I think I am already awarding the crown for the best demo in Steam Next Fest. Congratulations, Poncle.
Vampire Crawlers is another indie amalgamation of different genres and ideas that creates something wholly addicting and fun, while feeling classic and new all at the same time. And it’s got that charming, retro, Vampire Survivors aesthetic to it, too.
This spinoff title is, as you may guess, a first-person dungeon crawler set in the world of Vampire Survivors. It’s got the same aesthetic, characters, enemies, and leveling up process as Survivors, but with a first-person perspective and a new battle system.
Vampire Crawlers tasks you with exploring dungeons, killing enemies, and leveling up just like Survivors, but the battles are all card-based, similar to how combat works in Slay the Spire or Monster Train. You get ability cards to deal damage or shield up, and a set amount of energy you can use to deploy them, and try to survive as long as you can.
You can play it slowly and methodically, or just press the Play All button to play all of your cards and fly through levels with reckless abandon. Both are fun, but the quick nature of the Play All button is a big draw for me.
Fans of Vampire Survivors will feel right at home with the game’s characters and abilities, such as the Duplicator card, which will allow you to fire one more projectile, or the Attract Orb, which will now draw a card. And of course, the loud and bombastic chests that you loot for new cards and abilities as you finish levels. Special cards allow you to modify and buff existing ones, or you can choose new abilities to further flesh out your deck.
Just like its predecessor, Vampire Crawlers may not be for everyone. But it’s simple enough that just about anybody can enjoy, and it may be tough to say this, but I think we may already have an early sleeper candidate for potential game of the year nominations.
It just feels so easy to fly through a run in Vampire Crawlers, even more so thanSurvivors, I think. And while Survivors may have given birth to a whole genre (action roguelike, or bullet heaven, or whatever you’d like to call it), I think that this game has as much of a chance to bring dungeon crawlers to the forefront when it launches sometime in 2026.
The demo is available for all on Steam now, but I warn you, it’s quite easy to get addicted to the loop and progression with each run.
