Today is a big day for our game as we are finally fulfilling half the game title: there are still no Vampires but at least there are SurvivorS now. We are adding a local co-op mode today!
Make sure to restart Steam to force the update on the main game and DLC packs!
Vampire Survivors is also launching on Nintendo Switch today and the Steam version is fully moving to a new engine!
ːvsgarlicː
Local co-op update out now!
You can play the whole of VS (including DLC packs) in 4 player local co-op now!
All you need is one controller per player and you can add up to 3 extra people on the character select screen and continue to play through your missions, hunt achievements etc. with your friends.
The biggest changes to playing VS in local co-op are, well... other people. In addition to the usual chaos of human interactions, there are also different options so you can customise your co-op games such as coloured outlines for your character and indicators, and we added some small multiplayer specific mechanics like The Friendship Amulet.
A question we get a lot is if there is online multiplayer coming too (yes, we're looking into online co-op too, but that is such a massive undertaking that we cannot make any promises at this time. Local co-op is a first step). For now we recommend using unofficial solutions like Steam Remote Play that let you play online with friends with Steam right away. As a completely remote team (we don’t live in a big castle together), we’ve found these are mostly reliable but do have some flaws, so make sure to head over to the FAQ for tips and smaller known issues that are out of our hands to fix.
We hope you will enjoy the co-op mode with your friends, foes, and any undead demons you may have summoned. And big thanks for making this possible, we would have never thought two years ago that we would make co-op happen and it’s all thanks to your support!
PS: You can find more answers to the most frequent co-op questions in our FAQ here.
ːvsgarlicː
Out now on Nintendo Switch
Mamma mia! Vampire Survivors is also out on Nintendo Switch today! 4 player co-op and all updates are included. Same price as the Steam version, no surprises or hidden taxes! (actually there's a 10% launch discount)
A lot of people have been asking for cross-save, and the Nintendo Switch port will most likely increase demand even more. We're working on it: we have already run successful tests in moving saves between PC, mobile, and consoles, while also adding cloud save slots! We'll keep you updated, but save data is a very delicate thing, so this will really need a lot of testing and an adequate amount of time in the oven to be released in a safe, fully working state. Thanks for being patient!
ːvsgarlicː
Full switch to new engine
As we have announced in the last update, Vampire Survivors on Steam is fully switching to its new engine today. The original and new engine have been running in parallel for a while and we are at a point now where there should be only very subtle differences left, so it’s time to make the switch so that we can focus on adding features that wouldn't have been achievable on the old engine.
If there are major differences or even something small but that's really annoying you in the new engine, please let us know on the forums or on Discord: last year we have discarded a fully working, first version of the new engine and started this one just to stay accurate to the original gameplay, so we're not afraid to tackle a few leftover differences :)
You can find the massive changelog for v1.6 here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1794680/view/3678929839479077754
And have a quick look at a comparison in performance on Steam Deck here: https://youtu.be/z7HCGKzwRjs
ːvsgarlicː
Can I still play on the old engine?
The old engine will not be updated anymore, but it will be kept on a private beta branch for anyone who wants to stay on it. To access the private branch, use the password: PhaserVersion2023 We wanted to keep both versions running in parallel and provide a launcher, but the overhead is just not manageable. It's just smarter to focus our efforts on a single version of the game, even because certain features, like co-op or the future cross-save options, would just be a massive time sink to implement on the old engine and I'd rather put that time and energy on new content instead.
ːpoemgː
What's next
Thanks to the new engine being the new standard, we can finally work on large features that were very difficult, or borderline impossible, to develop on the old one.
There's a lot happening behind the scenes, but we'll start with a large feature that has been taking shape since December 2022 and that will add a lot of gameplay options and possibilities. I won't spoil anything as it's difficult to summarize it quickly, we'll properly announce and explain this new feature over the upcoming weeks. For now, I'll just share a mysterious screenshot:
While the screenshot depicts something from the Legacy of the Moonspell DLC just because it looks cool, please note that this new core feature is for everyone and it goes well beyond showing a different main menu background (btw the amazing artwork is from Matt Frith - it's also animated!). It will be released in a free patch, together with a bit of new content
As you've surely noticed, we're not able anymore to release content at a fast pace, since the game is not anymore a single little .exe I can upload on Steam on my own. Between the DLCs and all the different platforms we're now on, doing a release involves testing, building, and uploading about 21 different things, and going through 4 different certification processes. Something as simple as someone from a certification team not liking the translation of a single word, in a single language, could block any release by days.
Sure, we could release on different platforms at different times, but we know how frustrating it is to wait for patches to reach your platform of choice while everyone else is playing new content, so we'd rather try to keep doing global releases on the same days. To address this long-winded process, we're doing some heavy work behind the scenes to allow us to go back to, ideally, releasing content patches every month, so at a similar pace we had during early access. This will take quite some time, in the meantime we'll keep doing our best to deliver updates!
Thank you all once again! - what you liked from this update, was from Luca, and what you didn't, was from the marketing team ːvsskullː
Oh, wait, there's more! ːdireyesː Did you see any of the "Directer's Cut" footage online? That's something we've been doing in most events (since TGS 2022): hiding some of the future content for the game in plain sight, but this time it blew up online! While the actual menu screen might never appear in game, all the new content shown in that version is scheduled to be fully developed and released in future free updates. So here's a sneak peak of a handful among the dozens of characters and weapons that are getting developed for 2023 and beyond: https://youtu.be/M8GSUPBrhU8
v1.6.0 patch notes
- Deprecated old engine, it won't be updated anymore. All main branches are now on the new engine. The old engine is only available on a private beta branch accessible using the password PhaserVersion. It will not be updated anymore.
v1.6 New Features:
Added local co-op mode!
