For about a month now, the indie game “Vampire Survivors” has been available on Steam. The game is described as a “Gothic Horror Casual Game” and costs only €2.39 – the reviews rave about this unusual title, where you basically just have to move, “loot and level up”.
How did the game become successful?
- “Vampire Survivors” is an indie game by developer “poncle”, who also self-publish the game. It has been on Steam since December 17 and is currently still in an early access state.
- In the first few days after release, the game practically went unnoticed, but since January 7, more and more players have been discovering the shooter. The number of players has been steadily increasing for days. At the beginning of the small hype wave, 1000 players were playing simultaneously, and in recent days the number of players has climbed to nearly 8000 simultaneous players.
- The start of the hype was triggered by a YouTube video from the channel “SplatterCatGaming”, which was released on January 6. In the video, the YouTuber introduces the game. He says he loves the game; it reminds him of his childhood. If the game had been released on the Super Nintendo, he would have put hundreds of hours into it.
You create the bullet storm that takes down the monsters
What kind of game is this? It is a rogue-like survival game: The player controls one of 3 characters. The game is described as “Reverse Bullet Hell”: The character is surrounded in an open area by various monsters, and you now have to create a “bullet storm” to take out the monsters.
A game lasts usually just a few minutes; during that time, you collect experience points, which you loot in the form of crystals and level up.
You control the character using WASD, and the attacks happen automatically. As you collect experience points, you level up and can further develop your character.
As a gimmick, you receive gold, which also remains after the run ends and is used to further develop your “account”: which is essentially the loot in the game.
Vampire Survivors has 99% positive reviews on Steam
This is what the reviews say: The reviews for “Vampire Survivors” on Steam are fantastic. They stand at 99% and there are already over 3000 reviews:
- “It’s simple and addictive.”
- “The game is ridiculously good for its price. Wow. Super happy I found this.”
- “Fun game for a quick playthrough, but a lot of variation to see everything. It’s good fun for a few hours.”
- “Yes, it’s SO good.”
It looks like the combination of “looting and leveling up” makes players happy once again. If you want more looting and leveling up:
