In the years since Vampire Survivors first hit PC, Poncle Games has been busy. In addition to releasing numerous updates to its debut title, the company has expanded, entered into publishing, and paired up with other studios--including Vampire Survivors' biggest inspiration, Konami--to create a slew of fun collaborations. It's been an eventful few years for the BAFTA award-winning team and its simple-yet-utterly-engrossing "bullet heaven." And based on my time spent with Poncle a few weeks ago, that's just scratching the surface.
For the past year, Poncle Games has been hard at work on its next game, Vampire Crawlers. The dungeon-crawling deckbuilder is a notable departure from the simplistic gameplay of Vampire Survivors, and yet, after spending around half an hour playing the game, it's abundantly clear that it shares much of the same DNA and the same penchant for chaotic fun. Although Crawlers is, at least initially, slower-paced and less compulsive than its predecessor, it makes up for this with increased depth and strategy, all while incorporating elements that make the game delightfully unruly.
My first taste of Vampire Crawlers began with a fun cutscene--the same one seen in the game's announcement trailer--in which Vampire Survivors is transformed into a 2.5D experience. It's an exciting way to kick things off and conveys an important message: Vampire Crawlers, at its core, largely feels like a new way of playing Survivors. Though Luca Galante, the creative director behind Vampire Crawlers, said the team ultimately did go through and update most of Survivors' original assets for Crawlers, much of the series' visual identity remains intact. A cynic might call this lazy, sure, but I'd argue it comes across more as respect for Survivors' initial vision, and it ultimately works within the context of Crawlers. Furthermore, Galante said this was a very intentional choice that placed the company's stability ahead of a need to "create new things on purpose."
"The idea was practical and technical. I thought, 'Let's use the exact same assets. Because if we change them, people are going to complain. If we change them, it is going to increase the cost of this project,'" Galante explained. "And I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm not a risk-taker. I don't want to end up having crazy budgets for games and putting the company at risk."
Following the cutscene, you are immediately thrust into familiar terrain: the Mad Forest. Crawlers seems to retain Survivors' fantastic soundtrack, and certainly leans into its predecessor's visuals, albeit with a slight '90s JRPG spin. Gameplay, however, is an entirely different story. Rather than using a mouse, joystick, or finger to traverse, automatically attacking as you do so, Crawlers implements arrow keys to navigate its environments with a first-person perspective. A map is displayed in the bottom-right corner, detailing the layout of the dungeon floor as well as where enemies lurk. You then decide if you want to take on every enemy, raking up experience as you do, or beeline straight to the map's elite enemy. This adds a bit of strategy in itself, as you must weigh if certain battles are worth the potential damage you'll take. Is it worth pushing your luck with a swarm of bats when a monstrous mantis lurks ahead?
More strategic are the battles themselves. Upon encountering an enemy, the game seamlessly enters into a turn-based combat mode, in which you use cards--all of which have set mana values--to take down monsters. Each of Crawlers' 20 or so characters, all of which are pulled directly from Survivors, comes with their very own deck of cards, making your character selection more important than ever. Just like Survivors, Crawlers sees you first play as the whip-wielding Antonio Belpaese. Antonio comes equipped with cards like a zero-mana-cost Whip and a one-mana-cost Spinach: both items that will be familiar to Survivors players but have slightly different effects in Crawlers.
You gain bonuses based on playing your cards in ascending mana-cost order, though sometimes that's not the most advantageous move. For example, playing a one-mana-cost Spinach, which boosts your attacks by 20%, before executing several zero-mana-cost attacks, is often the way to go. Additionally, there is also a "Play All" button, which allows you to play all your cards simultaneously for a healthy dose of chaotic fun. Galante explained this was partially added as a way to quickly get through battles you know you're going to win, which I appreciated.
As you level up, you'll get the opportunity to add new cards to your deck. Additionally, you can use gems found in treasure chests to upgrade cards; these upgrades can upgrade the damage the cards deal, reduce mana cost, and more. This adds another layer of decision-making, as you must weigh which card would be best to socket your newly found gem into. The seemingly final layer is that, later on in the game, you can bring up to three Survivors with you on an expedition, allowing you to mix together decks and their various playstyles.
After completing the Mad Forest dungeon, I was able to visit one of the game's more charming areas: the village. Presented as a circle of buildings you can cycle between, the village is essentially your base of operations. Though I wasn't able to check out all of what it offered, the most notable inclusion was the tavern, which serves as a more immersive way to select your character by wrangling away them from their designated drinking spot. Although the village was built with the intention of being expandable, Galante noted that it is not intended to act as a major component of the game. While the base-building sicko in me was a bit disheartened to hear that, the reasoning behind the decision makes sense.
"There are games that give you a little customizable village, but that, for me, is one step too far. If the core of the game is playing cards, and I also add a little strategy to the village, then I really start branching a bit too much," Galante explained. "The village will most likely stay how it [is] right now, which is just this circle of buildings. However, it being a circle means that, once in a while, we can make a new building pop between others. So it is still expandable and any feature we come up with over time, we'll be able to fit it in there."
It's hard to say if Crawlers will sink its fangs into me to the same degree that Survivors did, but it's worth admitting that I felt the same when I first started Survivors. Since then, I've racked up a frankly embarrassing amount of time in that game. Thirty minutes felt too short to form a strong opinion on Crawlers, but I enjoyed what I played and have faith (and perhaps a deep fear) that it will steal just as many hours away from me as Survivors did. Beyond that, I also feel that Crawlers has plenty of potential to grow in accordance with what Poncle's community ultimately wants. Studio head Luca Galante expressed an eagerness to expand the game, be it by leaning into exploration, adding more depth to the village, or increasing the options for card modifications. Vampire Crawlers is currently slated to release early next year, with the ultimate goal of avoiding any overlap with Grand Theft Auto VI.
