# Vampire Survivors: Fun indie, rogue-lite game with 72,000 "Overwhelmingly Positive" reviews on Steam, costs $3 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** video-games-e-games\ **Created:** [April 13, 2022, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791 "2022-04-13T21:52:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/41 "2022-04-16T18:22:40Z")
It can be earlier on the 15 minute map. I’m pretty sure it’s 10 minutes for the first 4 though so I’ve wasted treasures. Santa water is really good when fully upgraded and especially evolved as it’s basically uniform around the character. At low levels it doesn’t clear room around you in a consistent way. I’ve now beaten all the maps and I’m still on board with my earlier criticism. You either get a good build early and then you have an incredible boring waiting game from minute ~15 through minute ~29.5 or you’re dead pretty early. Still, played like ~20 hours so pretty good value for the $3. A tip for the last bit of time is to save a clock or pendant on the ground when you find it. Don’t pick it up until the wire and you can run out the last few seconds without panicking. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/42 "2022-04-16T18:31:18Z")
Have you unlocked all of the characters? (Including Red Death) Any favorites? ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/43 "2022-04-16T18:34:29Z")
No. The gameplay has gotten stale so I don’t think I’m going to run this into the ground like I did with Hades or FTL. I haven’t used all the characters I have unlocked, but I like the panda. The cherry bomb weapon is pretty solid even though it can’t be evolved (afaik). ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2022, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/44 "2022-04-16T19:53:09Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > Also, the flower circle of doom is scary at first but all you have to do is outlast it All you have to do is run through it. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2022, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/45 "2022-04-17T00:54:36Z")
Just played another game and…I don’t notice any difference with garlic, which I evolved previously. Do you have to do each evolution every game? I kind of thought evolving a weapon would make it more powerful on subsequent runs. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2022, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/46 "2022-04-17T01:42:48Z")
No, evolving is for that run only. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2022, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/47 "2022-04-17T11:08:27Z")
Tried a run of all/only range: Knife, Cross, Wand, Runetracer. I think I might have had one of the birds as well. Knife evolved was pretty impressive. Runetracer is great for softening up entire screenfuls of mobs, with or without evolution. Cross is decent, wand is meh. I evolved knife at minute 12, then runetracer at minute 19. This was basically easy mode until minute 29, when the shielded bats showed up en masse. Evolved knife couldn’t punch through them, and with no passive knockback defense from garlic or Bible, I was dead within seconds. Still, I’m adding knife to my standard complement. And I might replace axe with runetracer, or just take whichever of the two shows up first. Garlic and Bible are both still a must. And I still kind of like evolved whip for the easy self-healing. I haven’t evolved Bible yet, but apparently the evolution is that it never goes away. Holy crap that must be awesome. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/48 "2022-04-18T04:07:06Z")
Second run tonight I evolved bible, then axe and whip, and finally lightning ring. (I don’t like lightning ring, but I love duplicator, so when given no good choice, if lightning ring is available it’s at least helpful.) Interestingly, I stopped getting upgrade choices after I hit level 60, instead getting only two choices: 25 coins or a chicken for healing. Not a fan of that, since I still wanted to evolve knife and garlic. Ah well. By minute 23 it was feeling way more powerful than any previous run, so I started recording. Here are the final 7 minutes. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mNlkh9MH2JE/maxresdefault.jpg "Vampire Survivors first map, last 7 minutes") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNlkh9MH2JE) I guess sound didn’t record because I’m running it windowed instead of full screen? ---
**Author:** ![sohvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sohvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sohvan)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/49 "2022-04-18T06:47:24Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Interestingly, I stopped getting upgrade choices after I hit level 60, instead getting only two choices: 25 coins or a chicken for healing. Not a fan of that, since I still wanted to evolve knife and garlic. Ah well. Looks like you maxed all your upgrades, so there was nothing left to upgrade. You need the bracer to upgrade the knife, and I’m guessing you didn’t pick up any chests after getting Garlic to lvl 8. I like to save a chest or two if I’m anticipating a later need of a weapon upgrade. I’m about 6 hours in. On some runs I’m not sure if I’m actually having fun, but then I keep going back anyway. It feels like gaming equivalent of fast food. So far I’ve hit the 30 minute mark 3 times, and lost 2 runs around 20-30s from the end. What are your thoughts on the permanent upgrades? I have a few favorites, but I’m not sure what to go for next. 1. Amount seems absolutely necessary. I’d prioritize it first no matter what. 2. Greed, extra gold to cut down on the early grind 3. Revival for that safety net 4. Magnet helps a lot with leveling, and it feels more useful and cheaper than actual XP boost from Growth. I usually hit max upgrade anyway, so I guess Growth just gives a little extra gold? 5. Not sure what to go for here, but I’ve spread my points between Cooldown, Might and Area. For weapons I’ve started thinking about them more in terms of weapon + Passive combinations, and I rarely go for a weapon without planning to also get the passive. Some of my favorites: 1. Bible + Spellbinder - Excellent defensive option. Combos well with Santa Water 2. Santa Water + Attractorb - Seems like the highest aoe damage option. Usually ends up doing at least twice as much damage as all my other evolved weapons. Unevolved form is pretty weak and random, though. 