Daniel (@dungeondive) dives into Vampire Crawlers, the next game from the creators of Vampire Survivors — and this time they’ve turned the bullet heaven formula into a first-person dungeon crawl with deck-building. You roam through procedurally generated floors, playing cards from your hand to deal damage, generate armour, and draw deeper into your deck, all while enemies close in from ranked rows. The snowball effect is real: by the third floor, you’re chaining zero-cost cards into cascading combos that feel gloriously out of control.
What immediately stands out is the sound design — every pickup, every level-up, every chest crack hits with a satisfaction that borders on the unreasonable. Between runs you upgrade in a small Castlevania-flavoured town, buying stat boosts, unlocking heroes from the Belpas family, and slotting gems into cards for spicy damage builds and evolved weapons. The demo is free on Steam and already packed with unlocks, floors, and that signature “one more run” pull.
If you enjoyed the controlled chaos of Vampire Survivors and ever wished it had dungeon corridors, card combos, and wall chicken, this one’s for you.
What’s a game that surprised you by mashing two genres together better than expected?