Added "Disable Blood" option.
Added "Pixel Font" option.
Added "Border Type" option.
Added Twitch integration (Steam only).
Local Co-op Features:
Added Friendship Amulet.
Added extra options for co-op:
-Player colour selection.
-Player outlines toggle.
-Player indicators toggle.
-UI Selection tint toggle.
-Controller/Keyboard assignment toggle.
-Sequential chest mode toggle.
Added support for Steam Remote Play Together.
Bug fixes, improvements, corrections:
Before showing the gargantuan list, I'd just like to say a huge thank you to all the players who have helped reporting difference between the old and new engine, our own littla QA team who spent countless hours for testing everything across more than a dozen of platform and devices, and our developers who didn't shy to go through the 7 layers of hell to make all the changes 🙏
Fixed Crimson Shroud explosions not counting as rataliatory damage.
Fixed Coin sound being more high-pitched during gold fever vs the original engine.
Fixed Santa Water hit box position.
Fixed an issue where La Borra and Ophion would not despawn properly when off screen.
Fixed an issue where Super Turbo Candybox II could be shown in a chest multiple times.
Fixed an issue where the game would freeze at the end of the Directer fight in some situations.
Fixed Random Events showing in "special Cappella Magna" & "Eudaimonia M.".
Fixed a spawn position issue with the Drowner in Boss Rash stage.
Fixed issue with golden eggs being incorrectly applied in the Astral Stair stage.
Fixed an issue where projectiles supporting Heart of Fire Arcana were triggering retaliation explosions instead of weapon explosions.
Updated translations with new text entries, options etc.
Added extra error handling to DLC loading.
Fixed an issue with the save conflict popup not displaying correctly on certain devices.
Fixed an issue where timestamps were not displayed in local time for save conflicts.
Fixed total egg count not updating when buying from the merchant or picking up Golden Eggs which caused Egg Man to not show up.
Fixed evolution highlights not covering the entire item in the Grimoire.
Improvements to caching and performance of options menu.
Fixed issue with Trickster appearing in non-inverted library.
Removed Stained Window from weapon summary list.
Multiple navigation arrows fixes across the UI.
Fixed a crash that could happen when the Gorgeous Moon weapon was removed.
Fixed issue with sprite generation which resulted in higher vertex counts causing gradient tinting to not work.
Enabled missing gradient tint and corrected depth sorting of Mirage projectiles.
Fixed issue where the username was not visible on the main menu.
Fixed issue with equipment panel spacing.
Fixed pause button alpha not matching original engine.
Fixed potential crash related to equipment panel.
Fixed issue with Gem physics offsets.
Fixed item found particles spinning too quickly on high refresh rate monitors.
Fixed Metaglio merging not showing in equipment panel.
General improvements to formatting and alignment of items in the equipment panel.
Fixed sprite sizing across all panels.
Optimised tilemap loading.
Fix for UI popups being on the wrong layer in some situations.
Fixed avatar infernas weapon not showing in secrets page.
Fixed a sorting order issue for cursors and their icons.
Updated how toastie is spawned to closer match original engine, and to ensure it is hidden when leaving gameplay.
Added switching of Syuuto's song during weapon evolution.
Removed "RELEASE" from version number on main menu.
Fixed Gallo Tower fog positioning to cover transparent borders in landscape.
Fixed tiling backgrounds starting offset.
Updated the default pitch of all SFX to better match the source.
Fixed scroll bar speed across multiple UI pages.
Updated incorrect Silent Sanctuary Arcana icon.
Fixed crash on boot up with iOS platform under certain situations.
Updated Level Up to fill out extra items when less than 3 are available and you are less than level 3.
Fixed crash when certain trisection events triggered for a second time in the same run.
Fixed resistances not showing properly in the bestiary.
Fixed Orochimaro's neck graphic being displayed upside down.
Fixed an issue where the weapon store may have no weapons left, only passives, and not grant you anything.
Fixed Drowner water edges being visible when using transparent borders in gameplay.
Fixed hidden weapons not being checked when activating some arcanas.
Fixed an issue with Astral Stair spinning portraits moving too slowly.
Updated collider on the boss mummy enemies.
Fix for Tides of the Foscari evolutions not showing in the Grimoire by default prior to seeing/unlocking.
Updated the spawn location of the Academy Badge to spawn on land in Lake Foscari.
Fixed an issue where the Drowner is not dismissed in some scenarios.
Tweak to enemy rotation to closer match the original engine.
Fix for enemy wiggle not being processed accurately.
Updated pixelated font rendering to improve clarity and performance.
Fixed pivot points of enemies.
Reduced weight of fallback font to bring other languages in-line with thickness of EN.
Fixed some missing translations in Character Selection.
Fixed a soft-lock when fighting Jen-Ne-Viv boss.
Fixed missing translation for grimoire title.
Added translations to trisection events.
Fixed visual issue with Eleanor sprite position after Je-Ne-Viv boss transition.
Fixed equipment stats moving down the screen randomly when opening certain UI pages.
Fixed an issue with the 16:10 aspect masking during gameplay.
Fixed an issue where the default language was always forcefully applied.
Added missing Victory Sword check to Stalker and Drowner enemies.
Optimised in-game stats panel.
Fixes to back buttons to resolve various navigation issues.
Fixed retaliation issue with Eskizzibur.
Fixed the Drowner enemy in Boss Rash not spawning at the correct location.
Clamped the players movement speed between min and max integer values to stop the game crashing under extreme speeds.
Fixed issue with trisection event text overlapping gold fever.
