Castlevania might not be cracking its whip in video games as often as it used to, but there's still a lot of love out there for the IP. One studio that has carried the torch for the cult-classic Konami series is Poncle, the developer behind the hit game Vampire Survivors and the upcoming Vampire Crawlers. Castlevania was a big influence on Vampire Survivors creator Luca Galante, and as he explained to us, it's one series that he'd love to revive if Konami ever handed him the keys to it.
Speaking to GameSpot, Galante explained how Poncle settled on Vampire Crawlers as its next game. While talking about Vampire Survivors, Galante also remarked how the game could have been a natural fit for not only the metroidvania genre, but for the Castlevania franchise.
"It just makes so much sense. It makes too much sense. It would almost have to be called Castlevania, right? If we were to do something like that--which I would love to do something like that, by the way--but if I were to do it, I would just go to Konami and ask for permission to use Castlevania at that stage. It just makes too much sense," Galante said. "That or, honestly, if I were to do a metroidvania, I would probably do one with the Legacy of the Moonspell characters and setting. Or Tides of the Foscari. I would try to move a little bit away from Vampire Survivors."
Vampire Survivors has a lot of Castlevania in its DNA. The game originally used a Castlevania-themed asset pack, and in 2024, an official Castlevania expansion was released for the game. Ode to Castlevania was designed to be "an all-out celebration" of the monster-slaying video game series, and it added a ton of new content to Vampire Survivors, including a map full of Easter eggs, secrets, and bosses inspired by the franchise.
Vampire Crawlers doesn't have a release date yet--and Poncle really wants to avoid GTA 6 with its launch timing--but it has been confirmed that the first-person, deckbuilding, roguelike dungeon-crawler will be coming to PC and Xbox Series X|S, and it'll also be available through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. For more details on it, check out our big Vampire Crawlers interview and Vampire Crawlers hands-on.
Source
Speaking to GameSpot, Galante explained how Poncle settled on Vampire Crawlers as its next game. While talking about Vampire Survivors, Galante also remarked how the game could have been a natural fit for not only the metroidvania genre, but for the Castlevania franchise.
"It just makes so much sense. It makes too much sense. It would almost have to be called Castlevania, right? If we were to do something like that--which I would love to do something like that, by the way--but if I were to do it, I would just go to Konami and ask for permission to use Castlevania at that stage. It just makes too much sense," Galante said. "That or, honestly, if I were to do a metroidvania, I would probably do one with the Legacy of the Moonspell characters and setting. Or Tides of the Foscari. I would try to move a little bit away from Vampire Survivors."
Vampire Survivors has a lot of Castlevania in its DNA. The game originally used a Castlevania-themed asset pack, and in 2024, an official Castlevania expansion was released for the game. Ode to Castlevania was designed to be "an all-out celebration" of the monster-slaying video game series, and it added a ton of new content to Vampire Survivors, including a map full of Easter eggs, secrets, and bosses inspired by the franchise.
Vampire Crawlers doesn't have a release date yet--and Poncle really wants to avoid GTA 6 with its launch timing--but it has been confirmed that the first-person, deckbuilding, roguelike dungeon-crawler will be coming to PC and Xbox Series X|S, and it'll also be available through Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. For more details on it, check out our big Vampire Crawlers interview and Vampire Crawlers hands-on.
Source