Vampire Survivors - BAFTA GOTY Winner! Tides of the Foscari DLC Out Now!

[Gabe]

Pervert. 

[Unofficial Who]

I've now played this for 50 hours. Also the developer lied, there are LOADS of new things in this patch.

[bradigor]

Made it to 30 mins on Inland Library. Felt like an invincible God for the final 5 mins

[Benny]

I got to 30mins there last night too. I dunno... I didn't feel quite the same as in Slay the Spire

 

Spoiler

Beating the Heart for the first time.

 

But it was fun though.

[Ry]

I have a state of the art handheld and I'll I am doing is playing this simple game. 

 

It's brilliant. 

 

Just a heads up there is a android game clearly inspired by this called Pixel Mage Survival. It's similar but you can get far more powerful much sooner. No ads either and free. 

[Benny]

The cat appears to be useless! I enjoyed the music speeding up when you level it up though.

 

So far I have the most success with

 

Spoiler

The guy with a permanent extra projectile. It's ridiculously powerful because it causes everything in the game to ramp up far quicker and effectively doubles your damage output for a long time.

 

[Benny]

On 27/05/2022 at 03:22, Benny said:

I don't think I'll play much more though

 

Ehhhhhhhh...

[Ry]

I only have two levels unlocked and im seeing the same 4 or 5 items available to pick. 

 

When do the drops change/increase?

[revlob]

10 minutes ago, Ry said:

I only have two levels unlocked and im seeing the same 4 or 5 items available to pick. 

 

When do the drops change/increase?

 

Check the unlocks menu on the title screen for some hints on how to get new things.

[Benny]

Turns out there's a lot more to unlock in this than I first thought. I need it taken away from me because it's a bit too addictive...

 

Spoilers for a very special stage

 

Spoiler

The visual effect that happens in the one where you find the merchant in the end is really cool and mindbending.

 

[Unofficial Who]

Patch 0.7.2

 

The Holy One.

 

Contains 9 new achievements and:
- first iteration on Stage 5
- 1 new character
- 2 new Arcanas
- 1 new Weapon and its evolution
- 1 new PowerUp

 

Tweaks:

- The Stage Selection screen will now display when the lunar eclipse event is available in Moongolow (required to unlock Stage 5)
- Added a toggle to disable Golden Eggs bonuses
- Updated some graphics
- Changed PowerUp markup cost from percentage-based to a flat increase
- Added little icons for Vacuum, Rosary, Orologion, Nduja, and Floor Chicken on the map
 

Bugfixes

:
- Bonus Revivals from Golden Eggs not working
- some controllers crashing the game at random intervals
- vanilla game crashing after save data alterations from mods
- Rerolls, Skips, and Banish disappearing from the PowerUp screen on old save files
- Fixed some special achievements needing a reboot to unlock on Steam
 

Stage 5: first iteration

I know this might take away some of the magic, but, after the previous "small" patch, I feel like it's important to let everyone know that currently there are no secrets nor particularly complex mechanics in Stage 5.
The main point of it is unlocking the new character, the stage will have to go through one or two more iterations before being considered complete

Thanks to everyone once again for your support in the beta, on social media, and of course for playing the game! 🙏

[Benny]

[Unofficial Who]

Finally back up to 100% achievements (114/114). Surviving Gallo Tower for over 30 minutes had proved the sticking point the last two patches.

[Unofficial Who]

Patch 0.7.3

The Posh One

 

Contains 6 new achievements and:
- 1 new character
- 1 new weapon
- 2 new Arcanas
 

Extra (not present on the roadmap):

- 1 Minor relic to change character appearance (where applicable) and maximum active weapons per run (fill 100 slots in the COLLECTION page to unlock)
- 1 Minor relic to show discovered unions and evolutions during a run (found in Inlaid Library)
 

Tweaks:

- Improved stats of Vento Sacro's early levels
- Added extra area coverage to Fuwalafuwaloo
- Moved Magic Banger relic to Green Acres
- Hurry mode also gives a 25% XP bonus
- Added support for German and Brazilian-Portuguese
 

Bugfixes

:
- Tentative fix for standard saves not working on Steam Deck for some users

[LaveDisco]

On 28/05/2022 at 18:16, Ry said:

I have a state of the art handheld and I'll I am doing is playing this simple game. 

 

 

This is me. And im super happy about it. 

[moosegrinder]

I'm gutted it's not on Xbox Game Pass. It's only the stick and start button but I guess with it being one dude and I'm guessing it's not as easy to push updates to console as it is to PC it won't hit console till it gets to 1.0. If it ever does.

[LaveDisco]

#perfectforswitch

 

(I’ll buy it again in a heartbeat - criminal it cost so little)

 

 

[Couch Corpse]

[Benny]

Need more dakka.