Improved the way that out of bounds pickups move towards players.
Added option to disable moving background in Astral Stair.
Fixed an issue where pickups were being despawned too quickly, meaning maps always showed them.
Fixed an error when showing weapon evolutions for players who are maxed out.
Fixed error where Cold Explosions were triggering on already dead targets.
Fixed the usage of various incorrect sprites throughout the game.
Updated the list of Red and Blue weapons.
Fixed Ophion not despawning correctly which sometimes caused a crash.
Fixed Drowner movement speeds and positioning (in particular when in Hyper mode)
Fixed a situation where invalid stage data could cause a crash.
Updated DLC Store button location on mobile.
Fixed an issue where Sole Solution was not pausing.
Fixed an issue where particle reformatting could cause a crash on the Level Up screen.
Fixed various enemy spawning differences to better match the original engine.
Fixed an issue with tiled enemy spawns not matching the original engine.
Corrected gameplay zoom level to better match the original engine.
Fixed a bug with the Delete Save Data option not appearing anymore.
Added missing SFX for Summon Night and Echo Night
Added missing SFX for Candybox opening
Updated credits.
Fix for revives triggering twice.
Fixes for particle effect sizes and duration on Level Up and Arcana.
Various small fixes for VFX at different aspect ratios.
Pentagram flash now obeys Flashing VFX in the options.
UI Pages can now be scrolled quickly using shoulder buttons on controllers.
Fixed page up down in pages with non uniformly sized elements (e.g. options page), also fixed page up down not working at all in the ingame options page
Fix for linux launch issues and missing steam overlay
Fixed lingering images on screen sides after completing the yellow sign collection animation
Improvements to Arcana selection navigation.
Optimised Thunder Loop Projectile to reduce hitch after evolving.
Fixed Gorgeous Moon display colors and alpha.
Fix scroll snapping when using mouse on a tickbox after having scrolled
Fix for secrets page using incorrect character texture (DLC only) for unlocks popup.
Updated config for Rosary SFX.
Fixed audio issue with vacuum.
Fix for pickup vacuum behaviour differences.
Fixing DLC enemies appearing in credits if you don't own DLC.
Fixes for Luminaire's VFX.
Fix for walking characters hiding too early during preloader.
Fixed an issue with CherryStarsWeapon/Projectile not despawning its sprites and effects properly.
Fixed an issue where the bone giant weapon was not being removed properly during special events.
Weapon Selection: Header size adjustment.
Stage Select: Tweaked font size/alignment.
Game Over:
Updated button animations.
Updated text animations.
Updated revive animations.
Updated timings.
Improvements to pixelation effect on Game over.
Level Up:
Updated buttons, VFX and hierarchy.
Fixed item icon sizing.
Final Fireworks:
Ray scale tweaks.
Great Jubilee weapon reveal is now above the fireworks.
Updated positions, tweens and material of the rays.
Now only updating fireworks once per trigger.
Item Found:
Particles are now bigger and have a longer duration.
Fixed item icon sizing.
Merchant/Shop:
Corrected button alignment.
Fixed item icon sizing.
Fixed a layering issue with the scrollbar
Stage Complete:
Updated button animations.
Updated text animations.
Updated revive animations.
Updated timings.
Character Found:
Button position tweaks.
Ray scale tweaks.
Fixes for tweens on exiting the panel.
Various improvements to panel closing animation.
Now only updating fireworks once per trigger.
Updated positions, tweens and material of the rays.
Improvements to burst effect timing.
Starts off dark by default.
Fixes for particles and spinning.
Arcana Selection:
Validated sizes of both arcana card selections.
Card selection size adjustment.
Arcana panel (on right) is now correct size.
Info panel text sizing and alignment improved.
Fixed card corner sizes.
Fixes for skip button corners.
Fixes for card selection corners.
Various timing changes and improvements.
Updated particles size and density.
Get and Random buttons now have thicker borders.
Unlocked count now displayed at the top.
Pause Menu:
Arcana panels were the wrong size.
Fixed scroll view in game options.
Bestiary:
Fixes to colour and transparency of divider.
Improvements to list alignment.
Navigation fixes.
Fixes to text formatting.
Fix for scroll when hovering.
Fix for content fitting issues.
Fixes for various special enemy entries.
Basic bestiary enemies now correctly match the enemy size.
Secrets:
Input button updated.
Particle size and masking updated.
Now scales the title out on click.
Added page divider line.
Unlocks Menu:
Fixed incorrect frames used for arcanas.
Coin prizes now display correctly.
Fixed broken language key on coin prizes.
Fixed incorrect panel icons for unlocks.
Corrected text sizing.
Fixed navigation.
Fix for scale of character rewards.
Unlock, description and icons updated.
Text available size and space updated to fix resizing.
PowerUps:
Aligned info panel text.
Fixed powerup level slot being on by default.
Fixes to item font size and color.
Character Select:
Fixed bug with scale of price.
Sizing updates.
Tweaked ront size/alignment.
Credits screen:
Fixed Conga line visibility.
Fixed navigation.
Collection:
Fix for collection item question mark size.
Updated info panel icon sizing.
Treasure Chests:
Reduced delay on lvl 1 chest done button.
Reduced delay on lvl 2 chest done button.
Adjusted treasure chest ribbon length.
Tweaked timings for treasure skips.
New skip animations.
New skip timings.
Updated intro blast speed.
Updated intro chest positioning.
Updated intro chest animation.
Fixed open button behaviour.
Adjusted curved ribbon in lvl 3 chests.
Adjusted far left and right reel sorting.
Made bubbles fade in instead of appearing.
Adjusted lvl 3 reel positions.
Adjusted stars behind weapon reveal.
