Holocure: Save the Fans!

released on Jun 24, 2022
by Kay Yu

Collect powerful weapons and items and experiment with all kinds of builds to create the ultimate character! Will you be able to defeat the endless waves of enemies, and reach the top rankings?


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Vampire Survivors inspired game with Hololive VTubers. Solid enough game that non-fans of Hololive can enjoy it.

Tu y yo lo sabemos, pero no lo diremos.

I went into the Vtuber rabbit hole back in 2019 and of course it was Hololive that introduced me to the world of Vtubing. So when a fan-made game of Hololive based on Vampire Survivors (i haven't play it and i might soon) called Holocure released i was really shocked and hype to try it out. It was fun, chaotic and addicting more than anything else.

Two things that made me appreciate this game every time i play it, the first one is that it has a gacha system for the characters but it won't cost you any payment instead the characters are unlocked by collecting coins in the game and then spending them a thousand at a time on an in-game gacha mechanic. Yu, the developer is keen to emphasise that the gacha is purely in-game currency and does not involve any sort of monetisation, you just need to play the game a few times to unlock the additional characters.

Second and this might be the best thing about Holocure is that you don't need to know anything whatsoever about Hololive to appreciate it. If you have never explored VTuber culture at all, the game’s intro sequence provides a brief bit of context, and from there the playable characters can all simply be seen as cute girls with unique abilities. At the other end of the spectrum, however, if you are deeply immersed into VTuber culture and Hololive culture specifically then the game is absolutely rammed full of references and in-jokes that will continually delight your experience.

I don't like to compare games across franchises in my revfiews, but it's hard to review games in this fledgling genre without some comparison. I don't know where the "Bullet Heaven" style games got their true start, but it's inarguable that Vampire Survivors is what popularized them. From there, HoloCure refines the formula into something truly spectacular. Each character has a unique weapon, skills, and special/ultimate ability: this makes choice of character much more impactful than in Vampire Survivors, which often feels more like an aesthetic choice after a certain point. And with so many characters to choose from, HoloCure is a great place for experimentation. Also, the level one stage theme is way too catchy! Admittedly I don't know much about Hololive but this game is worth playing for the gameplay alone.

Vampire Survivors ran so Holocure could sprint.

This game's got a lot going on, a massive roster of characters that all have their unique set of weapons and skills that all correspond with the respective vTuber's personality, meaning each character approaches the game slightly differently. For example Mumei likes having lots of small enemies on screen to both trigger her Civilization buff and to kill them to activate Bloodlust. Sana, meanwhile, who I mostly played as focuses on having big objects orbit around her to make a barrier, and if you're ever in danger you can use your Super to become BEEG and escape. There are also many unique enemies, from the Gold/Silver YAGOO to the midbosses that add an extra challenge as you figure out how to tackle them.

There are also changes to the core system from Vampire Survivors, most notably a reduction from 30 minutes to 20 minutes, killing a lot of Vampire's downtime and making for a better paced game. The other is options that use the mouse to aim, which are most character's signature weapons. There is one that I'm not a super huge fan of, which is the in-game gacha unlock system where you spend the coins from playing to hope you get all the characters from the group you want and, if you got a duplicate, that character is enhanced. That randomness makes it tricky if I wanted to try and get all the girls (I got all but 1) or enhance my main.

There's one more feature, Holo House, where you partake in minigames to cook buffs that can help you in the main mode and get you money. It's alright for what it is, but is a nice break from the action if you so choose to use it.

If you liked Vampire Survivors you'll love Holocure, and if you didn't like that game, maybe this one has something that fixes the issues of Vampire Survivors. But even if you don't know much about vTubers, there are good times here. Best of all, Holocure comes at the low low price of absolutely free!