Vampire Crawlers Review

Title	Vampire Crawlers
Platforms	PC, Nintendo Switch 1 & 2, Xbox Series, PS5
Developer	poncle, Nosebleed Interactive
Publisher	poncle
Release Date	21 April 2026

Roguelikes have never been my favourite genre, where the repetitive gameplay loop rarely ever sucked me in and more often than not put me off. Vampire Survivors was one of the few in the genre that really made me appreciate what these types of experiences offered - short bursts of engaging action you could fit in here and there. I became obsessed with that title, so when a new entry was revealed, I knew I'd have to get it as soon as it released. I did just that when Vampire Crawlers launched a few weeks back.

If you've played the original, then a lot of Vampire Crawlers' DNA will be familiar to you. The characters, weapons, abilities, powers ups, etc are pulled straight from its predecessor, even the combinations in order to fuse more powerful weapons. In that sense, there is a lot for returning players to feel accustomed to, so they don't feel too put off by the drastically different gameplay loop.

Instead of being a standard, hack and slash style roguelike, Vampire Crawlers instead opts for a card/deck building experience. Like before , you select a character that comes with default abilities, but from there it is completely different. You traverse levels and stages from a first-person perspective and start a turn-based style battle with enemies in your way. These battles are fast paced, where you select cards to use to eliminate them as efficiently as you can to avoid minimal damage. Each card has a mana requirement, and can be played in a combo of rising costs to deal increased effects. While it aims to be fast, there is still plenty of strategy involved, especially in boss battles. Trust me - it becomes addictive as hell.

Like Vampire Survivors, Crawlers allows you to gain permanent upgrades to things like health, number of projectiles, area of effect, etc. Back in the hub area, you can spend money collected in the levels to unlock new characters, slots on cards for upgrades, and more. In essence, it is the same skeleton and ideas present in the original, but just organised in a new package. One of the few downsides is the amount of content currently available. There are not a huge amount of maps to explore, with the game being able to be completed in roughly 10-20 hours. New content updates will need to come out in order to bring out longevity like the original had.

Another thing I like about these games is the vintage aesthetic. That old-stlye visual flair is such a strong dose of nostalgia to help it stand out from the crowd. The music and sound design works to the same effect. It's what made many fall in love with the original and will here too.

For a cheap price tag, this indie game is a greatfollow up to its widely beloved and successful predecessor, despite the decreased volume of content for players. Offering a new type of adventure within a lot of the same systems and ideas, it's perfect for both fans of Vampire Survivors and newcomers in the series to experience. Vampire Crawlers is definitely an easy recommend for anyone, and one I will likely come back to play again and again.

Score = 8.5