Vampire Survivors Summary
Vampire Survivors is a single-player shoot ’em-up survival game. It combines successful elements of other popular games, such as graphic choices, survival clocks, and multiple playable characters with upgrades. You take control of characters that automatically attack and face waves of various creatures in an attempt to survive. The game debuted in 2022 for macOS, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Android, and iOS. Vampire Survivors will release in August 2023 for the Nintendo Switch as well. The indie studio poncle, also known as Luca Galante developed the award-winning game. Despite being released only a year ago, the game is already in talks for optioning as a television series.
Vampire Survivors Premise
Vampire Surviviors is an indie, gothic-horror game. It is set in a spooky Italy in 2021 though it seems more medieval. You play as one of the multiple locals trying to protect their city from the evil Bisconte Draculo. As you play, more of these locals are unlocked using earned gold. Seemingly unending hordes of various creatures and monsters will come at you on a basic 2D map. There is a timer that counts up as you continually battle and survive. The gameplay is relatively repetitive and straightforward, as you must stay alive by dodging enemies and aiming your character to destroy them instead.
The gameplay for Vampire Survivors is considered roguelike. The player earns experience, weapons, and gold as they fight and can claim it after they die. The level stays essentially the same, but the player has knowledge of the level and has gained something to help their character. It can become more interesting as you unlock different weapons and playable characters. There are also upgrades you can power up for each character to make playing easier. If you stay alive on a stage for 30 minutes with one character, you essentially win that level as far as that character’s story and achievements go.
The graphics are a double-edged sword for many players. They are fairly primitive and resemble Castlevania or other sidescrolling 2D games originally on Nintendo. While this is a turnoff for some players, it fits the game’s theme and adds to the game’s spookiness and retro feeling. Though the graphics are basic, everything is clearly distinguishable when it needs to be. For example, while you can’t make out the protagonists’ facial features, you can tell they have arms and legs and what weapon they are holding.
Vampire Survivors Main Characters
There are actually a lot of playable characters in Vampire Surviviors. The many different characters allow for different play styles and add more challenges. There are 55 total playable characters! Some characters are secret, and others come from downloading DLC. Most characters become playable after being unlocked through play. Characters are different strengths even before being boosted by anything you earn or unlock for them in the game. You’ll encounter characters of varying Tiers of power. Here are what the different levels for the 55 characters will look like.
R Tier -This tier is interesting as the R stands for Random. This is an unlockable tier type and will only apply to one random character at a time. This character’s tier is different every time you start a game. They could be the most basic powered character or the strongest you’ve played with yet. They will choose one at random each time. While this is fun, it’s not exactly reliable or as valuable as a guaranteed top tier.
C Tier -These characters aren’t the worst but are not optimal. While it’s great to unlock them and try them out, you’ll want to move on to someone who makes playing easier once you unlock everything for them. These characters aren’t even average.
B Tier -These characters are standard. They are your basic middle-of-the-road characters who will get you through the game’s early stages. Once you’ve completed unlocking everything for them, it’s smarter to move to a higher-tier character that will give you something more for choosing them.
A Tier -These characters are good. They aren’t the best, but they will do most of the time. They have some exciting qualities that make them worthwhile to play.
S Tier -These characters are really good. This tier is where you want to aim for all your playtime when you can. These characters give you the most bang for your buck while keeping the game interesting.
S+ Tier -These are the strongest characters in the game. This tier is who you want when you’ve got a challenge to overcome. These characters are a decent step above the S Tier and could almost be considered overpowered.
Important Characters
Antonio Belpaesse is the first character and hero you play with. He begins with the whip as a weapon. His damage increases 10% more every ten levels.
Bisconte Draculo is the game’s main antagonist. He is an evil powerful “Dracula” type character that summoned all the attacking creatures you must face. Draculo is the “vampire” the game seems to be named after and is the vampire-looking character on the main menu screen. He does not appear within the gameplay itself, though.
Red Death is another one of the best playable characters in the game. He starts with the highest possible movement speed. Red Death is unlocked and purchased for 666 gold. You can also cast the ablasphemousmockery spell in the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane to unlock him. The character looks like a classic grim reaper wearing a red robe and carrying a scythe. His scythe starting weapon is called Death Spiral.
Queen Sigma is essentially the strongest and hardest-to-kill playable character in the game. She begins with the Victory Sword as her weapon. To play as her, you must unlock her by obtaining all items in the Collection and then purchase her though she will cost no actual gold. You can also unlock her by casting the allatonce spell cheat code.
A list of all playable characters:
- Antonio
- Ambrojoe
- Arca
- Avatar Infernas
- Babi0Onna
- Big Trouser
- Boon Marrabbio
- Cavallo
- Christine
- Clerici
- Concetta
- Cosmo
- Divano
- Dommario
- Eleanor Uziron
- Exdash
- Gains Boros
- Gallo
- Gav’Et-Oni
- Genevieve Gruyere
- Gennaro
- Giovanna
- Gyorunton
- Imelda
- Je-Ne-Viv
- Keitha Muort
- Krochi
- Leda
- Luminaire Foscari
- Maruto Cuts
- McCoy-Oni
- Megalo Menya Moonspell
- Megalo Syuuto Moonspell
- Menya Moonspell
- Miang Moonspell
- Minnah
- MissingNO (Secret unlockable character)
- Mortaccio
- O’Sole
- Pasqualina
- Peppino
- Poppea
- Poe
- Porta
- Pugnala
- Queen Sigma
- Ramba
- Red Death
- Rottin’ Ghoul
- Sammy
- Scorej-Oni
- Smith IV
- Syuuto Moonspell
- Toastie
- Zi’Assunta
Vampire Survivors Titles of Video Games in the Series
There are yet to be any other games in the Vampire Survivors game series. There are two DLCs that you can purchase and download that expand on the original game. These DLCs, Legacy of the Moonspell, released in 2022, and Tides of the Foscari, released in 2023, add characters and levels to play and complete.
