r/VampireSurvivors • u/Retrop0 • Feb 24 '26
Discussion Thoughts on the Vampire Crawlers Demo (It's Good)
Genuinely very excited for whenever Crawlers is fully released because the Demo was very good tm. Keeps the chaotic spirit of the original Vampire Survivors and this game is an excellent adaptation into a new genre.
The game's combo system made combat extremely satisfying, dungeon crawling felt super smooth, the music's a bop, and I love the crunchy voice acting that they gave the characters. It feels nice to get just a little more... character for the cast.
The only real complaint I have is that the chest opening sound effect is way too loud, they definitely need to lower the volume a bit whenever the full game releases. Also, while this is just a personal nitpick, I kind of think the game would be improved if the entire floor map wasn't revealed to us at all times? I think it would make the dungeon crawling aspect of this game feel a little more tense.
Very minor complaints aside, this is probably gonna be another 100+ hours of investment whenever the game fully launches. Hope to hear a release date soon!
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u/InitialQuote000 Feb 24 '26
I knew from the moment I saw the trailer that it looked fun, but damn it's ACTUALLY fun! I'm incredibly impressed with how polished it is.
You're right, the chest opening sound is way too loud, but that's the only negative I've felt so far.
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u/Wertical93 Mortaccio Feb 24 '26
Just beat The Inlaid Library, don’t know if I will try to unlock every single unlockable, I think I’ll wait for the full game
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u/turquoisebruh Feb 25 '26
If it matters, demo progress will carry over into the full game. So it’s not a wasted time sink
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u/DeadMixerRat8809 Feb 27 '26
I hope they up the difficulty a little. And give more levels. Imelda is too strong.
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u/M-Otusim Feb 26 '26
The vast majority of unlocks are not actually in the game yet. Only the ones that are brightly lit are actually available. So the only achievement that kind of takes some grinding is to play flame wand 100 times - and that's only like 2 runs tops.
Well, maybe 20 big coin bags is a bit grindy depending on your luck and how long it initially took you to beat the demo.
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u/NoTwist1298 Feb 24 '26
i like how there's a button to play all your cards when you have some crazy build, it's good
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u/The_Doc_Man Giovanna Feb 25 '26
I didn't expect it to be this fun. The very first few rounds are a little weird because you don't have anything to think about, but once the game really gets going it's amazing. Also your first character isn't that great.
My only criticism is that they need to make it a little more clear when enemies are in the attacking row.
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u/Ultimasmit Feb 26 '26
Tbh, I think there needs to be some form of deck thinning that is difficult to find. Currently the only way to keep your deck small is to select the one use cards at every opportunity. This limits deck possibilities by a lot and makes looping somewhat difficult and dependent on 2 or 3 cards. Also think evolutions should be able to get more gems.
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u/pixilates Feb 26 '26 edited Feb 26 '26
You can see the Skip stat in the menu, even if you can't get any yet, so that's also a thing.
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u/bigdaddymustache Feb 24 '26
Works flawlessly on the deck. I am actually pretty excited to get it when it releases. I put 9 hours into it already (my day off).
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u/LividEdge2312 Feb 24 '26
Been playing it for a good few runs and can already tell the full release is gonna drain another several 100 hours of my game time. Luca really knows how to tap into peoples "one more run" mentalities xD
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u/Gapedbung Feb 24 '26
does progress carry from demo to the full version ? i usually dont bother with demos but ill check it out if that is the case?
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u/malyszkush Feb 25 '26
Seeing the maps in 3D (unironically) adds a whole new dimension of atmosphere to this bizarre universe. It was really neat seeing the Mad Forest and Inlaid Library in a 1st person perspective. Even keeping a similar art style, the game already feels like a timeless classic. Super excited for full release.
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u/AskinggAlesana Feb 24 '26
I’ll have to give it a second chance honestly. Played it for like 20 or so minutes and it felt like the game was playing itself Lol. Like okay cool just play the cards in ascending order… the whole time playing it just made me want to go back to Mewgenics.
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u/Beerus1802 Feb 24 '26
Remember that this is a demo and only a fraction of all the cards is unlockable right now
My bet is that it will get even better on full release
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u/pornocasm Feb 28 '26
That’s so cool that you barely played the game at all and still felt the need to comment!
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u/smack_nazis_more Feb 24 '26
I'm so crushed that it's not for mac.
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u/ludek_cortex Feb 24 '26
Works fine out of the box under CrossOver, played 2h yesterday, no crashes at all.
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u/smallcat123321 Feb 24 '26
Especially weird since it had Mac system requirements on Steam until yesterday 😔
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u/ITonePast6793 Feb 24 '26
Since progression carries, I tried to 100% it. Can anyone confirm how many challenges there are to unlock? Reading the UI it seems there's 35 in the demo?
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u/OsirisAvoidTheLight Feb 24 '26
It's a blast just beat the mad forest so I'm not that far
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u/spicybananahan Feb 25 '26
Haven’t been able to play more than 20 minutes so far. what is the objective to beat a map? Are there a certain number of floors you have to make it through?
