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Vampire Survivors News

Vampire Survivors has added a final boss to the final stage

I've enjoyed the early access experience of Vampire Survivors, hopping back on every few weeks to check out a new update and do all the new stuff (and make all the new explosions). The roguelikelike survival arcade game has grown a lot, and fast, especially considering it started as a solo project. As it nears version 1.0, the latest big update has added a new final boss to the final level, a flashy battle.


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Patch 0.8.0

New Content




Contains 3 new achievements and:
- new version of Stage 5, let's mosey! Will revert to a simpler version once successfully completed
- final roadmap relic with a new game mechanic
- 1 new arcana


Extra (not present on the roadmap):
- 1 minor relic to view enemies data from the main menu (the list is largely incomplete and will be updated with more data and details as we get closer to v1.0). Can be found in Dairy Plant.

Tweaks:
- Updated some graphics
- Added a visual indicator of how many skins are available per character
- Added option to always pick Coin Bag or Floor Chicken when leveling up after maxing out all weapons (unlocks automatically after playing long enough)
- Added visual reminders for Banished items
- Obtained unlocks can be filtered out from the list
- Crimson Shroud's retaliation damage now heavily damages some special enemies

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Bugfixes:
- "Reach minute 31" arcanas not unlocking under certain situations
- Post-Moongolow stage crashing with certain characters
- Tentative fix for losing write access to save data folder
- Tentative fix for negative/overflowing coins


Content roadmap at v0.8.0

Patch 0.7.3

New Content




Contains 6 new achievements and:
- 1 new character
- 1 new weapon
- 2 new Arcanas

Extra (not present on the roadmap):
- 1 Minor relic to change character appearance (where applicable) and maximum active weapons per run (fill 100 slots in the COLLECTION page to unlock)
- 1 Minor relic to show discovered unions and evolutions during a run (found in Inlaid Library)

Tweaks:
- Improved stats of Vento Sacro's early levels
- Added extra area coverage to Fuwalafuwaloo
- Moved Magic Banger relic to Green Acres
- Hurry mode also gives a 25% XP bonus
- Added support for German and Brazilian-Portuguese

Bugfixes:
- Tentative fix for standard saves not working on Steam Deck for some users

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]


24 of 24 Characters done!

And so we're done, we have finally finished implementing all playable characters for Vampire Survivors....
who am I kidding, there's no way I'm not adding a few more before version 1.0 😂
Please keep an eye on the devlog in Discord or on the socials for some surprises!

100.000

Positive reviews on Steam! 😱
This is incredible, thank you very much to all of you for making this little game such a big success! It's thanks to you that now we can also talk properly about...

poncle

When I wrote the name "poncle" for the first time, some 10 years ago, I went for a lowercase "p" because I had this pretentious thought of "this would serve as a reminder to stay small and humble no matter what". And oh my, with things being so crazy with VS that actually turned out to be a very good reminder to have!

We had a team for some time now, but I'm taking the opportunity to talk about it only now that one more developer, David, is finally joining me in working full time on the current version of the game. This doesn't mean we're going to reach version 1.0 of the game faster than expected, but it means we'll be putting in the game even more features and be faster in polishing rough edges. One of the new relics from this patch, the Grim Grimoire, is a good example of what kind of extras to expect!

If you've been following this kind of longer update posts, then you probably already know that since January we had freelancers working on porting VS to an industry-standard game engine. Some of those freelancers, Adam, Matt, and Sam (strictly in alphabetical order), are now part of poncle and are working full time on the engine port!
Initially we thought about re-making the game using features from the new engine, but the resulting game, even if better optimised, didn't really feel "Vampire Survivors" enough. For starters, the physics were too accurate and realistic, enemies weren't even able to push one another inside walls, or the fonts were just too crisp and easy to read. That was not acceptable.
So we're now busy rewriting the entire physics system so that it feels arcade-y rather than realistic and tweaking a lot of aspects of the main gameplay loop so that in the end, ideally we'll have a version of Vampire Survivors that plays just like the current one, but that is free of hardware and controller compatibility issues and that performs well even when there is an unreasonable amount of projectiles and enemies on screen.

We're still planning to release the new version this summer, but in reality "it will be ready when it's ready", we won't be rushing for an arbitrary release date and will take all the time it requires to be done right.

If you hang out in the VS Discord or follow the VS social media accounts, then you most likely already know the work of Beth (Slothie), our community manager, who's also working on a few surprises beyond the usual teasers and polls!

To sum it up, we might be getting close to the 𝓬σŇ𝓬𝔩𝕌ş𝐢σŇ of Vampire Survivors, but for poncle that's just the beginning :)

The best Vampire Survivors power ups

Looking for the best Vampire Survivors power ups? You can purchase power ups in the main menu to aid you in your bid to survive the night. They each have different effects from raising damage to reviving characters, but which are the best power ups?


The best Vampire Survivors power ups are Cooldown, Area, Speed, Duration, Might, Recovery, Max Health, Reroll, Revival, Luck, and Banish. You can see what each power up does below from the full list, but you want to prioritise these power ups, although you'll eventually be able to buy them all with enough gold, you can also choose to further upgrade most power ups multiple times to buff the effect.


To get gold, you need to pick up coins and money bags found in chests or by breaking lanterns. Completing a stage of the game also rewards you with coins you can use to buy power ups for your best Vampire Survivors characters by accessing the power up shop in the main menu.


Read the rest of the story...


RELATED LINKS:

How to unlock secret characters in Vampire Survivors

Vampire Survivors weapon evolution guide

Vampire Survivors update 0.7 adds stage 5 and probably chaos

Patch 0.7.2

New Content




Contains 9 new achievements and:
- first iteration on Stage 5
- 1 new character
- 2 new Arcanas
- 1 new Weapon and its evolution
- 1 new PowerUp

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Tweaks:
- The Stage Selection screen will now display when the lunar eclipse event is available in Moongolow (required to unlock Stage 5)
- Added a toggle to disable Golden Eggs bonuses
- Updated some graphics
- Changed PowerUp markup cost from percentage-based to a flat increase
- Added little icons for Vacuum, Rosary, Orologion, Nduja, and Floor Chicken on the map

Bugfixes:
- Bonus Revivals from Golden Eggs not working
- some controllers crashing the game at random intervals
- vanilla game crashing after save data alterations from mods
- Rerolls, Skips, and Banish disappearing from the PowerUp screen on old save files
- Fixed some special achievements needing a reboot to unlock on Steam

Stage 5: first iteration

I know this might take away some of the magic, but, after the previous "small" patch, I feel like it's important to let everyone know that currently there are no secrets nor particularly complex mechanics in Stage 5.
The main point of it is unlocking the new character, the stage will have to go through one or two more iterations before being considered complete :)

Thanks to everyone once again for your support in the beta, on social media, and of course for playing the game! 🙏