[Vimster]

On 24/06/2022 at 09:19, LaveDisco said:

#perfectforswitch

 

(I’ll buy it again in a heartbeat - criminal it cost so little)

 

 

It's like when I bought Terraria for £1.79 in a Steam sale years ago, you feel like you should have paid five times that. 

 

I'm nowhere near doing half an hour on this, although I've come close a couple of times. It's just a great example of one of those games where you're sat at your desk and it's there, ready to go, turn the game music off, put a podcast on and away you go. 

[moosegrinder]

New Patch:

 

Quote

Contains 3 new achievements and:
- new version of Stage 5, let's mosey! Will revert to a simpler version once successfully completed
- final roadmap relic with a new game mechanic
- 1 new arcana

 

Extra (not present on the roadmap):

- 1 minor relic to view enemies data from the main menu (the list is largely incomplete and will be updated with more data and details as we get closer to v1.0). Can be found in Dairy Plant.

 

 

Tweaks:

- Updated some graphics
- Added a visual indicator of how many skins are available per character
- Added option to always pick Coin Bag or Floor Chicken when leveling up after maxing out all weapons (unlocks automatically after playing long enough)
- Added visual reminders for Banished items
- Obtained unlocks can be filtered out from the list
- Crimson Shroud's retaliation damage now heavily damages some special enemies

 

[Unofficial Who]

Just when I thought I was out...

[Unofficial Who]

And done, back up to 100% again. That last boss had a rug pull at the start of the level which destroyed my strategy going in,

 

Spoiler

Pretty much "oh, so you want to power up the Laurel and Clock Lancet to win? Not this time matey!"

 

My plan B worked first time though although it was a close thing 29 minutes in.

[Alan Stock]

First things first - everyone should try this game. Regardless of if you usually like these kind of games, just give it a shot. It's only 2 quid!

 

I decided to get Vampire Survivors the other day because its been getting such good feedback lately. When I'd seen the game in action on Youtube I'd thought it looks like exactly the kind of game I don't like. I am pretty terrible at bullet hell shooters, I remember trying to get into Ikaruga back in the day and only stood any chance with infinite lives on. In fact the only bullet hell game I ever enjoyed was Bangai-O which had interesting counterplay. So I didn't hold much hope for Vampire Survivors with its dodging, plus when watching the graphics are bad and the gameplay is a bit hard to grasp. But for 2 quid I was willing to give it a punt.

 

Oh man, what a game! What I'd failed to realise was that the dodging is only one aspect of the game, and its not that bad. In fact Vampire Survivors is more like a tower defence game where your character is the only tower. It's tough, its very addictive and its extremely satisfying to make progress. Another thing I'd not garnered from watching it online is how mental things get towards the end of runs, where the whole screen is full of hundreds of baddies and your character is spewing out insane attacks (like in the reviews 'you are the bullet hell boss'. Its madness and it all runs great on my medicore laptop.

 

So there's a couple of areas which help to rise this game above your average shooter shovelware. For those who are a bit on the fence about the game, let me break down some of the cool aspects of it.

 

First is the gem mechanic. When killed, enemies drop gems which are the only way to get EXP to level up your character and get new weapons. But enemies follow you everywhere, so if you are being chased, they'll be walking over the gems. So you need to either lead them on a merry chase and circle back around to get the gems, or turn around and clear a path to get to your hard won EXP. This means that although it can be tempting to plough ahead in one direction only, you'll be leaving lots of gems behind. And doing that is dangerous because the enemies scale up in difficulty as time passes, so levelling up to match their power is crucial. There are powerups like magnets which let you suck in gems from a distance which sound a bit crap, but can be incredibly useful if you're struggling to collect EXP. The gems are a simple mechanic but add a lot of depth to the gameplay.

 

Next is character builds. Whilst the moment to moment gameplay is moving around (attacks are automatic), the major hook is that when you level up you can choose between a list of upgrades. That could be new weapons, upgrades for existing weapons or character buffs. But what upgrades are offered is randomised, so each run is different. Its up to you to decide what combination of powers to go for, on the fly. This means hard choices, do you take an EXP multiplier which will serve you in the long run, but sacrifices DPS against the next hard wave of enemies? Do you change your endgame plan because a great upgrade just appeared at the perfect moment? How do you want to balance short and long range attacks? 

