Key Takeaways
- Vampire Survivors has had a significant impact on the indie gaming world, with its simple mechanics and fun gameplay design.
- GunSuit Guardians and Atomicrops are two games in the same genre that offer unique elements like twin-stick shooting and farming simulation, respectively.
- The VS genre has seen the inclusion of interesting twists, such as voice acting and customizable decks of cards, in games like Death Must Die and Slime 3k.
Since its Early Access launch in December 2021, Vampire Survivors has made waves in the indie gaming world with its simple mechanics and just-one-more-run gameplay design that makes it easy to pick up and hard to put down. Best of all, it was shockingly cheap on launch, which belied the amount of enjoyment you’d actually get from it.
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In its wake, a new genre has formed, defined by waves of enemies to fight and survive against, varied weapons, characters, and upgrades to experiment with, and an attractive price point. While lesser copycats just in it for a buck are inevitable, here are the best examples the genre has to offer and a few older titles that are surprisingly similar despite pre-dating Vampire Survivors.
Updated on November 11, 2024, by Christopher Padilla: When a simple little game called Vampire Survivors was released two years ago with a simple yet riotously fun gameplay loop, who would have thought that it would have spawned its own very prolific genre? It’s so easy, that there’s a lot of shovelwear made in the same mold, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some genuinely fun games in the mix.
We’ve added titles well worth checking out here, as well as cleaned up some of the formatting in the article.
1
Spell Disk
Synergize For Victory!
This is one of the more expensive options on this list, but the value proposition is higher than it seems, since it’s effectively two games in one, centered around the titular Spell Disks. One is an action RPG similar to games like Children of Morta or Diablo 3, while the other is closer to Vampire Survivors.
In both modes, you get a starter spell and can get new spells, artifacts, and Spell Disks as you advance. The crux of the game is to attach spells to Spell Disks, which will fire off its attached spell when certain conditions are met, like doing a certain amount of elemental damage or landing critical hits.
The key is building an engine of spells that is self-triggering and self-sustaining until you’re an arcane supernova and your enemies are dust.
2
Cursorblade
Slashy Slashy
While Cursorblade might not seem similar to VS, they do share some traits that might tickle some of the same parts of your brain. Your mouse cursor is the titular blade and you slash your opponents by running your mouse over them — avoiding hazards in the process.
Though your targets are largely stationary, you’ll find that you’ll be dodging almost as many bullets as in VS. While your mouse might be more agile than most VS characters, the bullets here are faster and more dense.
3
Parry Nightmare
Parry Your Anxiety
Most games on this list are sprawling affairs that take hours and hours to finish as you unlock new things and then get back into it again. In comparison, Parry Nightmare is a refreshing change of pace with its five total stages.
You still get a good bang for your buck though, since this has a pretty novel game mechanic. As you’re chased by the familiar VS hordes, the only way to beat them is to parry them, after which your dream companion finishes them off while they’re stunned.
More impressively, this game has a surprisingly deep and moving story in its short runtime, told in a combination of point-and-click and visual novel gameplay. The whole thing is a dense experience that’s well worth the price of admission.
4
Be My Horde
On Your Knees Before The Queen
Another game in the subset of VS-likes themed around necromancy, Be My Horde really leans into the combination. You are Moriana, a necromancer who summons slain enemies to serve as part of her ever-growing horde.
Rounds start with a set of corpses for you to revive. You walk around with your horde, killing increasingly difficult enemies from simple peasants to heavily armored knights.
The most interesting part of the game, however, is Moriana herself. She’s voiced, a rarity in the genre, and has a personality full of malice and sadism, even towards the player character. There are also dialogue trees in the game, though they don’t seem to be tied to any gameplay.
5
Necro Rumble
Dem Bones
This game is a part of the small but growing trend of minion-based VS-likes, most of which are paired with necromancy. Necro Rumble puts you in the robes of a necromancer under attack by knights, ninjas, and other enemies. You have an attack but it has a long cooldown, meaning you’ll need to raise some undead minions to do the heavy lifting.
This is on the smaller scale of necromancy, as you’ll only have a few minions at a time, but the game has some interesting ideas like leveling up each “class” of minions as they get kills. Necro Rumble is feature-light, but it’s also free on Steam.
6
Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood
VS In A Classic Package
Bring Your Own Blood continues the waning tradition of movie tie-ins like Scott Pilgrim The Video Game or the PS2 Spider-Man. The game is interesting and plot-lite enough that you won’t need to have seen Renfield to enjoy it.