3. Whip + Hollow Heart - Excellent healing option, and damage is good for boss killing 4. Fire wand + Spinach - Great damage, and Spinach is one of the best passives. I like garlic if I can pick it up early, but it seems to scale pretty poorly in late game. ---
**Author:** ![omenran](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omenran/32/3318_2.png) [@omenran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omenran)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/50 "2022-04-18T08:40:47Z")
> [@sohvan](#): > > > [@EllisDee](#): > > > > Interestingly, I stopped getting upgrade choices after I hit level 60, instead getting only two choices: 25 coins or a chicken for healing. Not a fan of that, since I still wanted to evolve knife and garlic. Ah well. > > Looks like you maxed all your upgrades, so there was nothing left to upgrade. You need the bracer to upgrade the knife, and I’m guessing you didn’t pick up any chests after getting Garlic to lvl 8. I like to save a chest or two if I’m anticipating a later need of a weapon upgrade. Indeed, I watched the video, and you maxed out all your items, and just at level 58 or so evolved the lightning ring. And levels 60-63 were upgrading hollow heart. Evolutions only come via chests, and you could have still evolved garlic, since there was a chest still around. The bag and chicken option for levels only happens when you have nothing to level and no room for more. Good for getting more coins for power ups. (You see it more when you get to level 100+) ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/51 "2022-04-18T11:29:18Z")
> [@omenran](#): > > Indeed, I watched the video, and you maxed out all your items, I maxed all my weapons, but not all my upgrades. At around 7:15 in the video I get three upgrades back to back: Hollow Heart 4, Hollow Heart 5, then the next one begins the coin / chicken rewards. No option for Hollow Heart 6. Is there a max number of total upgrades you’re allowed in a run? Also, I’m now noticing the top left corner of the screen shows 12 icons of the upgrades I have. The top row are six active weapons, while the bottom row are six passives. I’m guessing that’s the max: You get six of each and no more. Interesting. I’m going to have to figure out which six of each I want, exactly. EDIT: It also occured to me that I should evolve every weapon at least once just for the free 500 coins per new evolution. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/52 "2022-04-18T11:38:12Z")
Hollow Heart probably maxes at 5. Take another look at those icons you noticed in the top left. There are boxes beneath them indicating the total number of upgrades available for each item. I think all weapons go to 8, but support items are variable. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/53 "2022-04-18T12:11:38Z")
Ah, that never even occurred to me. Makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/54 "2022-04-18T14:30:16Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > What am I missing about using Santa Water? > > I see many expert gamers using it to good effect but, for the life of me, I never seem to get it to be remotely worthwhile. It takes a while to get going, but once it;s upgraded and you get power-ups to reduce cooldown/increase duration you basically just a giant blue circle around you (way bigger than garlic) killing everything walking over it. Also, the power-up that evolves it is just good to have anyway. > [@nightshadea](#): > > it mentions other stages but so far I haven’t a clue about those stages or if you can even get to them tips please if anyone knows and thanks I recommend checking out the achievements/unlocks menu from the main screen. You won’t be able to do everything on it but some things will be obvious and give you a goal to work for. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2022, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/55 "2022-04-18T18:52:47Z")
I finally got a chance to play this over the weekend. Here are my thoughts. 1. The graphics, interface, and gameplay are very simple. This would be IDEAL to play on a mobile device, so I really hope Steam Link/Remote Play will be developed for it. 2. I was able to figure out what to do with no tutorial or guide. It’s extremely intuitive. That’s not easy to do. 3. I only played once for 5 minutes. Dodging hordes of bats then ghosts and skeletons was fun. I can see why people can put many hours in it. This game is a real gem. It reminds me of the Roguelike games (including Rogue itself) I grew up playing, but as a nonstop action game. The few bucks this cost was totally worth it. ---
**Author:** ![omenran](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omenran/32/3318_2.png) [@omenran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omenran)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/56 "2022-04-19T01:48:58Z")
Yeah, most accessories max out at 5 levels. Duplicator and Tiramisu both only have 2. Two weapons only have 7 levels too. They are among those that don’t evolve,. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/57 "2022-04-19T09:41:03Z")
it needs an auto-fire option tho…Something I did notice tho is to me it seems to run a lot better if you use the “steam overlay” option has anyone used the experimental no lag yet? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/58 "2022-04-19T19:50:43Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > it needs an auto-fire option tho What do you mean? You don’t have to fire your weapon. It’s already automatic. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/59 "2022-04-19T20:03:39Z")
I was in the Library and died with 13 seconds left on the clock. That last minute it brutal. In a different run in the library I was doing great and then _poof_…a mob boss got on me, never saw him/her. I took one ding (heard the noise), looked more closely and in the space it took to me register what was there I was dead. That kinda sucked. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2022, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791/60 "2022-04-19T20:22:14Z")
really? ok, I feel dumb … I hold the button down… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vampire-survivors-fun-indie-rogue-lite-game-with-72-000-overwhelmingly-positive-reviews-on-steam-costs-3/962791.md?page=4)