 

Further interesting choices come from weapon evolutions, where set combinations of weapons and buffs can be levelled in a run to create devastating evo-weapons. These wreck, but are hard and time consuming to get. These can be the key to clearing a stage so there's further depth in which ones to go for and when to sacrifice other upgrades to bee-line for an evo-weapon. There are also multiple characters to choose from when you start a run, each with their own modifiers and starting weapon. For example, one starts with a splash damage spell and levels up your AOE attacks each rank. Another has a whip and increases DPS each rank. Creating your build as you go through the run is really fun and adds a lot of strategy and decision-making. Your build choices are often the major factor between victory and defeat, especially in the last few crazy minutes.

 

Time. Most levels have a 30 minute goal - survive that long and clear the stage. This is great for real-life time management. 30 minutes might sound like a long time doing what looks repetitive, but trust me, its not. Every minute or two, new enemy types are introduced, and at key intervals special enemy events will happen. Nasty things like enclosing you in an area, or sending huge clumps of enemies careening through the map. Mini-bosses harass you but have juicy rewards if you take them down. All the while, the enemies constantly get stronger and more numerous. You carry on dodging, getting gems, choosing your upgrade path, carve out a path through the throng. After 15 minutes things are getting pretty crazy. By 30 minutes the screen is a mass of explosions and particle effects, a sea of enemies and somewhere in there your poor little person trying to eke out a man-sized hole for themselves through sheer destructive power. 

 

Next up is game progression. There are multiple characters, stages, weapons, upgrades, and secrets to unlock. Its all doled out at a very nice pace. In runs you earn a secondary currency, gold, which you can spend on unlocking permanent buffs and new characters. Don't worry, no microtransactions here. There is also a big list of around 90 achievements, each of which when attained unlocks something new, including new stages, weapons and characters. So in the metagame there is always something to aim for. Its an excellent design. New stages hide new secrets and challenges. New characters and weapons change your playstyle and possible builds. I'm over 25 hours in and still have plenty left to unlock.

 

All these mechanics combine to make Vampire Slayer really compelling. Its incredibly addictive, in a good way. Despite the simple graphics, the combat feedback is satisfying and the sound effects are great (the 'chink' sound of picking up gems is chefs kiss). Even though you will naturally power up your character over multiple runs, you'll find your skills and strategies also improve over time. It is at once a stressful game and a relaxing game. Because you only need to move your character and make level-up choices, it can be quite zen-like, zooming around hoovering up gems, or if you become overpowered, destroying screens of enemies in a whirlwind of death. On the other hand when you fall behind the EXP curve it becomes a game of being chased, weaving between an endless throng of baddies, desperately trying to scoop up a gem here or there, or take down a mini-boss for an upgrade to help you become the hunter rather than the hunted. When you survive for your first 30 minutes, its a real rush. The game is extremely well balanced especially considering how many characters and builds there are, victory is no easy feat. You will die a lot, but when you do, you'll probably want to dive right back in. And that's testament to just how fun this game is.

 

Highly recommended!

[Lovelyman]

It's basically Diablo III but not shit.

[imp]

I liked this game until I played it for about 4 hours straight one afternoon while catching up on some podcasts, utterly mesmerised. I must have sat there without blinking the entire time because I had a headache that lasted 3 whole days afterwards. Haven't played it since, and now I don't dare boot it up again.

[Alan Stock]

 

I had the no-blinking thing too, I had tears coming out of my eyes after a long run. I guess when it gets that intense near the end you just stare intently at the screen.

[Benny]

If you've upgraded wisely you don't even need to keep your eyes open.

[Alan Stock]

Question about Curse power up you can buy in the main menu - if I buy it can you toggle it on and off? I'm struggling on some of the later levels but have ran out of things to buy with my gold except Curse. I already have the Curse achievement thanks to picking up Curse in level. So is there any other reward to using curse other than rebalancing the game? Its already hard enough with the stuff I'm doing so I don't think I need it yet!

[Unofficial Who]

Patch 0.9.0

 

The Flashy One.

 

Contains 4 new achievements and:
- new Challenge stage
- 2 new Arcanas
 

Important:

- Moved save data folder on Windows to a safer location to avoid Cloud conflicts and issues on Steam Deck. The save files will now be in %APPDATA%/Vampire_Survivors_Data.
 

Extra (not present on the roadmap):

- 1 new character: Gyorunton. Due to time constraints, this one won't be linked to the usual Unlocks/Achievements. The unlock conditions are "Survive 15 minutes in the new challenge stage, with 1 active weapon only"
- 1 new weapon: Bracelet

 

Tweaks:

- Added a new music track when opening the Bestiary (can also be used as a standard in-game track )
- Added a cap to Duration for Limit Broken weapons
- Results screen now shows damage from special Arcanas

 

Bugfixes

:
- Option to hide damage numbers also affects recovery numbers
- Some projectiles standing still when there are no enemies
- Vento Sacro and Fuwalafuwaloo stop firing after getting a Duration bonus via Limit Break