Initially, it doesn’t look like it’s a bullet heaven, since instead of a large scrolling area, the game consists of a series of stages consisting of several rooms, reminiscent of arcade side-scrollers. But at its core, the gameplay is still VS-like. From the semi-random selection of weapons, to the evolution mechanic, to the increasingly difficult hordes, it’s a bullet heaven.
7
Road Defense: Outsiders
Unique Wave Defense
In a genre saturated by titles and still steadily growing, Road Defense: Outsiders still stands out. Even its art style, which is reminiscent of the Game Boy graphics, is pretty unique.
It also might be the only bullet heaven game to also have tower defense elements, since you can upgrade set towers with different weapons or power up existing weapons. In addition to staying alive yourself, you have to protect an armored (and upgradeable) van as it slowly makes its way across the desert.
8
Bullet Bunny
Well-Armed And Hopping Mad
Bullet Heaven is somewhere between Brotato and 20 Minutes Till Dawn in that it has the close quarters of the former and the more precise skill shooting of the latter. Your goal in Bullet Bunny is simple: survive for 500 seconds.
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Like 20MTD, you have options when it comes to deploying. You choose your Bunny, each of which has a unique ability as well as a weapon, each with a unique firing style. The art design is less cute for a game with bunnies than you’d think, with a grungy industrial style.
9
Twilight Survivors
Cute And Surprisingly Deep
Aside from being in 3D, Twilight Survivors isn’t all that different from Vampire Survivors, but the little things really make it pop.
One aspect the game really excels in is making the characters unique, with each one having a distinct playstyle. This is helped by all of them having an activatable ability, usually a dash, but sometimes another skill altogether. Emberfire, for example, can transform into a stationary turret a la Bastion from Overwatch to gain a big fire rate bonus on his main weapon.
The game also has a pretty robust meta-upgrade system where you spend coins to upgrade through the talent trees of each character separately, as well as the flexible Kwent cards that allow you to further customize your loadout. It also has voice acting, a rarity in the genre.
10
Boons & Burdens
Take What You Can, Give What You Must
A frenetic take on the VS-like genre from the folks who made Gunlocked, Boons & Burdens has fights taking place in small arena ranges, similar to Brotato. What sets it apart, however, are the titular Burdens that shape your run.
In addition to increasing difficulty the longer you play, a la Risk of Rain, at the beginning of every stage you have to pick a Burden, which sets a goal for you that when achieved, will unlock the exit for the stage. Burdens are varied and include: killing marked enemies, running to marked points on the map, or surviving a gauntlet of empowered foes.
Burdens also get paired with random Sacrifices, which make the game more difficult in various ways, often leading to frenetic and evolving games. The game left Early Access on July 16, 2024.
11
Enter The Gungeon
Guns And Ammo, All The Way Down
More roguelike than roguelite and more bullet hell than bullet heaven, Enter the Gungeon nevertheless ticks some common boxes with Vampire Survivors. It’s a top down game where you’re dodging and shooting at enemies, though you’re going room by room rather than fighting through one big arena. It’s also pretty skill-intensive.
You fight your way down the titular Gungeon, where almost everything is some form of gun or ammunition, finding all sorts of ridiculous weapons in a quest to erase your past. If you want your bullet dodging to put some hair on your chest and a bullet in your chamber, Enter The Gungeon is a bullseye.
12
Picayune Dreams
A Surreal Space Wonderland
Though Picayune Dreams is an action roguelike, another sibling amongst the increasing number of games made in Vampire Survivors’ image, it’s so strikingly different from its like that it almost feels like a different genre.
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The familiar gameplay is there, but from its intense music, surreal art style, and occasionally punishing difficulty, it just hits different. It even has a story, a rarity in the genre. A little bit Yume Nikki, a little bit Touhou, and of course, a lot of VS, this eclectic mix is worth the price of admission if your VS-likes were starting to feel same-y.
13
Kitty Survivors: Rogues of Catmere
Kinda Like Ren & Stimpy With Kitties And Hordes Of Enemies
Kitty Survivors is basically comfort food in the arena of action roguelikes in the vein of Vampire Survivors, but still throws in enough to make it worth a try. It adds some new mechanics to the meta-upgrade mix, like pets and the ability to craft weapons with different traits and starting skills.
Mostly though, it treads familiar ground. Where it stands out is in its aesthetics, with its combination of cute and gross bringing to mind the heyday of Flash Games in Newgrounds. If you like cute and cuddly kittens, attacks powered by poop, farts, and spoiled milk, then this game’s sense of humor is up your alley.
14
GunSuit Guardians
VS-Like Comfort Food With A Unique Aesthetic
If you enjoy Vampire Survivors and games like it, you’ve seen games like Gunsuit Guardians before. This is especially true if you like VS-likes that lean into twin-stick shooting like 20 Minutes Till Dawn, Brotato, or Holocure.
