Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors
analyzed 2026-08-19 · sample of 444 English reviews across the whole review history
Most reviews center on the gameplay itself, with 33.1% of sampled reviews mentioning it and 122 of those landing positive. Players describe it as a deeper take on deck-building, with one calling it "A bit like a more complex Slay the Spire" and another noting "there is much more strategy involved." Addictiveness is the second most common theme, appearing in 21.2% of reviews, almost all positive; one player wrote "hard to stop, and somehow it was suddenly 3 AM." Price and value drew only praise, with 37 of 37 mentions positive, including "This games too cheap. Raise the price." The clearest recurring criticism is balance, mentioned in 6.1% of reviews with 23 negative against just 3 positive. Players point to "characters that pull cards seem much stronger than those that don't" and note "combos can be kinda overpowered." The UI draws similar frustration, with 11 of 13 mentions negative, including complaints about "4-5 clicks to quit a game" and the health symbol hiding cards. Difficulty splits opinion: 11 positive mentions versus 16 negative, with one player finding "the early game can be tough" while another says it is "A bit easy once you understand how to combo properly." Game length also divides players, with some saying "runs taking far, far too long to complete" and others reporting they finished in nearly 60 hours. Music and art style are near-universal positives, with 13 of 14 music mentions and all 8 art style mentions favorable. Progression is well received, and several players express hope for future updates and DLC.
numbers checked against this report's stored data · quotes copied verbatim from reviews · plain text is the language model's own wording
Aspects
share of sample, axis to 40% · ± is the sampling uncertainty around each share
- positive
- mixed / neutral
- negative
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gameplay
122 positive · 16 negative · 7 mixed · 2 neutral
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In this game there is much more strategy involved, yet it's still pretty easy to learn.
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A bit like a more complex Slay the Spire.
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关键是爽亦有道：大数字是自己叠出来而非源于设计失衡，让玩家产生了一种“我很厉害所以玩得爽”的感觉。刷刷刷几个小时大数字就快要无聊的时候马上给你新的刺激，赌博行业出生设计师恐怖如斯
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addictiveness
92 positive · 2 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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Crazy addictive card building game.
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addicting right away
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Just one more run...
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price value
37 positive · 0 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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I think it's great value for the money.
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It´s dirt cheap, just buy it already
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This games too cheap. Raise the price. They have earned the right.
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content amount
27 positive · 6 negative · 1 mixed · 0 neutral
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There's not a tonne of cards so easy to memorize them and get the hang of combos and upgrades.
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More gold sinks and stat manipulation is always a plus to me for the deep progression, but other areas, unlimited floor mode, and secret bosses would also be nice.
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Lots of content, but also pretty ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ boring after 10 hrs.
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difficulty
11 positive · 16 negative · 2 mixed · 1 neutral
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Like most roguelikes/roguelites, the early game can be tough, but it becomes more manageable as you progress.
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A bit easy once you understand how to combo properly, but still very fun.
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Setting this one down for now due to sharp difficulty spike, once again at Dairy Plant lol, which is where I bounced off Survivors
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game length
11 positive · 12 negative · 0 mixed · 6 neutral
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Super addicting at start, but by the end the rush was all gone as runs devolved into infinite deck spams with runs taking far, far too long to complete.
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But Im only upset that it ends so soon.
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Excellent, but very short.
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progression
21 positive · 7 negative · 1 mixed · 0 neutral
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Even though it's not exactly deep thinking roguelite deckbuilder it can be quite addictive with it's meticulously crafted progression
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Global upgrades and unlocks along with unique characters makes every crawl different but fun. Building up to be an unstoppable force of nature is great.
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Like most roguelikes/roguelites, the early game can be tough, but it becomes more manageable as you progress.
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balance
3 positive · 23 negative · 0 mixed · 1 neutral
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Some minor issues here and there (for me the health symbol on the left hides part of your cards if you have a lot for example), maybe some balancing (characters that pull cards seem much stronger than those that don't), but otherwise having a good time
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combos can be kinda overpowered if you think about them.
