It’s no secret here at What’s It Like that I’m a huge fan of Vampire Survivors and its incredibly addictive gameplay loop, so around 6 months ago when I was approached to review Vampire Hunters from Game Craft Studios on Steam, I had to regretfully decline it as I’m Switch exclusive. Last week, I saw Vampire Hunters had made the leap to Switch and I’ve been fortunate enough to give it some solid gametime this week. What’s It Like? Grab some garlic, select your hero, and we need guns… lots of guns, as we review Vampire Hunters on Nintendo Switch.
Vampire Hunters is a roguelike, first person survivor arena shooter, and while it may take inspiration from both Doom and Vampire Survivors, it is a unique game that shows all of your upgrades on the screen, resulting in a hilarious amount of stackable firepower on display. You collect orbs to level up, select a new power-up, and hopefully build a deadly combo to see you through to the end of the level. Each level then concludes by giving you a final; objective like shutting down enemy portals, escaping in a balloon, or activating a sphinx. The gameplay is fast and chaotic, and most importantly, ridiculously fun. It is one of those games that hooks you with the “just one more turn mentality,” and it is hard to put down. Weapons have unique elements, damage, and upgrades that complement relics you can get by levelling up or defeating the bosses which spawn in higher numbers the longer the level goes on. You also have secondary and crowd control weapons, so there’s a lot of strategy involved in choosing which relic may benefit which weapon, and overall survivability. Levels can be progressed without hitting the 30-minute finish mark as well, meaning you can have a change of scenery until you get strong enough to beat the level. Coming back to polish the level off is extremely satisfying, and feels really rewarding.
The progression loop is what kept me going back into the fold with each hero having different stats and special moves that you can improve on as well as speccing into relics in your skill tree that enhance various stats. It sounds like a lot to take in, but it feeds the satisfaction of growing more powerful with each run. Speaking of which, there are achievements to unlock which then unlock more weapons and relics to use on your next run that keeps gameplay fresh and exciting, and players will benefit from unlocking all heroes and abilities to get the most out of the game. It’s clear there has been a drastic change in the game during development to follow this new survival-type gameplay, and Game Craft Studios saw fit to include the first build of the game in the package giving players a look at its original corridor-style shooting gameplay which is a fully complete game in its own right. This original version sees you running down an endless corridor to escape a poisonous gas while shooting your way through increasingly difficult hordes of enemies. This game also features its own set of unlocks to achieve too, boosting the longevity of the package.
The art style uses a PS1 Era-looking engine giving it a retro feel with its low poly enemies and texture styles and starts off running at 60 frames per second. The frames to drop the more the level progresses which still stays playable for the most part. The biggest performance drops happen after the 30-minute mark where enemy portals set out a constant stream of assets that can make the game play in slow motion. Thankfully this still doesn’t manage to detract from the fun of the game and the final minutes of the map are usually a quick mad dash for freedom. Later levels seem to be affected more, as they usually introduce more robust and intricate enemy types. Each level has its own unique enemies to defeat as well as mixing some from other levels. Bosses in particular are exciting to fight and hunt down, with some being dragons that scale the walls outside the level while hurling flames at you. The game had a lower resolution on handheld, giving it a more pixelated look, and I feel like this is due to the Switch’s dynamic resolution to maintain frames. Here’s hoping we see a performance patch in the future. There was one other odd issue with the game, and that is that is seems to be only compatible with Joycons. I was unable to use my pro controller, Power A, or even my Crkd Neo while docked, and I was unable to use my Nitrodeck at all in handheld. I’m not sure why this is, and hopefully, it will be fixed in a future update.
For my Vampire Hunters looking into accessibility, I’m pleased to report that Vampire Hunters has more accessibility options than it has guns, which means more people can play this amazing game. There are gameplay options like having auto fire on all weapons, automatic reloading, auto levelling up of character stats, and reduced recoil animations. Then there are visual options like changing weapon scale, and positioning, merging weapons to open the screen up, highlighting enemies with an outline, and changing hit feedback to reduce flashing. You can also disable the chromatic aberration for a clearer picture and reduce head bob as well. It’s so amazing to see indie devs take charge in opening up games for everyone, and Vampire Hunters has one of the most comprehensive set of options I have seen while reviewing games, kudos to Gamecraft Studios.
At $22.50 AUD, Vampire Hunters is an incredible package that will provide 20+ hours of action-packed gameplay. The performance issues may bother some, but for me, it didn’t hamper the chaotic fun of being a one-man tower defence army, mowing down hordes of monsters with a screen full of guns. The weapon combinations and individual progression paths mean completionists will have a lot to tackle should they wish to do so, and the retro look gives Vampire Hunters its unique charm. Vampire Hunters is an outstanding game of action-packed fun that’s an easy recommendation for fans of shooters and Vampire Survivors alike.
So, What’s It Like? Vampire Hunters is like Vampire Survivors crossed with Doom.
In the interest of full disclosure, a review copy was provided by the developer, but this doesn’t influence my score.
