As a result of nature of my job, my gaming habits are a bit uncommon. I are likely to chew via lengthy video games briefly bursts for evaluation functions and spend the time in-between sampling as many smaller titles as I can. I’m the type of one who desires to see the whole lot gaming has to supply, and I attempt to get my arms on an array of distinctive experiences. It’s uncommon that I come again to a recreation as soon as I’ve put it down. Virtually talking, it simply doesn’t match my life-style.
But that was challenged this yr by a bit $5 online game: Vampire Survivors. I initially dove into it in February as I tinkered round with my Steam Deck, and I figured these few hours I spent with it have been the place I’d cease. Because the yr progressed and I discovered myself catching up on my backlog, although, I all of a sudden discovered myself gravitating again to the mini-action recreation. Typically it was simply checking in for an hour each month, however by December, it was the one recreation I actually wished besides up.
Vampire Survivors is the uncommon recreation that’s basically challenged how I take into consideration how I play. It’s sufficiently small to suit into these quick moments of silence, however full of a lot content material that I don’t really feel like I’m ever scraping the underside. At instances, it’s thrilling in a means that few video games can actually match. It’s not at all my favourite online game of 2022, however in some methods, it could be the closest factor this yr has to an ideal one.
All I would like
Vampire Survivors is at once the most visually chaotic and easy-to-play game of the year. The goal is simply to survive an ongoing wave of monsters for 30 minutes. The main character automatically attacks in idle game fashion, with players only guiding them around an endless map with a joystick. Instead of intense combos, the action is more focused on smart decision-making. Every time the character levels up by collecting experience points, players choose a new ability or upgrade. What starts with a tiny character shooting some magic beams every few seconds builds to a crescendo in the last minutes of a run as players can obliterate hundreds of swarming enemies in an instant.
It’s the kind of perfect storm I never realized I wanted from a video game until now. I’ve always enjoyed the catharsis of games like Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, which make me feel like an all-powerful god capable of slashing down an entire army. The downside of games like that, though, is that they’re often physically demanding. They require constant button presses at a lightning-fast pace. By simplifying the control scheme, Vampire Survivors transformed something that’s usually a high-octane experience and made it a zen one.
That design philosophy made it something that slotted into my downtime more naturally than comparatively complex games that required my full attention. It was perfect for a 30-minute commute, that awkward hour where I was winding down before bed, or the last 45 minutes of an airplane ride where I was anxious to land. Vampire Survivors’ ultimate power is that it’s a time machine, eating away those empty moments with something immensely fun.
What hooked me more than anything isn’t so much the game as its content rollout. When I began playing in February, it was still in early access. There were a few levels and a handful of characters — enough to keep me occupied, but not so much that I was obsessing over it. Rather than delivering everything upfront, developer Poncle took a more steady approach with frequent, smaller updates. That’s even continued after its official 1.0 launch, expanding its life span even further.
Every time I logged in, there was always something new to try out. I could tackle a new stage I’d never seen or unlock a character that entirely changed my playstyle. While much bigger games like God of War Ragnarok feel entirely static when I return to them, Vampire Survivors has a kind of rolling momentum that most games dream of. That’s no doubt thanks to its smaller scale, which allows Poncle to consistently weave in meaningful updates that don’t require a major overhaul.
There’s an old meme in gaming that goes: “I would like shorter video games with worse graphics made by people who find themselves paid extra to work much less and I’m not kidding.” Vampire Survivors is a shining instance of why that line is greater than a joke. Although it might be positioned as a micro-game with modest graphics, even this yr’s grandest titles struggled to match the infinite enjoyable of Vampire Survivors. I’d take one recreation like this over most AAA video games I play in a given yr.
Vampire Survivors is out there on PC, iOS, Android, and Xbox through Sport Cross.
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