Roguelite bullet hell hit Vampire Survivors remains one of the most popular and highest-rated indie games on Steam. Since its 2022 release, the game has expanded to additional platforms, solidifying its fanbase. And that fanbase was thrilled when developer Poncle announced a brand-new entry in the Vampire Survivors universe earlier this year. Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard entered a saturated deckbuilding game market when it released on April 21st. Yet fans are already loving it, and Poncle is here to confirm that more Vampire Survivors goodness is on the way.
Though Vampire Crawlers is the first new game in the Vampire Survivors universe since the original, Poncle has been hard at work supporting its breakout hit for years. Vampire Survivors still gets regular content updates, including collabs and crossovers with big names like Balatro and Castlevania. With a new game out in the world and hints already about a potential sequel, it’s clear Poncle won’t be slowing down any time soon. The devs recently confirmed they’ve got 15 projects in the works, including new content for Vampire Survivors.
Though Vampire Crawlers has only been out for about a day, it’s already making a solid showing on the Steam charts. The game is already approaching 30K concurrent players ahead of the weekend, which is quite solid for a new indie release. That’s especially true given that it’s a card battler entering a market full of card-battlers following the success of Balatro. And from the looks of it, many of those players are here to stay, as the game has already matched Vampire Survivors with its Overwhelmingly Positive Steam review average.
Along with the launch of a new game comes new interviews with the developers. And Poncle recently shared with The Game Business podcast that Vampire Survivors has passed 27 million players across platforms. Not only that, but Poncle is continuing to expand not only the Vampire Survivors universe, but its brand in general. Poncle’s Chief Strategy Officer, Matteo Sapio, told The Game Business that the team is working on 15 projects at the moment. Some outlets initially reported this as 15 games, but Poncle has clarified that “projects” include things like updates and DLC, not full games.
Even so, some new games from the Vampire Survivors creator are most certainly in the works. Poncle is reportedly focusing on additional Vampire Survivors spin-offs like Vampire Crawlers, new original IP, and new Survivor-style games looped into popular IP. This includes the already revealed Warhammer Survivors, a Survivor-style game set in the Warhammer universe, which is set to release sometime this year.
From the sounds of it, fans can expect more free updates and DLC for Vampire Survivors going forward, as well as more games that use a similar bullet hell mechanic developed in collaboration with Poncle. But building on the Vampire Survivors brand isn’t the only thing in Poncle’s future, and I, for one, look forward to hearing more about those fresh IPs they’re working on in the near future. For now, though, fans have a new Vampire Survivors twist on the dekcbuilder to check out.
Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard is available on PC via Steam, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch. It costs $9.99 and is also available on Xbox Game Pass as a Day One release.
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