Slaying monsters in Vampire Survivors is like walking through a casino

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

Vampire Survivors is an Early Access roguelike on Steam that has completely sunk its teeth into me.

You only have one weapon to take on a few baddies in each round. You only have to worry about moving your character to avoid enemies and get experience gems because the weapon fires. As you level up, get more weapons, and fight more monsters, your screen quickly becomes filled with a plethora of magical weapons and fearsome enemies covering nearly every inch of the screen. Like that.

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

The sensory onslaught of colors and sounds can almost feel like being in an arcade or a casino, which is what Luca Galante, Vampire Survivors developer, was going for. When it came to making a more traditional game, Galante's experience as a software developer in the gambling industry informed his perspective.

Slot games are very easy to play, and the game designers have to find a way to push the player to press the button. There is a lot of attention to detail on the sounds, animations, and the sequence because you have so few elements to work with. The designers try to maximize the impact of those elements on the player. Being in the industry gave me that knowledge. I apply it to what I have been doing when making a game.

That is reflected in Vampire Survivors. The only controls to think about in a game are moving your character and picking upgrades. You don't have to press a button to use your weapons. The charming retro graphics feel like they're ripped straight from a long-forgotten Super Nintendo Castlevania game, and you'll hear a delightful chime every time you pick up one of the countless experience gems. The opening of treasure chests seems to create the feeling that you are pulling a slot machine, as coins fly everywhere, all backed by a jingle. There are fireworks if you find a chest with five items.

The prototype of Vampire Survivors was based on Magic. I play a lot of games like Bayonetta and Devil May Cry that are rather complex, because they are more unique to Vampire Survivors. I made it easy for the player to get the same kind of feedback.

The Castlevania-esque visuals were not intentional. It started to become a part of the game. I definitely got inspired by a lot of different things, a lot of different games, and there are references to a lot of other games, just because at the end of the day, playing games is my main hobby.

Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge

Vampire Survivors was only available in Early Access, but it has been a huge success. When I looked at the statistics on Friday, there were more people playing it than anything else. After just a week, Galante was able to leave his job and start the game again.

Galante plans to raise the price of Vampire Survivors as he adds more features. He wants to remove the game from Early Access this year. He has made a lot of changes to the game, adding weapons, characters, and quality-of-life fixes. It seems like the cadence will continue, meaning you will have plenty of reasons to pull the slot machine again. If you want to see what Vampire Survivors is all about, you can try it for free on itch.io.