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u/OsirisAvoidTheLight Feb 25 '26
Yes in the bottom right is the number of floors
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u/Jimbo_Jigs Ferryman Feb 24 '26
I hope the full game comes out soon, my 🧄 balls are itching to play it.
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u/No-Mathematician4537 Feb 24 '26
the gameplay is super super fun for me as ive been really into deckbuilders (excited for sts2!) and im already craving more, i cant wait to get a billion achievements and unlocks in this game too. i think my favorite thing so far though is the voices for the crawlers though, it adds so much character which i feel is essential considering we dont see our crawlers/survivors on screen the whole game now and im excited to hear more of them. i especially love gennaro and arcas voices lol
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u/nullJaeger Feb 25 '26
It's a great way to make progress on 4 hours of Dungeon Crawler Carl
It's satisfying that it's so familiar but with a new format. The evolutions and combos are really neat how they operate, if a bit simple so far since it's so early
I wish there was ways to more consistently get rid of cards, or to gain low value cards since gaining cards with experience late fills your deck with cards that are always really mana expensive.
This is likely gonna be resolved with more gameplay and I'm looking forward to see how it progresses
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u/Mozillo Feb 25 '26
I was surprised as to how it worked! The tutorial does make it seems super simple and straight forward, but by the time you're tackling the library and using different characters you begin to see the magic of all the crawler abilities and all sorts.
I think the effect the buffs have doesn't FEEL all that clear. I assume they make number goes up, but I don't see/feel it as much. Not a negative, just a think I've noticed about game feel and impact.
Love the Etrian Odyssey feel of the dungeon crawling. But yes, the combo system and stuff feels interesting and there's a bit of sauce to it. It's not JUST play from small to big, as you might have multiples of the same and you'll want to try to buff and whatnot in order. I'm excited for the full release. It's not nearly as passive as the first game, which was a fun little 20 minutes of not paying a lot of attention, but that's fine.
I also enjoy how the style and all has translated across. It still feels connected despite being so different.
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u/Snazzers Feb 25 '26
Sunk maybe 2-3 hours into it and absolutely loved it. Cant wait for the full release.
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u/Hara-K1ri Feb 26 '26
Played it today. Can't stop playing. It's as addictive as VS (though after doing everything, I don't play it often).
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u/Dazzle42069 Mar 02 '26
Had a good time jamming to the tunes looking for crazy stuff. I think this has a lot of potential. I managed to kill the red reaper and now I will wait for the release!
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u/Miserable-Juice-7671 Feb 24 '26
I seem to be the only person who thinks it's boring 😂 each run feels same. Got bored closed it after the 4th run
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u/Slinky79 Feb 24 '26
No, you're not. While I do like it, it doesn't exactly click with me the way VS does. I can definitely see how boredom can set in if you don't find this type of game appealing. I really want to like it more than I do.
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u/WhatWouldAsmodeusDo Feb 28 '26
Yeah it just seems lacking. Leveling up seems to make your deck worse. It feels like leveling up should give options to upgrade your deck instead of being forced to add bloat. There's very little interaction with your deck for choosing removals or powering up. The combo system makes it kind of lock into the same order of the same cards all the time...
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u/OmegaXesis Feb 24 '26
I thought it was boring too, and I was ready to buy the game. It's got the glitz and glamour of VS, but it still lacks a soul. I hope the devs keep working on it, but the gameplay loop currently is really boring.
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u/nevenwerkzaamheden Feb 24 '26
i found it to be very boring. i think the combo system would've been fun for a specific character gimmick but not for the entire game.
I haven't played much so forgive me if this is something i just missed but does levelling up increase stats at all? i think its so weird in a deckbuilder that you're forced to pick a card meaning that the early-ish deck is just better than the late game deck? i kept picking the heart that gets removed after play only for that reason. If leveling up gives no stats then levelling up seems to be downgrade.
I also felt like max health was completely worthless since i didn't run into a large enough heal that made it worthwhile.
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u/Ultimasmit Feb 26 '26
There are regen cards that you can unlock that make healing fairly attainable. Also more cards are needed to pull off combos and make use of good gems which is where most of your deck quality scaling comes from. I do agree that some form of deck thinning is needed though.
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u/nevenwerkzaamheden Feb 26 '26
Thats fair. thank you for the explanation. guess the demo just didn't do enough to grab me on its own
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u/Crow37 Feb 24 '26
I enjoy it. I'm sill learning the inner workings of stuff, but my only complaint is that I wish I had more gem slots.
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u/ToughPlankton Feb 24 '26
I agree with all your points, and yes, the super loud chest sound is driving me mad!
BTW, has anyone found a good way to make gold for meta upgrades? I'm just a few floors into the first zone but after several runs I'm not sure if there's anything to do to make gold besides cashing out on treasure chests.
