Vampire Survivors Adventures update adds story modes, defying God and Man
"What if the real official lore was the friends we made along the way?"
Vampire Survivors is getting an Adventures update that will add "self-contained miniature story modes that reset and remix the game's content, following the Survivor's cast on a series of wacky sidequests". That's according to developer Poncle, who are clearly in a whimsical mood this week. After all, if there's one thing this game about auto-massacring ever larger crowds of kamikaze night creatures has been lacking, it's some proper narrative context.
The update is out "soon" for Steam, and will cost nothing, though some of the individual Adventures are expansions for paid DLC content - naturally, you'll need to have the latter installed to access the new storylets.
Adventures are split into chapters with specific item and character setups, different upgradeable weapons to buy from merchants, different winning conditions such as minimum time limits, and "a little bit of lore text". As to whether this is the beginning of a Vampire Survivors Cinematic Universe, in advance of that animated TV show, the developers ask: "what if the real official lore was the friends we made along the way?" Don't take the backstory stuff too seriously, in other words. You're not here to have forum squabbles with other Survivees over whether, say, Antonio Belpaese and Krochi Freetto are secretly Doing It. You're here to scythe down zombies with holy crosses.
Progress from the main game "mostly" doesn't carry over to Adventures, which are "a chance for a fresh start with unique challenges", the developer's FAQ continues. "The only progress that you will carry over from the main game are your Relics and different game modes you have unlocked, such as Hyper and Inverse."
Likewise, Adventure progress won't carry over to the main game, which "will remain the solid foundation over which Adventures build castles in the sky", but you'll earn some Coins for your troubles, "and some Adventures might feature unique new ways to unlock existing main game Relics".
The update will launch with two Adventures for the base game, and one for the Legacy Of The Moonspell DLC - all three must be unlocked by reaching certain milestones in the base release, and should last you around an hour or two.
"One of the Adventures available in the base game will explore how we're reworking classic content, with a slightly serious storyline and a chance to earn unlocks earlier than normal," the FAQ explains. "The other Adventure will be as absurd as you'd usually expect from Vampire Survivors." As for the Moonspell Adventure, it'll encompass "original twists" and feature "remixed environments, characters, and weapons".
There's some replay juice in the ability to "ascend" an Adventure by completing it, which resets the Adventure and grants you Ascension points you can use to boost stats such as Luck, Growth, Curse and Greed, for a change of tempo and/or difficulty. There's no limit on how many times you can Ascend an Adventure.
If you've drifted away from Vampire Survivors, perhaps distracted by a rival bullet heaven/survive 'em up such as Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, there have been some chunky changes of late. In October, Poncle heralded the onset of the festive season with a Whiteout update that introduces a frosty new stage, playable character and boss fight. Ed Thorn has found the game to be a compelling antidote to Diablo 4, in which, scandalously, you have to actually push the attack button yourself. What do they take us for?