While it doesn’t break the mold, it’s still a solid entry into the genre with a Cosmonaut Galaga aesthetic that’s pretty unique. It’s cheaper than a cup of coffee and despite being in Early Access, it feels pretty complete already. GunSuit Guardians is pretty fun, and after that Early Access polish, it might just carve out its own niche in the genre.
15
Atomicrops
Lots Of Enemies, Lots Of Farming
Atomicrops
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OpenCritic
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Critics Recommend:
68%
Atomicrops predates Vampire Survivors by a few years and while they’re not the same thing, they undoubtedly have some convergent evolution going on. It’s a roguelike top twin-stick shooter where increasingly difficult waves come at you. It’s more a bullet hell than a bullet heaven, though.
What makes Atomicrops unique, however, is pretty special. In all that bullet dodging and mowing down enemies, they managed to fit a while farming sim in there, a la Stardew Valley. Run your farm, sell the crops, and use the Cashews you earn to improve your firepower, all while trying not to die in the process. Maybe even romance a mutant (or two) in the process? If you end up as fertilizer, do it again!
16
Kill The Crows
I Count Six Shots…
Have you ever wanted to play Vampire Survivors, but it was punishingly difficult and had a Weird West Motif? Kill The Crows is a VS-like for those who favor skill over strategy. Increasingly difficult waves of enemies are out for your blood, but there’s a major twist to the formula: everything dies in one clean hit.
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By default, you get to shoot six times before you have to reload, so make every shot count. Every missed shot, every unnecessary dodge, and every time you have to reload is another opportunity for you to catch a bullet. Luckily, you can even out the score with your Crow Eye, an ability reminiscent of Cole Cassidy’s Deadeye that stops time and can take out multiple enemies at once.
17
Death Must Die
Characters? Voice Acting? In My VS-Like?
- Released
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November 14, 2023
- Developer
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Realm Archive
- Publisher
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Realm Archive
- ESRB
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nr
Hordes of enemies, random upgrades and power-ups, and roguelite progression — we’ve been on this ride before. Even the gear-based progression and Diablo-esque graphical style have been covered by Halls of Torment. However, this game does add something new, namely a pantheon of attractive gods giving you their boons similar to Hades, with voice acting, even!
And while it doesn’t hit such lofty heights as the modern classic that might have inspired it, where it lands still sets it apart from other VS-likes, who rarely give so much as an afterthought to plot and characterization.
Death Must Die is in Early Access, so we haven’t even seen its final form, which might just be magical.
18
Slime 3K: Rise Against Despot
Plenty Of Slime To Carry Plenty Of Firepower
Seemingly bog-standard at first blush, Slime 3k does some interesting things that we haven’t really seen in the genre before. An offshoot of the Despot series of games, Rise Against Despot retains the dark humor and pixel art stylings of the other titles, but this time, as a VS-like.
The most unique thing about the game is the ability to curate your upgrades through a customizable deck of cards before a match even starts, allowing you to make synergistic builds to more efficiently mow down the hordes of puny humans and other creatures coming for you. Part VS, part deckbuilder, and part auto chess: if this heady mix is up your alley, then you can give its Early Access release a try on Steam.
19
Time Wasters
Bullet Heaven In The Heavens
Vampire Survivors, but in SPAAAAACE! Time Wasters takes the familiar formula and takes it into the stars. Though fans of VS will feel right at home here, the game throws in enough wrinkles to keep it interesting. Chief among them are the Captains, the characters you play. Not only do they start with a set weapon, but they unlock a special functionality in their signature weapon as well.
Captains also have their own unique upgrades, which goes nicely with the fact that you can take on multiple captains in a run for your own customized crew. The map also features buildings that give you all sorts of powers, but which will occasionally come under siege, being removed from the run if you don’t save them.
20
An Ankou
You Want Those Upgrades? Get Crafting!
To borrow a cliche, An Ankou is basically the Dark Souls of VS-likes. This game takes the scaling and roguelike nature of Survivors-type games but puts it in an ARPG/survival/crafting game that takes a familiar formula and twists it into a completely different experience.
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Upgrades are not just given to you in An Ankou, you have to craft them yourself or make an offering at a shrine (using a random material). You collect materials from the field at the relevant nodes (iron from deposits, wood from trees, etc.) and craft them into weapons and armor, hopefully keeping at pace with the game’s scaling.
You only get a small tutorial to get you started, and you’re left to figure out the rest for yourself. If you’ve ever felt like taking the VS genre from something meditative to an experience with teeth, then you can find this game on Steam Early access at a modest price.