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For the past year, Poncle Games has been hard at work on its next game, Vampire Crawlers. The dungeon-crawling deckbuilder is a notable departure from the simplistic gameplay of Vampire Survivors, and yet, after spending around half an hour playing the game, it's abundantly clear that it shares much of the same DNA and the same penchant for chaotic fun. Although Crawlers is, at least initially, slower-paced and less compulsive than its predecessor, it makes up for this with increased depth and strategy, all while incorporating elements that make the game delightfully unruly.
My first taste of Vampire Crawlers began with a fun cutscene--the same one seen in the game's announcement trailer--in which Vampire Survivors is transformed into a 2.5D experience. It's an exciting way to kick things off and conveys an important message: Vampire Crawlers, at its core, largely feels like a new way of playing Survivors. Though Luca Galante, the creative director behind Vampire Crawlers, said the team ultimately did go through and update most of Survivors' original assets for Crawlers, much of the series' visual identity remains intact. A cynic might call this lazy, sure, but I'd argue it comes across more as respect for Survivors' initial vision, and it ultimately works within the context of Crawlers. Furthermore, Galante said this was a very intentional choice that placed the company's stability ahead of a need to "create new things on purpose."
"The idea was practical and technical. I thought, 'Let's use the exact same assets. Because if we change them, people are going to complain. If we change them, it is going to increase the cost of this project,'" Galante explained. "And I'm not an entrepreneur. I'm not a risk-taker. I don't want to end up having crazy budgets for games and putting the company at risk."
Following the cutscene, you are immediately thrust into familiar terrain: the Mad Forest. Crawlers seems to retain Survivors' fantastic soundtrack, and certainly leans into its predecessor's visuals, albeit with a slight '90s JRPG spin. Gameplay, however, is an entirely different story. Rather than using a mouse, joystick, or finger to traverse, automatically attacking as you do so, Crawlers implements arrow keys to navigate its environments with a first-person perspective. A map is displayed in the bottom-right corner, detailing the layout of the dungeon floor as well as where enemies lurk. You then decide if you want to take on every enemy, raking up experience as you do, or beeline straight to the map's elite enemy. This adds a bit of strategy in itself, as you must weigh if certain battles are worth the potential damage you'll take. Is it worth pushing your luck with a swarm of bats when a monstrous mantis lurks ahead?
More strategic are the battles themselves. Upon encountering an enemy, the game seamlessly enters into a turn-based combat mode, in which you use cards--all of which have set mana values--to take down monsters. Each of Crawlers' 20 or so characters, all of which are pulled directly from Survivors, comes with their very own deck of cards, making your character selection more important than ever. Just like Survivors, Crawlers sees you first play as the whip-wielding Antonio Belpaese. Antonio comes equipped with cards like a zero-mana-cost Whip and a one-mana-cost Spinach: both items that will be familiar to Survivors players but have slightly different effects in Crawlers.
You gain bonuses based on playing your cards in ascending mana-cost order, though sometimes that's not the most advantageous move. For example, playing a one-mana-cost Spinach, which boosts your attacks by 20%, before executing several zero-mana-cost attacks, is often the way to go. Additionally, there is also a "Play All" button, which allows you to play all your cards simultaneously for a healthy dose of chaotic fun. Galante explained this was partially added as a way to quickly get through battles you know you're going to win, which I appreciated.
As you level up, you'll get the opportunity to add new cards to your deck. Additionally, you can use gems found in treasure chests to upgrade cards; these upgrades can upgrade the damage the cards deal, reduce mana cost, and more. This adds another layer of decision-making, as you must weigh which card would be best to socket your newly found gem into. The seemingly final layer is that, later on in the game, you can bring up to three Survivors with you on an expedition, allowing you to mix together decks and their various playstyles.
After completing the Mad Forest dungeon, I was able to visit one of the game's more charming areas: the village. Presented as a circle of buildings you can cycle between, the village is essentially your base of operations. Though I wasn't able to check out all of what it offered, the most notable inclusion was the tavern, which serves as a more immersive way to select your character by wrangling away them from their designated drinking spot. Although the village was built with the intention of being expandable, Galante noted that it is not intended to act as a major component of the game. While the base-building sicko in me was a bit disheartened to hear that, the reasoning behind the decision makes sense.
"There are games that give you a little customizable village, but that, for me, is one step too far. If the core of the game is playing cards, and I also add a little strategy to the village, then I really start branching a bit too much," Galante explained. "The village will most likely stay how it [is] right now, which is just this circle of buildings. However, it being a circle means that, once in a while, we can make a new building pop between others. So it is still expandable and any feature we come up with over time, we'll be able to fit it in there."
It's hard to say if Crawlers will sink its fangs into me to the same degree that Survivors did, but it's worth admitting that I felt the same when I first started Survivors. Since then, I've racked up a frankly embarrassing amount of time in that game. Thirty minutes felt too short to form a strong opinion on Crawlers, but I enjoyed what I played and have faith (and perhaps a deep fear) that it will steal just as many hours away from me as Survivors did. Beyond that, I also feel that Crawlers has plenty of potential to grow in accordance with what Poncle's community ultimately wants. Studio head Luca Galante expressed an eagerness to expand the game, be it by leaning into exploration, adding more depth to the village, or increasing the options for card modifications. Vampire Crawlers is currently slated to release early next year, with the ultimate goal of avoiding any overlap with Grand Theft Auto VI.
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