Vampire Survivors is a 2022 independent video game created and published by Luca Galante under the studio name poncle. After an early access period starting in December 2021, the game was released for macOS, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Android, and iOS in late 2022. A version for Nintendo Switch was released on August 17, 2023, and versions for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 were released on August 29, 2024. A virtual reality version for the Meta Quest was released in November 2025.

In the game, players control a character that automatically attacks enemies while fighting waves of monsters. The goal is to survive as long as possible and unlock new characters, weapons, and items for future play. The game began as a small project made by Galante while he was unemployed and was released at a low cost. It sold more copies than expected, leading Galante to hire more developers to improve the game and add new content. The game has received several free and paid expansions, including a pack inspired by the Castlevania series, which influenced Galante’s creative process.

Vampire Survivors won awards at the Golden Joystick Awards, New York Game Awards, and D.I.C.E. Awards. It was nominated in five categories at the British Academy Games Awards and won two: Game Design and Best Game. The game is considered one of the first "bullet heaven" games, which are games with automatic fighting features. A spin-off game called Vampire Crawlers, which is a roguelike deck-builder, is planned for release in 2026.

Gameplay

Players choose from several characters, each with unique starting weapons and special abilities. They control their chosen character on an endless stage that has a repeating, automatically created layout. The player's weapons attack automatically, and the goal is to stay alive as long as possible while fighting waves of monsters that hurt the player when touched. By defeating monsters and exploring the stage, players can collect experience gems to level up, floor chicken to restore health, and other useful items. Each time the player levels up, they can choose between three or four new weapons or special abilities called "passives." Once the player has collected six weapons and six passives and fully upgraded them, further leveling only gives gold coins or floor chicken.

Another way to upgrade weapons and passives is by opening chests. These chests are dropped by very strong monsters and may contain one, three, or five random items. Most weapons have an advanced (or "evolved") form that can be unlocked by opening a chest after fully upgrading the weapon and meeting other requirements, such as having a specific passive or having that passive at its highest level.

Each game session in Vampire Survivors has a time limit of 15, 20, or 30 minutes, depending on the selected stage. When the time limit ends, all enemies are removed from the stage, and a very strong enemy named The Reaper appears. An additional Reaper appears every minute after that to challenge the player. A session that lasts at least as long as the stage's time limit is considered complete and gives bonus gold coins. Between sessions, players can use accumulated gold coins to unlock new characters and permanent upgrades. Completing challenges also unlocks new stages, weapons, characters, and game modifiers, such as an endless mode without a time limit, a hyper mode that increases movement speed for players and enemies, and a limit break mode that allows further upgrades even after weapons are fully leveled. Players can get golden eggs by defeating certain enemies or buying them from an in-game vendor. These eggs provide permanent improvements to the player's currently selected character.

Plot

Vampire Survivors is officially set in rural Italy in 2021. A group of monsters, summoned by the villain Bisconte Draculó (inspired by Count Dracula), causes destruction across the region. This leads the Belpaese family and other brave survivors to work together to defeat Draculó. Their journey takes them through dangerous areas, including a cursed forest, a haunted library, an abandoned dairy plant, an ominous tower, and an otherworldly chapel. The story ends with a final battle against a mysterious, otherworldly being called "The Directer." Although the game's name includes the word "vampire," no vampires appear in the story.

Development

Italian developer Luca "poncle" Galante began creating Vampire Survivors in 2020 using the Phaser framework while he was not working. He wanted to make the game to help manage a community, using skills he had gained earlier as an administrator for an Ultima Online server. The game was inspired by Magic Survival, a 2019 mobile game that included a character that automatically attacked enemies.

The first early access version of the game took about one year to develop. During this time, Galante spent around £1,100 on art, music, and other game assets. He was influenced by Castlevania games, and some art assets used a style similar to early Castlevania characters. Before making Vampire Survivors, Galante worked in the gambling industry, where he used flashy graphics for slot machines, which later helped him design the game's chest-opening animations.

Galante first released an early version of Vampire Survivors on itch.io, but it did not get much attention. He then released it on Steam before the end of 2021, keeping the price low because the game had simple art. This helped more people discover it. However, on the same day, he became sick with COVID-19 and focused on recovering instead of checking how the game was selling. In early 2022, he found out that some YouTube creators had started playing his game, which led to more Steam sales.