Fixed the background circle shape, speed and alpha.
Tweaked open and done button sizes.
Separated arrows from open and done buttons.
Open button now rotates out correctly.
Adjusted fireworks sorting order.
Changed flash and ring sorting order to be over the reels.
Stopping background panel lighting up in lvl 1 chests.
Updated order of lvl 2 chest wining patern.
Moved fireworks behind chests.
Made coin countup scale in, not just appear.
Adjusted flash scale and position.
Adjusted position of lvl 2 reels and coin display.
Changed when coin particles stop in lvl 1 & 2 chests.
Adjusted ring scale amount.
Changed layer of coin value.
Updated anim to scale out the coin value.
The "done" button now rotates in instead of appearing.
Added delay to coin value pulsing.
Added delay to "done" button.
Changed position of coin value.
Changed timing to ring scaling down.
Updated info panel icon sizing.
Trading Cards out today, local co-op deep dive, engine switch and London event!
We are currently super busy finishing the co-op update (coming 17th August!) but we’ve got a whole bunch of smaller Vampire Survivors updates we wanted to share with you, including Steam Community Items (out today), more info about the local co-op mode (including the first gameplay video), and some info about fully switching to our new engine. Also, our first ever community event will be taking place in London next month, where attendees can try the co-op mode before launch. Let’s dive in!
Steam Community Items (Trading Cards etc) out today
While you wait for the co-op update we thought we would hit the “generate Steam Trading card and other Steam things” button in our game development software, so here they are!
From today you can finally unlock the following to bolster your Steam profile:
If you are not familiar with Steam Community Items, then you can read how to unlock them here.
Did you know that if you click on a Steam card in your inventory, you get to see the larger picture the snapshot comes from? Because of this, we had a lot of fun making the cards, so I hope you enjoy them too! (Spoiler: If you look really really closely you might spot a super subtle video game reference or two in them). Here's a sneak peak at one of the large cards:
(please note that due to some rules we had to remove the text from the official cards. Since the artists have spent quite some time on the text versions, we will be publishing them in the Artworks section on Steam in the following weeks)
We'll be looking into making new items in the future, like the animated point shop items, this is just the first step!
First local co-op mode gameplay video + new info
We are also getting a lot of questions about how the local co-op mode will work gameplay-wise, and that reminded us of the old saying “a first gameplay video is worth a thousand words”.
It should answer a lot of questions like how levelling up, moving as a group, destroying friendships etc works. The video shows a pretty advanced build of the new mode but we are still tweaking details and balancing it so what you see here is still work in progress. For example...
There will also be a new item in co-op mode that we haven’t shown before. It’s an ancient, almighty artefact called… The Friendship Amulet.
This item can appear on the level-up screen and will level-up a random active weapon for each player. Players will have to decide if they tactically (or selfishly) pick a level-up for a weapon of their choice or give the whole group a round of random level-up. (don't worry about the Friendship Amulet poking a hole in your Collection, it is shown in there from the beginning since it's more a game mechanic rather than an item you pick up)
We are also trying to pack as many options as possible by the next release to customise the co-op experience:
If you got feedback about the footage, of course let us know in the comments here. On that note: We’ve already heard a lot of players asking for an online mode, but that's an order of magnitude or two more complicated to make right now. Maybe we'll look into it when we have more time. Or maybe we are already?
Fully switching to new engine
As you may know, we have been running Vampire Survivors in parallel on its original engine Phaser and its new engine (that we needed for porting and better stability) for a while on Steam. Now that we are close to a point where the new engine is thoroughly tested and runs better than the old one, we will fully switch the game over to the new engine on 17th August.
On this note, big thanks to Phaser! I had a lot of fun building Vampire Survivors in it and can highly recommend it if you are interested in making wild games pretty fast!
Co-op hands-on event in London
We are hosting our first ever community event, in real life!
It’s a hands-on event where you can try out a preview of the local co-op mode with friends (if you don’t have friends then we can provide some in this case, it’s a much requested feature). The co-op event will be taking place in early August, London (UK). We’re hoping to get some player feedback on how people like the co-op mode in the wild.
So you can expect playing the co-op mode, free stuff, and surprising snacks. Tickets will be free but limited. We will announce more details on how to apply for tickets on our usual Discord, and then Twitter, Threads, TikTok, and any other social media platform that dies and arises in the meantime.
Thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed both the artworks of the marketing team and mine! - Luca
Trading Cards out today, co-op deep dive, engine switch and London event!
We are currently super busy finishing the co-op update (coming 17th August!) but we’ve got a whole bunch of smaller Vampire Survivors updates we wanted to share with you, including Steam Community Items (out today), more info about the local co-op mode (including the first gameplay video), and some info about fully switching to our new engine. Also, our first ever community event will be taking place in London next month, where attendees can try the co-op mode before launch. Let’s dive in!
Steam Community Items (Trading Cards etc) out today
While you wait for the co-op update we thought we would hit the “generate Steam Trading card and other Steam things” button in our game development software, so here they are!
From today you can finally unlock the following to bolster your Steam profile:
If you are not familiar with Steam Community Items, then you can read how to unlock them here.
Did you know that if you click on a Steam card in your inventory, you get to see the larger picture the snapshot comes from? Because of this, we had a lot of fun making the cards, so I hope you enjoy them too! (Spoiler: If you look really really closely you might spot a super subtle video game reference or two in them). Here's a sneak peak at one of the large cards:
(please note that due to some rules we had to remove the text from the official cards. Since the artists have spent quite some time on the text versions, we will be publishing them in the Artworks section on Steam in the following weeks)
We'll be looking into making new items in the future, like the animated point shop items, this is just the first step!