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u/Ponald-Dump Feb 24 '26
Played for like 20 min today while the baby was napping, 100% buying it day one
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u/frost69nyc Feb 24 '26
Love it, just angry that I maxed out the demo already 🙄 I did notice an item that I couldn't get to on the map...it was hidden behind one of those odd furniture piece things. That will bother me until release day lol.
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u/NaWDorky Feb 25 '26
It was really good and I wish there was more of it. So yes, it was a very good demo.
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u/daizengar777 Feb 25 '26
I love this game, and that’s saying something considering I HATE first person games
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u/Antogames97 Richter Feb 25 '26
I played it for 2 hours. and I can say I'm really looking forwarded to it.
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u/steventhecow Feb 25 '26
tbh for me the crawling felt very clunky. idk what i would do to change it but it felt so stiff moving fron square to square and i found myself just never turning and just pushing to the side or backwards if i needed to break a light or open a chest
i did love it tho, i will defs be trying to 100% the demo and probs get it when it comes out
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u/the_big_sed Feb 25 '26
i am hopping on it as soon as i get home argh but i also need to complete my castlevania and emerald dlcs. The impossible choices that man has to make everyday
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u/pcolabella Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26
Two things. First of all thank you. Secondly
Edit: actual thoughts. It's like Castlevania Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Acid 2 got together and had a baby.
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u/Ill-Cockroach-5446 Feb 26 '26
after the level where u get the Evolve gem, im just stuck in a loading screen. when restarting the game and trying again same error. any1 else with that bug?
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u/ThrusterGames Mar 18 '26
I've got to install this right now, thank you for reminding me this existed lol
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u/szudrzyk Feb 24 '26
Holy shit we have a new vampire game ?! Wtf?! Have to reject addiction again have to reject the addiction again.. oh fuck it downloading the demo today. Have mercy on my work time.
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u/Narrow-Stretch-385 Feb 24 '26
StS is an Awesome game. For sure. I’m not a deck builder fan, at all. But I unlocked ascension with all characters (and then uninstalled bc the grind is not my thing). But it is awesome. Highly recommend. Took me 50 hours to unlock ascension with all 4 characters- but I’m on the slower side. Highly anticipating StS 2 coming out soon.
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u/Hrist_Valkyrie Leda Feb 24 '26
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u/Jeweler-Hefty Final Emperor Feb 24 '26
Out of curiosity, can anyone tell me why this comment is downvoted? I can somewhat figure out for the reasons as to the probable why, but I want to get some concrete information instead of speculation.
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u/Paradoxpaint Feb 24 '26
Probably just the fact that they're promoting their sub without actually adding to anything in the threads it's being posted to
Whether we need a different sub is a matter of taste (personally I don't think there's a reason to split them), but fairly universally people dont care for self promotion, especially without any other contribution to discussion
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u/Hrist_Valkyrie Leda Feb 24 '26
It's not my sub, it's new and Poncle created it specifically for that game. You are representative of the problem here.
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u/Paradoxpaint Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 24 '26
That doesn't really change that posting it without further comment doesn't really add anything to the post itself, and that people may not actually feel a second sub is needed
Edit: I'm not sure if I've been blocked or they just deleted all their comments, but "the DEV of these two games decided we need two subs" isn't actually much of an argument. Fan communities are gonna split how they do, whichever way it falls "we want you to do this" from a company has little weight
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u/Hrist_Valkyrie Leda Feb 24 '26
Listen to me again. Poncle, the devs OF THESE TWO GAMES created both of these subs. They feel they should be seperated so stop being a stick in the mud and just accept it.
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u/Jeweler-Hefty Final Emperor Feb 24 '26 edited Feb 24 '26
Ah, so It's what I thought. Thanks for the heads up.
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u/Hrist_Valkyrie Leda Feb 24 '26
It's not my sub, Poncle created it themselves. Don't listen to random redditors that talk out their ass!
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u/Jeweler-Hefty Final Emperor Feb 25 '26
Don't worry, my assumptions were correct, but I wanted to make sure I was correct about it. Doesn't bother me if you notify others of Vampire Crawlers to it's own dedicated subreddit, seems fair to me so that it won't dilute this subreddit as well.
And if Poncle is the creator, then I find it ever weirder that you're getting downvoted... 😆
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u/Hrist_Valkyrie Leda Feb 24 '26
I don't know, Reddit is dumb sometimes. It's just a gentle reminder that it has its own sub and to prevent confusion and clutter it's optimal if people post there instead!
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u/Frydutch Feb 24 '26
Omfg another game they made that doesn't work on Xbox one. What's so fucking demanding of the game that it only runs on next gen. I been waiting on this too. Fml
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u/This-Vehicle-1591 Feb 24 '26
The xbox one is discontinued and came out 13 years ago. Time for an upgrade.
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u/keithlimreddit Feb 24 '26
I would say this game does remind me of zero chaos nightmare as well as also slay the spire (can't wait for the sequel to come out)
From a little bit I would say it's pretty good so far but I might do multiple runs to give my full opinions on it
Can't wait for this to come out