Vampire Survivors might one day stand alongside Hades and the roguelike greats

polygon.com:

The thrill of a bullet hell-type shooter is the last-minute escape — the act of careening through enemy hordes, a hair’s breadth away from disaster. Vampire Survivors takes that joy and fuses it with the intoxicating power creep of roguelikes such as Hades, Returnal, or Dead Cells.

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The result is chocolate and peanut butter: A deliciously perfect pairing that seems all but self-evident once you’ve tried it, but also the sort of treat that’s possible to fill up on fast.

The story of Vampire Survivors is that there is no story. You’re … well, you’re not a vampire. Actually, I don’t know that there are any vampires here at all. There are lots of bats. There’s also a generous number of mummies. But none of this matters.

The point is that beasts, with increasing number and ferocity, are coming to devour your 8-bit weakling who, if they’re smart, will immediately run away. What begins as a few errant, shambling skeletons quickly turns into an undead Hard Day’s Night, with hundreds of creatures following your every zig and zag across the infinitely expanding map.

You’ll fend off the legions of foes with an impressive assortment of weaponry, and it’s this variety that forms Vampire Survivors’ core appeal. Your first of many unlockable characters begins with a whip that lashes out to one side at set intervals. As you kill more enemies and gain more experience, you’ll layer on