First co-op mode gameplay video + new info
We are also getting a lot of questions about how the local co-op mode will work gameplay-wise, and that reminded us of the old saying “a first gameplay video is worth a thousand words”.
It should answer a lot of questions like how levelling up, moving as a group, destroying friendships etc works. The video shows a pretty advanced build of the new mode but we are still tweaking details and balancing it so what you see here is still work in progress. For example...
There will also be a new item in co-op mode that we haven’t shown before. It’s an ancient, almighty artefact called… The Friendship Amulet.
This item can appear on the level-up screen and will level-up a random active weapon for each player. Players will have to decide if they tactically (or selfishly) pick a level-up for a weapon of their choice or give the whole group a round of random level-up. (don't worry about the Friendship Amulet poking a hole in your Collection, it is shown in there from the beginningin since it's more a game mechanic rather than an item you pick up)
We are also trying to pack as many options as possible by the next release to customise the co-op experience:
If you got feedback about the footage, of course let us know in the comments here. On that note: We’ve already heard a lot of players asking for an online mode, but that's an order of magnitude or two more complicated to make right now. Maybe we'll look into it when we have more time. Or maybe we are already?
Fully switching to new engine
As you may know, we have been running Vampire Survivors in parallel on its original engine Phaser and its new engine (that we needed for porting and better stability) for a while on Steam. Now that we are close to a point where the new engine is thoroughly tested and runs better than the old one, we will fully switch the game over to the new engine on 17th August.
On this note, big thanks to Phaser! I had a lot of fun building Vampire Survivors in it and can highly recommend it if you are interested in making wild games pretty fast!
Co-op hands-on event in London
We are hosting our first ever community event, in real life!
It’s a hands-on event where you can try out a preview of the local co-op mode with friends (if you don’t have friends then we can provide some in this case, it’s a much requested feature). The co-op event will be taking place in early August, London (UK). We’re hoping to get some player feedback on how people like the co-op mode in the wild.
So you can expect playing the co-op mode, free stuff, and surprising snacks. Tickets will be free but limited. We will announce more details on how to apply for tickets on our usual Discord, and then Twitter, Threads, TikTok, and any other social media platform that dies and arises in the meantime.
Thanks for reading and I hope you've enjoyed both the artworks of the marketing team and mine! - Luca
Couch co-op mode is coming!
Today is a very special day in Vampire Survivors’ history, as we can finally confirm that one of the most requested community features is coming to the game: We are adding Vampires! Just kidding.
But we are adding a couch co-op mode for up to 4 players!
Couch co-op
The couch co-op mode will be released on August 17 with a free update that will let you play the whole game, including all updates and DLCs, with friends (or foes). In couch co-op mode, you can either continue your current game or start a new adventure. It will also be possible to seamlessly switch between single and co-op play between stages, unlock achievements, etc. In short: you will be able to play the whole game in local co-op! And yes, this will also work on Steam Deck if you sit together close enough (or connect it to a TV).
We hope you will enjoy the co-op mode as much as we did when playtesting and making it. It already tested multiple friendships in the poncle team – your friendships could be next. <3
Vampire Survivors is coming to Nintendo Switch!
After searching for many months, we finally found the "port to Nintendo Switch" button in our game engine! We'll press it on August 17, not a day sooner.
For everyone who wants to know more details about how the co-op mode will work, we’ve also got some more info below. Since we will be on so many platforms, we have also started a newsletter where we will be sharing further announcements and info about the co-op mode in the next weeks, so if you want to receive them you can sign-up here.
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Couch Co-op mode FAQ
Why are you adding couch co-op to Vampire Survivors? Because it’s fun (we hope!) and couch co-op is one of the most requested community features.
How much does the couch co-op update cost? Nothing. The co-op update will be completely free.
When does the couch co-op update launch? August 17, 2023.
How does the couch co-op update change the gameplay? While we can’t go into too many details here, we can already say that the gameplay stays largely the same (more chaos aside), though adding more players changes a few gameplay systems of course. For example, you will share the “level up” bar with the experience points with your friends and level up in turns, all players will always be visible on the same screen (so no splitscreen) and there will also be a few ways to sabotage each other: just, you know, pick Gatti Amari.
Can multiple people play on one keyboard on PC? Unfortunately we hit some technical limitations, so for now you will need one controller input device (keyboard, controller etc.) per player.
With how many people can I play Vampire Survivors once the couch co-op update hits? Up to 4 players in total in local couch co-op. Be the bullet hell with your besties! Or on your own by using 4 controllers at once! (jk please don't do that to yourself 🙏)
Can I also play co-op online? Not officially! When the co-op update lands, it will allow local couch co-op for up to 4 players but does not support online play. That being said, there are online gaming solutions like Steam Remote Play Together that work with every game, so you will be able to play online with those workarounds of course.
Is there only a couch co-op mode or can I also play against my friends? There's no versus mode, but we're sure some of you will find a way or two to test how good your friendships are in the co-op.
Will there be specific couch co-op multiplayer levels? Nope! We designed the co-op mode in a way that you can play through all of Vampire Survivors with friends, but there won’t be co-op specific levels.
Will there be couch co-op focused achievements? Also nope! We don’t want anyone to feel like they HAVE to play co-op to unlock and see everything in the game. You will be able to play the whole of Vampire Survivors with friends, foes or your favourite creatures of the night but it’s fully optional.
Can I also play the DLCs in couch co-op? Of course! As long as you own a DLC you will be able to play it in local co-op.
Do I need to start from the beginning to play the couch co-op? You can seamlessly switch between co-op and single player before every run. No need to start a new game, and all the unlocks you get during a co-op play session will carry over to your singleplayer save.
