Reviews
Short answer: yes at $7.99 — but do not buy it expecting Vampire Survivors.
Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors is discounted 20% from $9.99 to $7.99 on Steam. It holds an Overwhelmingly Positive rating with 18,251 positive of 18,978 total reviews, which is roughly 96%. The catch is not quality. It is that the thing people liked about the original is delivered by a completely different mechanism here.
What actually changed
| Vampire Survivors | Vampire Crawlers | |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Real-time survival, top-down | Turn-based dungeon crawler on a grid |
| Attacks | Automatic | Cards played from a hand |
| Source of the snowball | Weapon evolutions firing on their own | Cards played in ascending mana order, each multiplying the next |
| Pacing | Set by a survival timer | Set by you — there is no turn clock |
| Run shape | Survive to the clock | Explore a dungeon map |
The ascending-mana rule is the whole design. You must play cards in increasing cost order, and each step multiplies the next card’s effect, with Wilds extending a stack to 10, 20 or 30 cards. So the compounding power that Vampire Survivors handed you automatically is here something you assemble by hand, one ordering decision at a time.
Why that swap works
Vampire Survivors’ pleasure was watching a small advantage become an absurd one. That feeling does not require real time; it requires multiplication and a build that gets out of control. Moving it to cards keeps the multiplication and adds agency, which is why the reception has been stronger than spin-offs usually manage.
Why it will still disappoint some people
The original was a game you could play badly while tired. This one is not. There is no timer, but there is a correct ordering of your hand, and a hand you cannot order well is a turn you wasted. If what you wanted from Vampire Survivors was the absence of decisions, this removes exactly that.
The honest caveat
Two things to be clear about. First, the discount: Steam’s store API reports the 20% cut and the $7.99 price, but it does not expose an end date, and coverage reporting the sale has put it at 10 September. Treat that as reported rather than confirmed and check the store page before you count on it.
Second, this is not a small game bought sight unseen. It released on 21 April 2026 and has had months of reviews, so a 96% score across nearly 19,000 reviews is a settled number rather than a launch-week spike. That is a genuinely strong signal — and it is also why the discount is modest. A game reviewing this well does not need to go to $4.
It runs on Windows and macOS. Linux is not listed as supported, which matters if you were planning on a Steam Deck-adjacent Linux desktop rather than Deck itself.
Who should buy it
- Buy it if you like deckbuilders and wanted one where combo-building is the entire skill rather than a deck-thinning exercise.
- Buy it if you bounced off Vampire Survivors because it played itself.
- Skip it if Vampire Survivors was your background game while doing something else. This one needs your attention.
- Skip it for now if you have not played a deckbuilder before — the ascending-order rule is elegant but it is not a gentle introduction.
Frequently asked questions
How much is Vampire Crawlers on sale?
It is 7.99 dollars, down 20 percent from 9.99 dollars, as of 9 September 2026.
Is Vampire Crawlers worth it?
Yes if you want a combo-driven deckbuilder. It holds an Overwhelmingly Positive rating from nearly 19,000 Steam reviews. It is not worth it if you specifically wanted the hands-off real-time play of Vampire Survivors.
Is Vampire Crawlers the same as Vampire Survivors?
No. Vampire Survivors is a real-time survival game with automatic attacks. Vampire Crawlers is a turn-based, card-driven dungeon crawler in the same universe.
Do I need to play Vampire Survivors first?
No. Familiar enemies and setting add recognition, but Vampire Crawlers is standalone and explains its own systems.
Who developed Vampire Crawlers?
It was developed by poncle with Nosebleed Interactive, and published by poncle. poncle also made Vampire Survivors.
When did Vampire Crawlers release?
21 April 2026 on Steam, for Windows and macOS.
Sources and citation
- Steam store page and store API data for pricing, platforms and release date
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3265700/ - Steam review summary API, review counts retrieved 9 September 2026
https://store.steampowered.com/appreviews/3265700?json=1 - Notebookcheck coverage reporting the discount and its stated end date
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Steam-2026-indie-hit-96-positive-drops-to-around-8-for-the-first-time.1388598.0.html
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