The developers of Vampire Survivors have released a new game, Vampire Crawlers, which is a mix of dungeon crawler and deckbuilder. If you think all those words are strange and you’ve never heard them before, and you just want more Vampire Survivors, but in a different way, that’s fine: we can cover you. That’s what we’re here for. To tell you about six other games that are like Vampire Survivors, but with some changes to the formula, so they feel fresh and interesting. Let’s not delay. Let’s manage those skills, even if it hurts your wallet.
Temtem: Swarm
Vampire Survivors with MOBA elements, allowing you to play with up to three friends and with a much cuter aesthetic. That is what Temtem: Swarm brings to the formula. With the same frantic action that characterizes survivorlikes, but with enough personality of its own to captivate many people even more than the original, it is one of those games that has flown under the radar of most people, but it shouldn’t. Because Vampire Survivors may be the original, but Temtem: Swarm has managed to carve out its own niche.
The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth
Speaking of the original, it is undeniable that Vampire Survivors owes a lot of its gameplay to The Binding of Isaac. Although this is a roguelite inspired by The Legend of Zelda where you will have to decide when to shoot, at least most of the time, and where dungeon exploration is very important, this is one of those games that are already absolute cult classics and can offer you what Vampire Survivors cannot: the next level of difficulty and density. Because if you think Vampire Survivors is packed with secrets and strategies, wait until you discover everything that The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth has behind it.
Megabonk
One of the big sensations of last year, which introduced two key elements to the concept of Vampire Survivor: being 3D and having memes. For many people, being 3D actually made it worse. It made positioning irrelevant and exhausted the formula much faster. The memes were pretty much the same. After the initial fun, they lost their shine very quickly. Does that mean there aren’t people out there who have dedicated hundreds or thousands of hours to it? Of course not. And if the idea of being able to jump over enemies seems appealing to you and you still laugh at the wojak, the truth is: it’s hard to go wrong with Megabonk.
Vita Shell
What if Vampire Survivors were a PS1 mecha game? It would have gigantic sprites, the UI would be incredible, and movement would be extremely important, even more than in the original. This is demonstrated by Vita Shell, one of the most original and interesting derivatives of the Vampire Survivors formula that puts us in control of a mecha to survive for 20 waves. Something that will not only be challenging but also a lot of fun. A demonstration that the Vampire Survivors formula is still completely untapped.
BALL x PIT
Another demonstration of how much is still left to explore is one of last year’s sensation games, BALL x PIT. A game that has taken the audience by storm for being considered tremendously addictive and mixing the ideas of Vampire Survivors with an absolute classic: Breakout. It doesn’t have the elegance of the best games derived from Breakout, or even of Breakout itself, but it replaces it with what many love about Vampire Survivors: increasing numbers, tons of effects, and more balls on screen than you can control. If you want a game to lose yourself in without thinking about anything else, this is your game.
Mythical Concept STARNAUT
We saved the most insane one for last, because it is difficult to explain, understand, or recommend. Unless you really want a tremendously original game, in which case you should dive right in. It’s a Vampire Survivors with lore based on an apocryphal text from the Bible, in 3D, and with an aesthetic that can only be described as hallucinogenic. Is it weird? Yes. Is it, gameplay-wise, everything that Megabonk aspires to but can’t achieve? Also yes. And we can’t think of a better pitch than that for a game like this.