The game's success surprised Galante, and he left his job in February 2022 to work on it full-time. He received help from a few friends during their free time. Plans for the game included adding more weapons, characters, stages, and an "endless mode." Galante aimed to finish the early access version by the end of 2022.

In March 2022, Galante hired several freelancers to grow the development team and speed up progress. He shared a plan for new content and announced a major goal for mid-2022: moving the game to an "industry-standard" engine to improve performance.

The full game was released for macOS and Windows on October 20, 2022. It later became available for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on November 10, 2022, and for Android and iOS on December 8, 2022. The mobile versions were made free-to-play with optional ads after many copies of the game with stolen code appeared on app stores. The game was sold at a low price on other platforms.

The Nintendo Switch version came out on August 17, 2023, and included local co-op for up to four players, a feature added to all versions. A version for Tesla cars was released in September 2023 with a firmware update.

A free update called Whiteout was released on October 19, 2023, adding a snow-themed stage and new characters and weapons. Another free update, Laborratory, was released in April 2024.

In April 2024, it was announced that the game would come to PlayStation systems, with versions for PlayStation 4 and 5 released on August 29, 2024.

In April 2025, the game added the ability to save progress across platforms by linking to a free Poncle account. This feature was blocked for PlayStation versions due to legal issues. Online co-op was tested in August 2025 for Windows and fully added in October 2025. A virtual reality version for the Meta Quest was released on November 13, 2025, including downloadable content.

The first paid expansion, Legacy of the Moonspell, was released in December 2022, inspired by Japanese folklore and anime. It added new weapons, characters, and a stage. A second paid expansion, Tides of Foscari, was released in April 2023, adding more weapons, characters, and stages.

The game also included free DLCs based on other games, such as Emergency Meeting (inspired by Among Us), Operation Guns (inspired by Contra), and Ode to Castlevania (inspired by the Castlevania series). Ode to Castlevania was the largest DLC, with many new characters and weapons. Emerald Diorama and Ante Chamber were also released as free expansions.

In 2025, a spinoff called Vampire Crawlers was announced, developed by Nosebleed Interactive and set for release in April 2026. It is a roguelike deck-building game where players use cards to fight enemies. The game reused many assets from Vampire Survivors to simplify development.

An animated television series was planned in 2023 but was changed to a live-action film by 2025.

Reception

When Vampire Survivors was first released, it was not well-known. However, by late January 2022, it became very popular, with more than 30,000 players online at the same time on Steam. This number increased further, reaching over 70,000 players the next month. Because of the game's success, Galante was estimated by The Sunday Times in August 2024 to have earned £40 million, making him one of the wealthiest game developers in the United Kingdom.

Although Vampire Survivors was not the first game of its type, it inspired other games called "bullet heavens" or "reverse bullet hells." These games have automatic gameplay and use a type of game where players progress through levels with random challenges. Many of these games were released in the following year, often at low prices and in early access. Examples include Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor and HoloCure – Save the Fans! In one case, Poncle used the Vampire Survivors name and engine to create a Warhammer 40,000-themed version of the game, called Warhammer Survivors, which is expected to be released soon.

Vampire Survivors received "generally favorable" reviews for Windows, according to Metacritic, a platform that collects game reviews. The versions for Xbox Series X/S and iOS received "universal acclaim."

Ian Walker of Kotaku and Graham Smith of Rock Paper Shotgun praised the game, comparing it to dopamine. Nicole Carpenter of Polygon noted the game's depth, saying, "no one streamer I've watched played entirely the same." Aaron Zimmerman of Ars Technica named Vampire Survivors as his choice for game of the year. Marie Dealessandri of GamesIndustry.biz also selected Vampire Survivors as her game of the year, noting its excellent performance on the handheld Steam Deck, which was released in 2022.

Because of the financial success of Vampire Survivors, Galante started an indie publishing group called Poncle Presents in September 2024. The goal was to help independent game developers bring their games to market. Galante explained that the group would not act as a traditional publisher but would instead fund and support smaller indie teams beyond the game's release. Two games were released through Poncle Presents: Berserk or Die (June 2025) and Kill the Brickman (August 2025).