Can I select the same character as my friends? We all want to play as Poe! Multiple Poes would tip the balance of the universe, so for now every character can only be selected by one player per run.
Will there be future single-player updates for the game? Yes! We will continue to support the game with free updates and paid DLCs, but moving forward you will be able to play everything solo (as usual) or in co-op if you prefer.
Beta when? If you're on the new-engine branch, you'll be able to test couch co-op some time before the official release, but we don't have a specific date for that yet.
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MORE Co-op FAQs!
Local co-op also on MOBILE? Yes, if you connect bluetooth controllers to your mobile device you can play together, but in landscape only. Good luck! 👓
Does the update include friends and a couch? No, as unfortunately we're unable to provide physical goods and people... Or are we?
Patch 1.5.0
You might have seen that we announced the new patch v1.5 in the PC Gaming Show yesterday (SURPRISE!) and it's out now (not a surprise but hope you will enjoy it)!
Expect overwhelming chaos in the beginning – even more than usual! The new patch comes with the new Astral Stair level, featuring flying paintings, the new GoldFinger pick-up (destroy a lot of enemies fast and win prizes!), a gameshow-like spinning wheel that triggers random events, half-a new character, a new game mode, relics, achievements and more.
Here is a short overview of the patch content and below you can find the ‘Full Spoiler’ section if you want to see everything that is in v1.5.
v1.5 Contains:
- 6 new achievements (2 from the DLCs) - 1 new challenge stage - 3 new relics to get a new game mode, a new character transformation, and a map - 1 new pickup that triggers a short special event
Quick content walkthrough:
- Reach Level 80 in Inverse Inlaid Library to unlock Astral Stair - In Astral Stair, find the Chaos Rosalia to unlock the morph ability for Yatta Cavallo - In Astral Stair, find the Trisection to unlock the Random Events option in Stage Selection - Find the Map of Astral Stair, Mt.Moonspell (DLC), and Lake Foscari (DLC) in the respective stages
Full spoilers:
Stage: Astral Stair Has an intro cutscene (auto-skipped after all relics in the stage have been obtained). Initially, it looks like the usual infinitely repeating stages, but it's actually a single giant map. It's confusing to navigate until you discover it actually has a very simple layout. Players can use teleporters to move through different rooms. Has enemies that follow the beat of the music and turn either red or blue. They can be damaged only by weapons of the same colour they're currently "wearing". Has special boss enemies, Cosmic Eggs, which can cast the same Infinite Corridor ability the player can normally obtain. It halves the player's health at every cast, making it potentially dangerous even to characters with crazy bonuses.
Relic: Map of Astral Stair Surprisingly, this is a map of Astral Stair.
Relic: Trisection Unlocks a new game mode called ‘Randomize Minute Events’. In this mode, there are spinning wheels that can be seen in the bottom right corner of the screen. They triggers special events every minute; whether they’re good or bad depends on the character's Luck stat. Good luck!
This option is always enabled by default in the new stage Astral Stair (until you pick up the Trisection relic), but with the relic you can have the mode switched on or off for every stage.
Please note: This mode is not compatible with the PC Twitch mode (since it's doing the same thing as the Twitch mode, without needing a chat).
Relic: Chaos Rosalia Allows the character Yatta Cavallo to morph when reaching Level 80. It gets a few minor stats boost and evolves its Cherry Bomb weapon into Yatta Daikarin.
The weapon evolution still throws bombs, but also draws "constellations" around the character that explode, dealing luck-based damage.
Pickup: GoldFinger A new pickup that triggers a special event in which the character becomes invincible and more powerful for a set amount of time. During this time, a counter is displayed to show how many enemies are getting defeated in the invincibility period. When the invincibility ends, the player is given a score and a prize.
Current tresholds and prizes: Bronze: 0 Silver: 500 + Player Level Gold: 1000 + Player Level x2 Demon: 1500 + Player Level x3 Cosmic: 2500 + Player Level x4
Bronze: healing + bouncy weapon if the players has less than 6 total items Silver: coins + healing + Little Clover + random pickup between Gilded Clover, NFT, or Rosary. Gold: coins + floor chicken + treasure chest (no evo) Demon: coins + treasure chest (with evos) Cosmic: coins + treasure chest (with evos) + random weapon
Possible Cosmic Finger weapons: Greatest Jubilee, Torrona's Box, or Victory Sword, + Candybox if the player has less than 6 weapons + "anima weapon" (???) if the player has less than 7 weapons and doesn't already have an anima weapon
After finding the Trisection, the GoldFinger has a very slim chance to be dropped in most stages.
new engine tweaks and fixes: - doubled projectile pool limit - La Borra projectiles getting stuck - music volume resetting after getting changed
1.4.200 - Bugfixes & tweaks
New Patch Content
[DLC] New relics: Map of Mt.Moonspell and Map of Lake Foscari Found in the respective DLC stages, they let you see a detailed map in the pause menu.
Option to Seal the Chaos Malachite relic Prevents Mortaccio from morphing when he reaches LV80
Option to easily reset Save Data It’s now easier to reset your Save Data but it is strongly recommended to backup your Save Data before resetting.
- Delete save data in main game: go to Options, press CTRL+F2, seven times in a row - Delete save data in new-engine: go to Options, tap the Account icon seven times, then click Delete Save and confirm through all the pop-ups
To find out how to backup your save game, please follow the guide here.
List of bugfixes are at the end of the post!
As mentioned in the latest news post, we are also working on a slightly bigger v1.5 patch and will have updates on that for you soon. We're aiming for mid-June.
