Vampire Hunters on PS5
When a certain type of game becomes popular enough to spawn a crazy amount of copycats like Vampire Survivors has, it can be challenging to weed out the actually good games. Most of the time, it comes down to developers who want to twist that into an excellent new evolution, which is exactly the case with Vampire Hunters. When I first saw it, I thought of it as simply a first-person variation of the latest classic game, and while it is largely that, there is also some fantastic depth.
I should first note that while this is the first time Vampire Hunters will be on console, it has been in Early Access on Steam since July 2023. Consoles and PCs will be getting the full 1.0 release, and it is all the better for it. The best part of the 1.0 release is not just the new stuff but also the fact that they kept the old stuff.
The base gameplay in Vampire Hunters is a mix of Doom/Painkiller , Brotato, and Vampire Survivors. The game has all the visuals of a boomer shooter, so fans of that genre will be doubly pleased here. You start with a single gun and can add more as you level up or take passive weapons or helpful relics that can do things like kill one boss if you pick up a health potion. The guns you take will fill the edges of your screen, so you’ll feel like an octopus by late game.
There are helpful settings that allow you to lessen the screen prominence of guns, or you can toggle auto-fire between your left and right sides individually. The amount of customization to make the game right for you is neat and adds a nice layer of learning the game as you find what you do and don’t like. My only complaint is that the UI is clearly meant to be navigated with a mouse, as there are many times the game won’t go to what I wanted to highlight, and then I have to fight to get it back.
There are two main modes: Survivors and Classic. Classic is what was available when the game first hit Early Access and is just you making your way down a corridor before the fog trailing you can reach you. The fog provides a definite sense of urgency, but it’s not all that difficult to stay ahead of it. Once you eventually reach the end, you’ll have to fight a boss with everything you gathered along the way.
Survivors is more of the expected Vampire Survivors gameplay and has more depth. You get a map to explore as you fight constantly spawning enemies. They only spawn from designated coffins across the maps, but that doesn’t make the hordes a trivial issue. The verticality of the levels is excellent, but it doesn’t keep you from getting swarmed. Vampire Survivors is tough but pretty easy to break even when you’re just starting, but it will take you some time to break Vampire Hunters.
The other difference between the modes is progression. For Classic, you earn tokens after every run to spend on permanent upgrades like movement speed or collection distance. Survivors mode gives you a choice in character (with six total to choose from, but the latter three have to be unlocked) to flesh out through skill trees. You also get tokens to spend on permanent upgrades, which are more basic than what classic offers (damage, health, etc.).
Within both modes, you level up to get new weaponry/items, but the method is slightly different. In Classic, you gather money and XP, and you get access to a shop when you level up. You can buy any of the options available as long as you have the money. For Survivors, each level-up allows you a single choice, and you collect money to pay for rerolls if you don’t like your choices, but that is its only purpose.
The direct contrast in these modes adds incredible playability to Vampire Hunters. If I was getting tired of being completely destroyed in one mode, I could just swap to the other. Changing modes kept me in the game and always doing something. Playing both was also necessary, as the trophies are split between the two modes, so you’ll need to be proficient in both if you want the platinum.
One of the best parts of Vampire Hunters is that it can be enjoyed in small bursts. It uses the usual mechanic of getting harder over time, but in the early game, you’ll probably be making it under 10 minutes and then buying upgrades to improve future runs. The dual modes also make the game easy to pick up and play as you get two flavours of a fun game to progress. This game is perfect for Vampire Survivors fans, and I like seeing where the bullet heaven genre is heading.
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Summary
At first glance, Vampire Hunters seems like a clone of another popular vampire-related video game. However, spending any time in it reveals that it is an excellent evolution of a known formula and well worth playing for any fan of the bullet heaven genre.