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Some crawlers, weapons, and arcanes feel significantly stronger than others, balance could use some work
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learning curve
13 positive · 3 negative · 0 mixed · 3 neutral
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In this game there is much more strategy involved, yet it's still pretty easy to learn.
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There's not a tonne of cards so easy to memorize them and get the hang of combos and upgrades.
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Progression feels good, mechanics are slowly introduced as to not overwhelm and the pace is good.
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replayability
9 positive · 7 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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I'm sure I'll be sinking many more hours into this game.
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well I played until i got all the achievements, which I don't normally bother to do, so I think that must say something.
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The game play is fast, easy to understand, but also rich enough to be keep me coming back.
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see more
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music
13 positive · 1 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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OST is good, I like the different variations of the village theme depending which building you're in, nice touch!
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Music is also great, as it is mostly banging remixes of the VS soundtracks.
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And my God the music department is still cooking!
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ui
1 positive · 11 negative · 0 mixed · 1 neutral
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Enjoyable but 4-5 clicks to quit a game is just not reasonable.
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Some minor issues here and there (for me the health symbol on the left hides part of your cards if you have a lot for example), maybe some balancing (characters that pull cards seem much stronger than those that don't), but otherwise having a good time
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As well, the interface needs some refining in terms of delivering information to the player.
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build variety
6 positive · 5 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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There are many different "crawlers" (hunters) to choose from whose differing abilities combined with your progression open up a ton of different strategies for deck building.
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There are a number of crawler and arcane combos that are over-powered but there's enough variety in combinations to make it more of a challenge
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There are a LOT of very good strategies, and it's satisfying to discover new ways to break the game.
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updates
9 positive · 0 negative · 0 mixed · 2 neutral
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This is easily my favourite game of the past several years, and I desperately hope that it receives many, many updates.
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I can't wait for any new content the developers might add since they have done plenty of that for Vampire Survivors.
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I hope theres updates and DLC, because Ill be back to play it for sure.
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art style
8 positive · 0 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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I love the aesthetic, especially the callback to 1980s dungeon crawlers.
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The presentation and aesthetic of Vampire Crawlers is incredibly charming.
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If you liked Survivors, you will probably also like Crawlers as the general structure, progression, and art style are near identical, just with a more active and engaging gameplay loop, and honestly I think this game is even better than Survivors.
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pacing
5 positive · 3 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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关键是爽亦有道：大数字是自己叠出来而非源于设计失衡，让玩家产生了一种“我很厉害所以玩得爽”的感觉。刷刷刷几个小时大数字就快要无聊的时候马上给你新的刺激，赌博行业出生设计师恐怖如斯
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Progression feels good, mechanics are slowly introduced as to not overwhelm and the pace is good.
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The rules are all telegraphed once they're introduced, the pace is as slow or fast as you want it to be at any moment, and (as long as you don't get too many cards in your hand) everything's easily readable and interpretable.
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dlc
6 positive · 1 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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need a DLC asap
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Hopefully they release more DLC soon.
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Really hoping that they add some DLCs or maybe even DLC content from vampire survivors!
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graphics
6 positive · 1 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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Combos are satisfying and visuals look like they could be straight out of a pachinko machine for that dopamine you know what I mean?
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The pixel art, 3D imaginings of Vampire-Survivors' maps, and sound effects all work extremely effectively in conjunction to form the basis of what the game is ultimately trying to achieve.
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The visual effects on the cards are fantastic!
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platform access
6 positive · 1 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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Works flawless on Linux.
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Nice that save data carries over from the demo, too.
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Great on the steamdeck too.
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combat
4 positive · 1 negative · 1 mixed · 0 neutral
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Combat? Decent.
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The progression feels great and the combos get craaaazzzzyyyy.
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Combat is flexible.
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level design
2 positive · 3 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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While the maps are charming on the surface, moving around them is actually pretty boring and there's almost nothing in terms of skill expression here.
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Still enjoying unlocking new characters and the upgrades in the shop, but do wish I had more map choices earlier on.
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- the layout of the areas and types of enemies don't really affect combat
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performance
3 positive · 1 negative · 1 mixed · 0 neutral
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I played this on Retroid Pocket 6, it works great.
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Runs smooth way, way below the minimum reuirements for Mac.
