Moreish roguelike bullet hell Vampire Survivors is getting a cousin next year. It’s called Vampire Crawlers, or as per its Steam page: Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors. It’s a first-person roguelike deckbuilder in which you can fight Merdusas with spinach and it’s set to hit PC in 2026.
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Announced during last night’s Xbox Partner Preview via the trailer above, which makes a commendable effort to match the zaniness of the game’s full name, Poncle say it offers a fresh take on Survivors’ established world. You step behind the controls of a returning Vampire Survivors character, with your choice in picking this “crawler” setting up what different abilities you’ll have out of the gate.
Then, you explore dungeons to find treasure, using the deck of cards you build up to murder enemies by flinging barrages of flashes and numbers at them. “You can take your time and be tactical, or play cards as fast as you humanly can, because the game is built to always provide accurate logical outcomes, regardless of the visual chaos that your abilities might cause,” Poncle founder Luca Galante said in a chat with Xbox Wire. He adds that there’s card customisation which can “dramatically alter the way you play your cards”, but that you won’t need to dig deep into if you don’t fancy doing so.
Galante went on to call Crawlers “hopefully the first in a series of spin-offs”. “The idea is to take some of the core pillars behind the development of VS and to apply them to existing genres,” he explained. “I’m talking about accessibility, immediacy, affordability, replayability, and sparkly stuff. Tons of sparkly stuff! With regards to a sequel to Vampire Survivors, we’re working on something, but we’re not talking about that just yet.”
Back when Survivors left early access back in 2022, former RPSer Matt Cox dubbed it “an unquestionably compulsive treat until you reach the endgame”. Ah, bet there’s a big, tough and scary thing waiting there.
I was in it for the plinkety-plink rush of clattering into a huge pile of gems. I was in it for the five item chest boogie, the mindless yet mindful monster shepherding, the giant meteors and the rainbow scythes. Those are all still here, and you can push into further and deadlier territory than ever before, especially if you get far enough to unlock the endless mode, or the modifier that lets you keep upgrading weapons past their usual point. Vampire Survivors is a bigger, better playground now – albeit one with a bodyguard blocking the final set of swings.
Yep, there you go. Former bossman Graham also opined on the game, at one point using “Pewboomswishpingpewboomswishpingpewboomswishping” as both a word and a sentence.
Vampire Crawlers is due out in 2026, and you can wishlist it on Steam if you’re so inclined.