Alternatively, a few recent 2D games similar to Vampire Survivors may hold you over until a sequel or the animated series.
Gothic Survival (2022) is a fast-paced shoot-em-up action game similar to Vampire Survivors. The game involves fighting creatures in a world where witches and dragons exist. There are multiple playable characters you can boost up as you progress.
Grimnight Heroes: Survivors (2022) plays just like Vampire Survivors. This story involves a necromancer who unleashes seemingly endless hordes of the undead you must stop. In this game, you only play as one character, but you can upgrade them and choose between weapon types as you progress.
Project Clean Earth (2022) is a game with a similar style of play to Vampire Survivors but deviates from the theme. In this game, you are a single character in a post-apocalyptic world facing off against mutants and zombies. There are items to collect and options to choose as you progress and battle through the nonstop baddies.
Vampire Survivors Cheat Codes
There is a good deal of cheats available in Vampire Survivors. These cheats will unlock relics, other stages, secret characters, and more if you desire. You can perform some cheats without doing anything other than entering the code below. Type in the codes below on the main menu screen, and a tone should ring if you input the code successfully.
- Unlock Exdash – x-x1viiq
- 2800 Gold and unlock Mortaccio – press: up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, ESC, Enter
- Unlock the Il Molise stage – relaxenjoylife
- Unlock relic Randomazzo(unlocks the ability to use Arcanas) and the Arcana modifier, Arcana VI (double healing and damage to enemies for each HP healed) – randomazzami
More Codes
To enter these other codes, you do have to do a little playing first. The requirements to enter these codes aren’t too difficult, though, and give you many worthwhile rewards in return. Here are the steps you must follow.
1)Start by unlocking Hyper Mode on three of these maps: Gallo Tower, Inlaid Library, Dairy Plant, and Mad Forest. Unlocking Hyper Mode requires that you beat the boss of the stage that appears after surviving for 25 minutes.
2)Unlocking the three Hyper Modes will unlock the Bone Zone map on the Stage Selection screen. On the Bone Zone stage, open your map and locate the question mark. Here you’ll face another boss made of bones you must defeat. Once beaten, the boss will drop the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane item, which unlocks the Secrets menu.
3)Go to the Secrets menu to enter codes in the Cast Spell area.
Main Characters unlocks:
- Arca Ladonna – noneladonna
- Porta Ladonna – vivaladonna
- Lama Ladonna – superladonna
- Poe Ratcho – strongestcharacter
- Dommario – bioparco
- Suor Clerici – faschiuma
- Krochi Freetto – accidenti
- Christine Davain – crystalmakeup
- Yatta Cavallo – yattapanda
- Bianca Ramba – carramba
- O’Sole Meeo – reset
- Sir Ambrojoe – languorino
Unlock Secret Characters:
- Gyorunton – secondevolution
- Big Trouser – earrivatolarrotino
- Cosmo Pavone – lhovistoio
- Boon Marrabbio – fettinepanate
- Leda – iwillneverletyouforgetaboutme
- Peppino – pinociampino
- Gains Boros – highfive
- Mask of the Red Death – ablasphemousmockery
Unlock Toastie(must first unlock Exdash):
- Toastie – tramezzini
Stages:
- Unlock Moongolow stage – honesty
- Unlock Green Acres stage – dotgogreenacres
- Unlock The Bone Zone stage – rottingpizza
- Unlock Boss Rash stage – peakgamedesign
Unlock Relics:
- Grim Grimoire – thisshouldhavebeenunlockedbydefault
- Ars Gouda – thistooshouldhavebeenunlockedbydefault
- Milky Way Map – leadmetothecheese
- Glass Vizard – eggseggseggs
- Mindbender – teleportustomars
- Great Gospel – icanhearthecriesofcaptainplanet
- Magic Banger – thankelrond
- Sorceress Tears – timecompression
- Yellow Sign – ihaveseenitihaveseenitihaveseenitihaveseenitihaveseenitihaveseenitihaveseenit
Funny Cheats
- Spinning user interface – spinnn
- Alternate looks and weapon looks for O’Sole Meeo, Yatta Cavallo, Mortaccio, Bianca Ramba – spoopyseason
Vampire Survivors Cheat Code FAQs
How do I unlock the Random code?
To unlock the Random code, you must check in previously owned coffins. Opening a coffin for the second time will unlock Random. You must then purchase Random for 5000 gold. Random is a secret playable character option that will randomly give you a character with varying strength and starting weapon.
Do cheat codes unlock achievements?
No, using a code to unlock a character, stage, or relic, for example, does not count towards your achievements. You can still accomplish the achievement later by doing whatever it requires, even if you’ve entered a code.
How do I get to Endless Mode?
You must first collect all the relics, and then the stage Eudaimonia Machine will unlock. When you first enter the stage, a tree-like character will approach. Walk over the tree character to begin the unlock process for Endless Mode. You will receive multiple blurred or confusing text boxes before a question you can read appears. If you select “Too Hard” to answer this question, you gain the Seventh Trumpet relic and can now play Endless Mode.
You must select Endless Mode from the main menu, which may look different after unlocking it. In Endless Mode, after the clock hits 30 minutes, instead of winning the stage, the clock starts over. Each time the clock starts over, the enemies’ health increases by 100%! Their damage also increases by 25%, and the number of enemies you face increases by 50%.