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Plays well on steam deck & since it's not graphically intense the battery won't die super fast!
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player choice
1 positive · 4 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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You don't really think about what cards you're putting in your deck or what cards you should play each turn, so that "Play all" button looks more and more enticing by the minute.
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There were very few times where I felt like the order in which I casted my cards actually mattered.
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I never really feel like I have control over my build like I do in survivors.
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sound design
4 positive · 1 negative · 0 mixed · 0 neutral
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☑ Very good
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The pixel art, 3D imaginings of Vampire-Survivors' maps, and sound effects all work extremely effectively in conjunction to form the basis of what the game is ultimately trying to achieve.
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Sound effects are also well done, giving weight to attacks and interactions with the environment.
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Review timeline
weekly peak 9,429 reviews · all languages
weekly share rated positive · 50% reference · weeks with <5 reviews faded
the timeline as a table
| week | reviews | up | down | positive | note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| week of 21 Apr 2026 | 9,429 | 9,147 | 282 | 97% | |
| week of 28 Apr 2026 | 3,408 | 3,267 | 141 | 96% | |
| week of 05 May 2026 | 1,572 | 1,504 | 68 | 96% | |
| week of 12 May 2026 | 1,039 | 986 | 53 | 95% | |
| week of 19 May 2026 | 664 | 624 | 40 | 94% | |
| week of 26 May 2026 | 405 | 388 | 17 | 96% | |
| week of 02 Jun 2026 | 287 | 266 | 21 | 93% | |
| week of 09 Jun 2026 | 202 | 190 | 12 | 94% | |
| week of 16 Jun 2026 | 198 | 186 | 12 | 94% | |
| week of 23 Jun 2026 | 208 | 196 | 12 | 94% | |
| week of 30 Jun 2026 | 219 | 209 | 10 | 95% | |
| week of 07 Jul 2026 | 200 | 189 | 11 | 94% | |
| week of 14 Jul 2026 | 145 | 136 | 9 | 94% | |
| week of 21 Jul 2026 | 143 | 136 | 7 | 95% | |
| week of 28 Jul 2026 | 120 | 116 | 4 | 97% | |
| week of 04 Aug 2026 | 70 | 65 | 5 | 93% | |
| week of 11 Aug 2026 | 70 | 64 | 6 | 91% | |
| week of 18 Aug 2026 | 14 | 13 | 1 | 93% |
How this report was made
- Population
- all Steam reviews of the game (every language, purchase type, and verdict), walked newest-first per window; only English-language reviews are analyzed
- Sample
- 444 English reviews, time-proportional draw over 18 windows (newest-first within each), taken from an all-language walk and kept English-only — where English is a minority the sample runs smaller than the draw, and every margin of error is computed at 444
- Aspect yield
- 266 of 444 analyzed reviews carry at least one aspect (59.9%); every share on this page divides by all 444
- Interval regime
- calm: standard margins of error for a share of a sample (Wilson interval), no widening needed
- Fetch paths
- 18 time windows fetched directly (windowed)
- Language mix
- 1,000 fetched: english 446 · schinese 285 · russian 49 · 17 more
- Steam-marked windows
- none flagged by Steam (Valve's off-topic flagging began March 2019)
- Marked share
- 0.0% of sample inside marked windows, under the 2% floor
- Narrative
- passed the grounding gate first try
- Evidence floor
- aspects and emergent themes appear only with 5+ supporting reviews; smaller counts sit at the classifier's false-positive floor
- Instrument readings
- measured once on the study corpus for this model and prompt: frozen calibration, not properties of this run
- · aspect tagging vs. human labels
- 0.766 [0.713–0.811] (F1 against a human-labeled test set; 1.0 is best)
- · quotes filed under the wrong aspect
- 11.6% [6.6–19.6] of quotes, measured by hand on a sample; lower is better
- · independent model vs. production labels
- 0.791 [0.772–0.810] (F1 of the production labeler against an independent judge model)
- Versions
- deepseek-v4-flash · prompt classify-v1 · ontology v2
- Run
- serve-20260819T225715Z-cbf5abce · code ccaa6a4
full methodology in the milestone write-ups