Vampire Survivors has come a long way since its release, and in a way, it’s about to go back to its roots. The now-popular indie game launched into obscurity on early access in 2021 before growing into a smash hit early the next year and inspiring countless imitators. Around its release, Vampire Survivors’ developer Poncle was accused of stealing sprites from Castlevania, but now, nearly three years since its Steam debut, it’s getting an official crossover with the legendary series.
Launching, appropriately enough, on Halloween, the Ode to Castlevania DLC will cost $3.99 and include 20 new characters, a new level, and 40 weapons alongside other updates. Poncle says it all amounts to more than 10 hours of gameplay — probably a vast underestimation of how much time people can actually spend in a Vampire Survivors rabbit hole. Poncle showed off some of the new characters and weapons in an extremely sick trailer for the DLC, and the character sprites alone look good enough to justify the entire expansion’s existence.
Ode to Castlevania is something of a full-circle moment for Vampire Survivors. The game was hit with criticism that it had ripped off Castlevania upon launch, which is untrue but understandable. The artwork that some found suspicious actually came from an asset pack the developer purchased, which itself was based on Castlevania, and were replaced by Poncle once they became an issue. To see Vampire Survivors getting a crossover with Castlevania now seems like a final vindication that it’s more than a rip-off, and a confirmation that the game has, beyond a shadow of a doubt, made it.
Maybe the most surprising thing about Vampire Survivors getting a Castlevania DLC is that it hadn’t already happened. While getting Konami to sign off on the idea would have been impossible when the game first launched, Vampire Survivors has gotten a handful of crossovers recently that seem way more unexpected than one featuring one of its biggest inspirations. The Emergency Meeting DLC adds a host of Among Us characters and weapons along with a stage set on a space station. Operation Guns introduced a crossover with Contra, featuring cybernetic wolves, rocket launchers, and more utterly wild additions. Compared to those, Ode to Castlevania seems like a natural and almost inevitable step for Vampire Survivors to take.
Ode to Castlevania launches simultaneously on all platforms, and if you haven’t tried the game yet on Nintendo Switch, you have a good opportunity to do that leading up to the expansion’s release. From October 23 to October 30, Nintendo Switch Online members can play Vampire Survivors in full as part of the service’s game trials. It won’t stick around past the end of the trial and it doesn’t include any DLC, but it’s a good chance to see if the game clicks with you on Switch. The game trial also includes Cursed to Golf and A Little to the Left, in case one infinitely replayable game isn’t enough if you.
And if you do decide you want to sacrifice your free time on the altar of Vampire Survivors, it’s currently on sale on PlayStation 5 and Steam, and will be on Nintendo Switch as well once the game trial starts.
All in all, it’s a good time to be a Vampire Survivors fan, whether you’ve been there since the beginning or you’re just discovering it. The game’s runaway success has been nothing short of spectacular to watch, and seeing it finally get an official crossover with the title it was once accused of stealing from is an especially satisfying turn for the story to take.
