By Valeisha Jackson

Since I was young, I’ve enjoyed playing survival and shooting games with my siblings. We played Valheim, Minecraft, Call of Duty, Raft, and much more. Recently, my siblings and I have gotten in contact and the plan was to have a bunch of games to play that are similar to those we played as kids. While doing my own research for games, I was asked to play Vampire Survivors, and I’ve been hooked since the day I started playing! Available on Xbox, PC, and Steam, the action-packed game is really impressive with all of its features. You are a player that gets placed into a slightly creepy area and you have to shoot all of your enemies as you move around. This gets really intense and challenging. As you kill more enemies, more will spawn and the player must do their best to survive while trying to dodge fireballs, spells, and magic that come at you with amazingly crazy frequency. While all of this is happening, the main agenda is to gain as much power as you can to defeat the level and enemies hordes in that specific area. 

The design of the characters in Vampire Survivors has pixelated 2D sprites that seem like inspired by the 90s game like Chrono Trigger. Since I love retro games, I know I was going to enjoy Vampire Survivors. 

The most difficult obstacle to moving forward is keeping your character’s damage output one step ahead of the rising tide of the enemy flood. This occurs when the game starts to become more intense due to the ticking clock that introduces greater threats every minute. Each round lasts 30 minutes. If you don’t kill your enemies fast enough you will be killed and the game could get frustrating. However, if you keep up an expeditious pace of killing your enemies and gathering the experience jewels/gems from the dead as they drop, you will be eligible to go up to a higher level. As you level up, you can pick from a random selection of three or four new weapons and passive abilities until you’ve filled the available slots. The more weapons you unlock, the more it becomes a game of deciding which is the best option from the hand you will be given. Almost every weapon has the ability to evolve into something more powerful with the passive ability that it pairs with. For example, the Basic Magic Wand pairs with the rate-of-fire increasing ability. Empty Tome eliminates cool down entirely so you can get back to business quicker. You have to pick carefully and strategically to optimize your build.

The gameplay is really smooth and natural.  It’s so satisfying when the character I have chosen to play gathers jewels/gems to use to defend themselves. I would power them up and they would destroy everything. This game gets stuck inside my head even after I am done playing. What can I do next time to be better? What are those characters really like – what are their backstories?

Recently, new DLC dropped called “Legacy of the Moonspell.” It’s so amazing, and I really like how almost every character’s special traits are more than just stat boosts at level benchmarks. I had a really creative build idea with Miang on the inverse bone zone where I took Sarabande and Disco of Gold at the start so I could start gaining health and power so I would be undefeatable. Then, there’s the meta aspect. Disco of Gold, for instance, relates to background music in the classic PlayStation game, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. And I really like the idea of themed maps to discover. Different enemy spawns are based on location and enemy designs based on the locale. Lastly, I love the new characters. My favorite is the Gav’Et Oni. I love his weapon which shoots crazy blue bubbles because it’s able to be evolved in cool ways. 

Vampire Survivors is a really fun game that is an attention grabber, a fun rogue-like that has absolutely hooked me. My siblings and I absolutely love playing this game and updating each other on how far we’ve gotten. We talk about certain level, new weapons, gems/jewels for what seems like forever. It’ll also only kill your free time, not your wallet, with its price of just $5.