Video from soundtrack orchestra recording
As many of you who have been following Vampire Survivors from the beginning know, the soundtrack has always been a super important part of the game (yes, even more important than the story 😜 ). During Early Access I would often receive a track from our main composers and musicians, Daniele and Filippo, and use it to get myself in the right mindset while building new parts of VS. The game wouldn’t be what it is today without its music.
That's why it's especially cool that we could work with a full, fancy, proper orchestra to record the soundtrack for Tides of the Foscari. Today, we released a video from the recording, and we hope you enjoy it!
If an orchestra is not your style, the infamous kazoo tracks are available in the OST on Steam and on our Youtube channel! We're working to put everything on Spotify and streaming services in general, unfortunately it's taking forever as we're still juggling a thousand different things.
The orchestra recording is by the Budapest Scoring Orchestra (they also worked on films like Parasite and Get Out and games like Injustice 2). The recordings took place over six hours of recording sessions with a total of 76 musicians, and the largest session involved a 56-piece orchestra. It was honestly pretty moving and impressive to see melodies from our little game performed like that. A huge thanks to all of you for allowing us to go nuts by hiring an orchestra, but also allow us to indulge in having some fun with some silly kazoo tracks at the same time!
We have also been asked a few times if there is a way to get the soundtrack for the DLCs, and yes, there is: we actually expand the "Vampire Survivors soundtrack" on Steam every time we add new music tracks to the game for free. So, if you own the soundtrack, you should always have all the new tracks too.
That's all from us today. Now everyone can get back to playing Zelda! -Luca
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You can find the artists here: Daniele Zandara (Composer) Stefano Sacchi (Orchestrator & Conductor) Camilla D'Onofrio (Solo Violin)
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main game tweaks:
fixed Song of Mana disappearing when entering the mirror in Gallo Tower.
fixed picked up golden eggs not disappearing from the map screen sometimes
fixed Abyss Foscari wall position when setting visually inverted option to false
tentative fix for white screen on starting up the game (switching to the new-engine branch is recommended to avoid this issue altogether, it's one of the many reasons we're moving to the new engine)
new-engine tweaks:
the branch is now public and easily accessible from the list of Betas in the Steam client
Fix for Ophion and Prismatic Missile not working as expected
Fix for weapons not properly affected by Arcanas: Tri-Bracelet, Valkyrie Turner, Luminaire
Fix for Silver Wind not giving hearts
Fix for camera issues during events
Fix for level up evo indicators not showing on passives for DLC weapons
Fix for Abyss Foscari wall position when setting visually inverted option to false
Fix for bestiary missing entries in the total count display in some scenarios
Fix for issue where pick-up weapons could not be leveled up
Fix for incorrect projectile pool limits
Improvements to DLC loading and memory management (mostly affects mobile version)
Text, localisation, and number formatting fixes
Other minor bugfixes and improvements
Plans for next patch + Vampire Survivors animated show coming!
Small patch coming in May
Now that the second DLC Tides of the Foscari is out (big thanks to everyone who played it and gave us feedback!), we wanted to give an update on what free patches and updates we are working on and some other news!
The first part is that we are working on a smaller patch that should launch in May (will have smaller additions and fixes, like a more detailed map for DLC stages) and we are also working on our next bigger patch, v1.5, which will be similar in size to the Bat Country update (new stage, relics etc.). While we don’t have a firm date for this v1.5 patch yet, we are aiming for sometime this summer to give the team a bit more time after the busy DLC launch period. As always, we will try something a bit different with this patch!
Animated show coming!
The other Vampire Survivors news we wanted to share is that we are working on an animated series! If you had told me this a year ago, I wouldn't have believed you. I still don't believe you, but it's actually happening.
Because we're a small company and barely have any idea about how to make games, not to mention TV shows, we are partnering up with a company called Story Kitchen (their team includes Derek Kolstad, who is the writer/creator of John Wick, and Dmitri M. Johnson, who produced the Sonic films) to make the Vampire Survivors show.
As we all know, the most important thing in Vampire Survivors has always been the story, so we are very excited for this and we hope you are too! It’s still early days for the show, but I can already say that we will be involved so that we can ensure it doesn’t have any vampires (probably) and they will only cast the finest garlic (will work with the world’s best garlic producers). Thanks to everyone who's been asking for this since the Moonspell trailer: sometimes bombarding the socials with requests actually works! :)
As always, thanks so much for playing Vampire Survivors and sticking with us! Luca
New DLC & Patch 1.4.0
New Patch Content
- 1 new batch for the Seal powerup, tied to an achievement - 4 new music tracks that I won't spoil, but are very likely what you've been asking for very recently!
Tweaks
- changed sound effect of the Night Sword - optional: new engine on beta branch
As anticipated previously, this patch is minuscule because we had to slow down more than expected on standard content due to all the changes required to bring the new engine on PC, but we have new content planned to release over the next few weeks of course! In the meantime, the new engine is now available in private beta for everyone who wants to try it early. We'll only fully swap over to it once we've ironed out all the differences with the base version of the game. You can read more about the new engine, and how to enter the beta, on the Discord or here: ( https://steamcommunity.com/app/1794680/discussions/3/5769714637082190371/ )
Tides of the Foscari DLC out today
Content: - 1 new large stage, with different enemies spawning in different zones - 8 new characters - 13 new weapons and evolutions - 7 new music tracks - 21 new achievements, but some are... weird? Please follow the in-game list of Unlocks to uncover them all
How to start the DLC? The new stage, Lake Foscari, will appear right away at the bottom of the Stage Selection menu. You'll see new entries in the Unlocks menu to guide you through the rest of the content. Can't see the new stage or weird stuff happens? Check on the main menu if the main game is at least on version 1.4.100. If not, quit the game and reboot Steam to trigger the download for the game update!
