This Vampire Crawlers review examines a brave attempt to turn everyone’s favourite bullet heaven monster masher into a deckbuilder. It is an attempt that keeps threatening to actually work, though it often feels more like crawling through an actual dungeon than playing a game.

For those uninitiated, Vampire Survivors is the popcorn chicken of 2D action games, where you wander a map auto-attacking while monsters bombard you. Vampire Crawlers attempts to squash that formula into a entirely turn-based deckbuilder. While the dopamine hit of leveling up remains intact, the execution is hit-or-miss.

Quick Game Info

  • Release Date: April 21, 2026
  • Developer/Publisher: Poncle, Nosebleed Interactive
  • Platforms: ASUS ROG Ally, Steam Deck
  • Genre: Roguelike Deckbuilder

The Mechanics of a Turn-Based Monster Masher

The gameplay loop begins with simple, satisfying combat. You might approach a swarm of killer bats, draw a hand of three cards, and watch them die instantly as blue XP gems pour from their corpses. This brings that familiar sense of progression found in the original Vulnerable Survivors formula.

A key feature is the combo mechanic. Every card has a mana cost, and you have three mana to spend each turn. Whenever you play a card, the next higher number gets a boost if played immediately after. For example, playing a zero-mana whip card allows a one-mana fire wand to hit much harder.

Why this Vampire Crawlers review finds the difficulty broken

While comboing is a winning strategy, it is often the only logical one. If you draw cards costing 1, 2, and 3 mana, there is no reason to play them in any order but 1-2-3. There is no punishment for doing so, nor any superior reward for trying something else. This creates a dull loop where the "correct" hand is almost always obvious.

The difficulty curve is also quite messy. After a few generous card drops, standard enemies become no threat whatsoever. However, when you finally encounter a boss with actual teeth, you may hit a brick wall that requires specific permanent upgrades from the village hub, such as:

  • Health restoration
  • Extra mana
  • Bonus XP

Progress can feel cynically gated by these expensive upgrades. While Vampire Survivors used similar mechanics, replaying levels there was still fun; in Crawlers, the loop can feel like a chore. A successful run takes roughly forty minutes, which is a large chunk of time to spend feeling bored.

Searching for Strategy and Synergy

There is deeper strategy found in choosing which cards to add to your deck, which gems to slot into them, and how to expand card slots. This becomes compelling later in the game, but it is hard to feel the impact when early levels are a total pushover.

The dungeon exploration also lacks tension because each floor has a mini-map that reveals everything—boss locations, treasure chests, and all standard enemies. It feels more like administrative work than exploring a deadly dungeon.

Eventually, after about eighteen hours of play, I unlocked enough upgrades to see the game at its best. Larger hands offered more tactical decisions and complex synergies. However, until you reach those deeper layers, this Vampire Crawlers review concludes that the game is broken—just not often enough in a fun way.