons and making something more powerful is preserved here.
Seeing skeletons, bats, and other ghoulies move to the music will never not be entertaining, especially with how well the soundtrack fits in with the gameplay. My only complaint with the music in Vampire Crawlers is that many of the same tunes repeat over and over, and I would have liked a bit more variety of tunes.
Sure, we’ve got some fantastic tracks by Yoko Shimomura, Daniele Zandara, Filippo Vicarelli and Michael Coviello, but the limited soundtrack feels like a slight misstep. This is especially upsetting to me because in Vampire Survivors you can change the music track to your own choosing, but alas, that is not available here. My only remaining hope about the soundtrack is that there will be newer tracks with each update that is planned in the forthcoming months.
How does this game stack up against other titles in the dungeon crawler category? I’ve played my fair share of dungeon crawlers over the years, with some notable roguelikes being The Binding of Isaac, Darkest Dungeon, Cult of the Lamb, and many others. While all of these games I mentioned play differently, they still belong in the dungeon crawler category just as much as Vampire Crawlers does.
My favorite thing that this game does is that when you’re about ten minutes into your first real run, you’ll quickly lose track of time as you discover more of the game. That is the sign of great game design.
Final thoughts on Vampire Crawlers
There is so much that I love about Vampire Crawlers. First and foremost, I must praise the inclusion of voice lines for all the Crawlers. I’ve played with every single Crawler that this game has to offer out of all of them, Giovanna the Witch being my absolute favorite. Why is she my favorite? Well, specifically she comes with Gatti Amari, which does some really fun damage, but having her equipped will also provide armor cards that cost zero mana and the Empty Tome card to add one additional mana. Not only this, but each time she is played, Giovanna will provide a 20% luck buff with the addition that every time a purple card is played, you will draw another card from your deck. The last ability is especially powerful when synergized with other Crawlers with similar skills.
It also doesn’t hurt that Giovanna is voiced by a transgender woman. It is nice having representation of someone else like myself in this wildly successful indie game series. While there has been some pushback from fringe groups regarding the voice of this character, it sends a message that inclusivity is something that should be encouraged. My hope is that this inspires other indie game developers to do the same.
I also love and appreciate how crunchy the voice lines are in this game, capturing a bit of nostalgia from a lost era of gaming. All the other Crawlers are appropriately voiced, and I’m excited to hear the other characters from the last game brought into this one with whatever updates that’ll happen.
My rating for this game is 4/5
I think my rating of four out of five is appropriate for a game like this. Yes, you do get to go on a wild power fantasy, loading up possibly hundreds of cards, racking up giant combos, effects, and just really going to town on the monsters and bosses. At the same time, it feels like runs go on a bit too short, especially compared to runs in Vampire Survivors, so that’s definitely going to knock down this review a bit. That being said, I’ve had a blast with Vampire Crawlers, and I’m really excited to see what future updates will bring.
The game doesn’t offer a breakthrough experience, similar to how Vampire Survivors refined an already established genre and rocketed it to mainstream popularity, but it does offer an exceptionally fun adventure. I’m sure there will be players who find Vampire Crawlers to be a bit shallow regarding the base game only having twenty to thirty hours worth of content.
However, I’d argue that this is almost exactly how Poncle’s previous game started. Start off with a reasonably priced and sizable game, and with periodic updates and content drops, this game will offer much more stuff to do over the next several years. Of course, nothing in the gaming industry is guaranteed, and I’m willing to eat my words if Vampire Crawlers does not offer additional gameplay through their planned patches and updates.
Regardless of any new potential Crawlers, new weapons, weapon evolutions, and all the areas you can imagine they might add, this game needs to stand on its own merits. To me, those merits exceed any expectations I had before playing this game. Vampire Crawlers is a fantastic game with enough gameplay to last you days on end. I truly believe it’s one of the better roguelike deckbuilders out there today; it’s just a little on the short side.
I highly encourage everyone to check out the free demo on Steam, because if you’re like me, you will be immediately hooked from the first couple of areas you’ll have access to. Furthermore, I am incredibly excited to see what else comes out for this game, as this is a top five roguelike deckbuilder for me.
Vampire Crawlers is available for purchase on Playstation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
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