What if I want everything unlocked from the start? There are Secret Spells you can use to unlock content quickly 🤫
There is no DLC when I start the game Please make sure you're on game version 1.4, as older versions won't detect the content pack. Closing and reopening Steam to trigger an update should do the trick! Make sure the DLC is installed by right-clicking the game title, choosing Properties > DLC, and checking that it is active.
Will the main game keep receiving free updates and content? Yes, DLCs will always be purely extra content in terms of Stages, Monsters, Weapons, Characters etc. Items, Power-ups, game mechanics and more will continue to be added to the base game, so if you don't pick up the DLC you don't have to fear missing out. We'll keep having free updates like the Tiny Bridge and Bat Country ones for example.
Is there an evolution for Party Popper? No, it's supposed to be a joke weapon (I mean, more of a joke than the average weapon) for a joke character. Who knows what might happen in the future though...
Will the new music tracks be available in the Soundtrack? Yes! The OST will be updated in the following days with all the new tracks. Even *those* ones.
Does the DLC have achievements? Yes, I apologise to players who cares a lot about not losing their 100% achievement completion and I can say that we're working on something, but rather complicated and for the longer term, that should help with this issue among other things. In the meantime, Achievement completion will not be prioritised over what's always been in the nature of the game: achievements tied to unlocks.
Is the DLC available on other platforms? Yes, we're trying to launch around the same time on all platforms.
Why only $1.99? Just like for the first DLC, the community is as usual very kind and we still get a lot of this type of comments, some intended just as a compliment, some are actually serious. While I'm very grateful for the sentiment, just like for the main game, the DLC has a price that "feels right" to me and that reflects the production value of it.
We've been growing as a company and have been pushing where we can, for example with having an actual orchestra to perform some pieces for the Foscari soundtrack, but poncle needs more time (and still more key people!) to be able to provide a higher production value. For this DLC I once again had to fill gaps by using asset packs for example, so a low price, and frequent discounts, simply seem fair. We'll charge more for new stuff when we'll have something even better to offer, don't worry and thank you once again! 🙏
Is VS going to turn into a DLC fest? We don't know and that is an option: what we do in terms of business decisions depends a lot on player feedback and on what we'd like to see as players ourselves. Personally, being able to pay a small fee to get more straightforward content for a game I'm really into sounds great ( ages ago I literally had dreams about spending €5 to buy a disk that would add 1 more stage to Valkyrie Profile 👀 ). If DLCs are sustainable and are welcomed, why not make them? While this kind of stuff is often associated with unfair business practices, that is often a byproduct of having games designed around monetization systems. What we're doing goes the other way around: we make things, then use the monetization tool and price tag that seems most appropriate to distribute them. Sometimes we have to charge, sometimes we can do it even for free!
As announced some time back, we'll be done with VS for real only once I - or you - get tired of it.
Hope you have fun with the DLC, and if not, please send us some feedback, we don't have time to always reply but we read and assimilate everyting, thank you! - Luca
Vampire Survivors: Tides of the Foscari comes to Steam on April 13th
A never heard before tale of a warrior, a mage, and a thief venturing into a forest.
Tides of the Foscari will be the second DLC expansion for Vampire Survivors, introducing another huge stage as well as a slate of new characters, monsters and weapons to play with. And of course, secrets may be lurking in the shadowed canopies of the deep forest… But as always we can neither confirm nor deny the presence of vampires.
Nestled deep within a continent-sized forest is Foscari Academy, a school where the elite of the world train their children for careers as powerful wizards, indefatigable generals, and expert spies. The Academy is divided into three houses, a premise hitherto untouched in all of fantasy fiction. Three students, one from each house, brave the journey into a forest stuffed with mythological creatures, all to have a jolly adventure, with absolutely nothing interrupting the whimsy. This is all mind-blowingly original stuff, we know, but it only gets better folks.
Vampire Survivors: Tides of the Foscari will contain:
8 allegedly never seen before characters.
13 new weapons between base versions and evolutions. Including the sword, the arrow, and the magic 🤯
Price? Vampire Survivors: Tides of the Foscari will cost $1.99 / €1.99 / £1.59
When? April 13th on Steam and, if everything goes well, all other platforms.
Will the main game still receive free updates? Yes! The DLC will launch with a small patch that will also bump the version of the game to 1.4 This will be a very small patch that will simply add a new, in-game only unlock for a second batch of the Seal power up. We had to slow down more than expected on standard content patches due to all the changes required to bring the new engine on PC, but we have new content planned to release over the next few weeks of course! In the meantime, the new engine is now available in private beta, and we'll be able to swap completely over only until we've ironed out all the differences with the base version of the game. You can read more about the new engine, and also enter the beta, on the Discord or here: ( https://steamcommunity.com/app/1794680/discussions/3/5769714637082190371/ )
My 100% Save file... Sadly as with all of our DLC releases, Vampire Survivors: Tides of the Foscari will reduce your overall 100% completion again. We're still looking in to a way to stop this from happening on Steam, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. It's unlikely we'll find a solution soon, but we're working on something, rather complicated and for the longer term, that should sort out this issue among other things.
Only 1 stage? Yes, but just like for the Legacy of the Moonspell DLC, the stage is once again a huge one that offers different biomes to explore!
Will the music tracks from the DLC be added to the Soundtrack? Yes, all the new tracks will be added to the Soundtrack a few days after launch of the DLC.
A KAZOO? 😂 There won't be kazoos in the real soundtrack, we were just too close to April 1st to not be silly with the trailer :)
