Part 5 (Jul 2026) · #5 of 10 in that tierWatch the moment (2:57:15)
Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors
- Developed by
- poncle, Nosebleed Interactive
- Published by
- poncle
$9.99
From the creators of Vampire Survivors comes a turbo-charged, turn-based roguelite deckbuilder! Deal world-ending combos, blitz through infested dungeons, and master the Turboturn to obliterate hordes of familiar foes with a chaotic hand of cards.
Consensus
B73.5/100
Steam players96.2% positiveOverwhelmingly Positive19,244 reviews
Metacritic ↗82/100Users: 7.8/10
OpenCritic84/100
VG Insights estimate ↗≈1.3M copies · ≈$10.6M gross
What creators say
Ranked Apr 2026 · #7 of 10 in that tierListen to the episode
What players say
A first-person, turn-based roguelite deckbuilder spin-off of Vampire Survivors by poncle and Nosebleed Interactive, where playing cards in ascending mana order chains combos across grid-based dungeons.
Vampire Crawlers launched on April 21, 2026 (Steam, Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox) to strong reception: Steam lists Overwhelmingly Positive (about 96% of roughly 19k reviews in the local snapshot) and Metacritic critics average 82 from 26 reviews, with 24 positive and 2 mixed. Critics and players agree it is a highly addictive, polished, cheap ($9.99) numbers-go-up combo machine that captures the Vampire Survivors power fantasy. The dissent, mostly in negative Steam reviews, is that it is shallow as a deckbuilder: builds become broken within hours, the 'Play All' button can win fights, and challenge evaporates, so runs blur together. PC Gamer is a notable outlier at 50/100. It is a full release (not early access), with Steam reviews still posting into mid-2026 and requests mainly for QoL and depth patches.
Players love
- Extremely addictive 'one more run' loop with constant unlocks (new levels, cards, gems, meta upgrades) that drip-feed progress
- The ascending-mana combo system: chaining cards in increasing cost multiplies effects, giving a satisfying screen-filling, numbers-explode payoff
- Polish and feel: slick presentation, fast turns, PS1-style 3D visuals, and Vampire Survivors characters and items used as a fun mascot cast
- Accessible for players new to deckbuilders; Vampire Survivors knowledge helps but is not required
- Broken-build synergies and gems attached to cards let players discover absurd combos and steamroll levels that beat them before
- Very low price ($9.99) for dozens of hours; many reviewers logged 20-35+ hours and said it was a bargain
- Fast pacing compared with typical deckbuilders, with a demo that hooked many players (several reviewers had 10+ demo hours)
Common complaints
- Very easy to break: after a few hours and some meta unlocks, builds snowball and there is little challenge or chance to lose
- Shallow deckbuilding: thin card interaction, few ways to tailor a deck, and leveling up can bloat the deck with weak cards
- Repetition: every character plays similarly, enemies and encounters feel the same, and runs converge on the same permanent wild / infinite-combo builds
- Content and variety feel limited: fewer evolutions and items than Vampire Survivors and little that is exclusive beyond gems; 100% unlock reported in about 20 hours
- Design oddities reported by some: chests that tell you to come back later when your deck is full, awkward healing (no healing in combat or short rest), and inconsistent gem quality
- Critics flagged difficulty and balance needing tweaks and repetitive/grindy late play; PC Gamer scored it 50/100
- Decisions rarely matter: several negative reviews say there is usually an obvious correct play and 'Play All' spam wins, so neither deckbuilder strategy nor zone-out fantasy fully lands
Can feel tedious
- Clicking 'Play All' or the same card sequence repeatedly once builds are broken; fights become a chore with no decisions
- Hub navigation and exiting the game (quit only works from a specific village building)
- Late-floor filler: too many normal fights per stage and stalling when enemy HP scales but your build already wins
- Sifting through huge unsorted hands and decks to find the key card
- Slow early metaprogression for some players, with unlocks that do not change much, and the pick-one-of-three reward loop feeling rote
What's unique
- Turbo Turn / ascending-mana combo chaining, where each correctly ordered card multiplies the next, instead of the standard Slay the Spire energy model
- A deckbuilder wrapped in a first-person grid dungeon crawler, so exploration and pathing are part of the loop rather than a node map
- Vampire Survivors-style power fantasy and meta-progression (unlock levels, cards, characters, gold upgrades) transplanted into turn-based cards
- Built-in anti-infinite system: repeating a card too often causes it to shatter and break
- Gems that attach attributes to cards plus familiar Vampire Survivors evolutions and items reinterpreted as cards
Players want
- Add sorting and grouping for the deck and hand (for example by mana cost); with 15-50+ card hands players say finding tomes, wilds and redraws is a manual linear search
- Fix hand scrolling and selection with very large hands, where mouse-over scrolling skips or mis-selects cards
- Let players view the grimoire and their full deck during card and upgrade choice screens to check evolutions
- Add a quick exit or quit button and a better hub menu, plus a clickable list of hub locations; players find the hub navigation confusing
- Raise difficulty and variety: more mini-bosses, special NPC fights and events, fewer trash fights, and stronger late-game scaling
- Rework the infinite-prevention system and permanent wild cards and gems, which players say trivialise combo chains, and add more cards, evolutions and exclusive content
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
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Tier list Part 5 (2026)
Vampire Crawlers is a deck-building dungeon crawler from the makers of Vampire Survivors, built around a combo meter where playing cards in cost order multiplies their effects. He loves the visuals, music and sense of adventure, and respects the studio for trying a different genre. He found the early game very slow and boring, and the gameplay basic, with cards that are mostly just damage. He would still recommend it to people who like simple, big-number play, and he places it in B tier, similar to Ball Pit.
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