When I tried out Vampire Survivors the first time, it didn’t really click with me. I could see the appeal, the hypnotic loop of running around while mowing down hordes of monsters, but it never quite pulled me in. So, going into Vampire Crawlers, I wasn’t expecting much beyond a mere spin-off riding on a familiar and established name.
Boy, was I wrong!
Vampire Crawlers is a game that strips things down, speeds everything up, and somehow makes a deckbuilding roguelike loop that feels engaging every single moment. It takes the essence of the genre, cuts off the fat, trims away the friction, and leaves you with something that feels fast, punchy, and dangerously addictive.
Welcome to our review of Vampire Crawlers, where we break down everything we loved about the game and things that didn’t sit right with us.
For more information about the game, check out their official website here.
A Simple Idea (Can Be a Good Thing)
When you strip it down, Vampire Crawlers revolves around one central idea. You play your cards in the order of ascending mana cost to build up your combo multiplier. So you start with a 0-cost card, then follow it up with a card that costs 1 Mana, move on to a 2 Mana cost card, and so on. The higher you can chain the combo without breaking the order, the more powerful the effects of your Cards.
It’s not exactly what one would call “deep” or highly “strategic”. In fact, some might even find the entire thing a bit gimmicky. But in practice, it’s incredibly satisfying.
There’s a fun little rhythm to this mechanic. You’re constantly scanning your Hand, spotting the sequence, and trying to extend it just a little further. Wild Cards add another layer to this system. If you don’t have a card to add to a chain, you can use a Wild Card to attach another chain to your current chain without resetting the combo multiplier.
When you discover the perfect combo group and your multiplier climbs and your damage spirals out of control, you can’t help but enter a kind of “flow state”, the kind that the best of the genre thrives on. It’s simple, it’s easy, and most importantly, it just works.
Survivors Before, Crawlers Today
The entire roster of Survivors from the OG rougelike returns to Vampire Crawlers in their full glory. But even if you’re not deeply familiar with them from Vampire Survivors, you have nothing to worry about. Vampire Crawlers does things its own way while also preserving the core essence of the characters.
Each of the characters, aka Crawlers, comes with their own quirks. Some will let you draw extra cards, some will increase your might to let you deal more damage, and some even have unique effects, letting you disarm enemies or revive yourself.
The differences between the Crawlers feel small at first, but when you consider their unique ability triggers, they open up a surprising level of variety in how runs play out.
Once you unlock a few Crawlers and start testing them out, you’ll start noticing how different each run plays out as you switch them around. On top of that, you get the ability to bring multiple Crawlers with you on a single run. You can mix their ability triggers and figure out complementary combos. That’s when the combat really starts to click, and the game really begins to shine.
The Perfect Pacing
One of the things that Vampire Crawlers nails perfectly is its pacing. The dungeons are just long enough to keep you engaged without getting exhausting. You can reach a very high level and pick up enough cards to witness your hand transition into its final form, but you won’t get bored by the point you get there.
And on top of that, there’s always something unlocking in the background. Whether it’s new Crawlers, new Power Ups, new Gems, or even new Cards, you’re always progressing steadily in a forward motion. If you enjoy collectathons, this scratches the same itch with its gameplay loop.
Each run, even if you fail, gets you one step closer to that one big unlock that will make the future runs smoother. When you unlock something new, it’s like a whole new playstyle for you to mess around with. It’s a fun, satisfying loop that’s paced just right.
A Simple Idea (Can Be a Bad Thing)
For all its strengths, Vampire Crawlers still isn’t what you’d call a particularly strategic deckbuilder. Once you understand the combo system, you’ve more or less seen the core of what the game has to offer.
Yes, there are variations in the way of different characters and builds for you to experiment with, but the underlying strategy remains the same. You’re still chasing the same ascending sequence and trying to build up your multiplier to burst through encounters.
A bit more complexity, or even a few mechanics that let you play the game differently, would be nice. There are Arcanas, but they also don’t switch up the core combo stack system.
Despite that, I kept coming back to the game. That’s the real strength of Vampire Crawlers. It understands exactly what makes its loops addictive and leans into it without hesitation.
The Verdict
Vampire Crawlers doesn’t reinvent the wheel, nor does it try to. What it does instead is take a simple idea and execute it cleanly.
I went in with little expectations and came out fully absorbed in all that it had to offer. It could have used more depth and layers, but even without that, it’s an easy recommendation. If you’re looking for something fast, punchy, and satisfying, this is the perfect deckbuilding roguelike for you. But remember to check the clock, or you’ll never know how time flew while you crawled.
Developer: Poncle & Nosebleed Interactive
Country of Origin: United Kingdom
Publisher: Poncle
Release Date: 21 April 2026 (Xbox, Steam, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch)
This review is based on a copy of the game provided by the developer. The PC version of the game was played for this review of Vampire Survivors (Steam).
Thank you for reading our review of Vampire Crawlers.
Already playing the game? Check out our extensive guides hub for the game.
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Muhit Rahman lives off two things: gaming marathons and endless cups of tea. He writes guides, reviews, and occasionally forgets that real life doesn’t come with checkpoints. His favorite genres are Soulslike and Metroidvania, with Dark Souls III, Hollow Knight, and Dota 2 forever holding top spots on his all-time list.
