One of the more insane games I've played recently. Vampire Survivors is not exactly a well made game, it looks like it could be made in MSPaint and its "secrets", as in secret levels, characters etc. make no fucking sense whatsoever. Not just in how you attain them but in like, their literal content. Why is there a secret character in this game called "Peppino" as in, Peppino the protagonist from Pizza Tower...And he's just a fucking tree? It's literally a tree?? Why can you play as three identical ghosts of different colours called "Esdeath", "Toasty" and "Smithy"? What is the purpose of the Il Molise stage? Or the Moongolow stage? Why is it called "Moongolow"? Why is that O there? What's the deal with all of the (pun intended) batshit insane unlock methods for random shit that makes no sense? What's different about the "challenge" stages like Bat Country and Tiny Bridge that seem to be both easier and quicker to complete (and therefore less challenging) than the regular stages? Could the game please stop to explain literally anything about itself at any point? No? Goofy arcade-ass game.

Oh, yeah. The gameplay.

It's fun! Damn this shit's fun as hell.

Vampire Survivors IS a well designed game. What a trip. I love the bit where I'm all like "whooosh, whooosh, PEW PEW PEW bam! bam! POOOOOOOOOOOOW"

"I am become death, the bullets of hell" -J. Robert Oppenheimer

I played this game for free on Game Pass and it gave me more hours of enjoyment than some somber slice-of-life indie about managing my emotions could ever have! Not bad for some piece of shit shovelware cooked up in Flash that takes half its identity from Castlevania! All of the bestiary entries are actually pretty funny and well-written! You didn't feel like just stopping and telling me what the fuck Eudaimonia M is supposed to be? What it's supposed to mean? How I even unlocked it? Ah, fuck it, I like blowing shit up too much

If I were simply comparing this against a 'modern ideal of Exploration-Action RPG design' I'd probably give this a 3, maybe a 2. But since it was put out in the late 90s, is 3D, and surprisingly playable, I'll bump it up to a 4.
actually 5 bc brightis #1

COMBAT

Mechanically, this is a hard to control action game with no lock-on mechanic. Your sword hitboxes are small and very directional based on swinging up or down. Moving left or right ALSO turns the camera so positioning yourself properly is tricky, especially during boss fights. There's a complex moves system but you end up sticking to two or three useful moves. Basically the 'move economy' is too close together that it's hard to distinguish the value of one move vs. another - usually I just end up thinking 'a combo would be good' or 'a charge strike could be good for getting one hit in and running off.' The depth of combat doesn't go very far. Usually you just hold block until there's an opening, swing, get away, etc. Some enemies attack through your guard, some move very fast, but for the most part combat tends to feel repetitive, sometimes even annoying - it's hard to precisely line up and easy to get smacked without realizing it.

Bosses, rather than pushing combat into interesting and focused space, end up being battles of attrition, trying to awkwardly line up and smack the enemy before getting hit in the face with a 30% damage attack.

HISTORY

STILL, it's pretty admirable for a time where there were only a few decent attempts at 3D exploration-action combat. By the PS2 era various studios had good attempts by that time - DMC, Kingdom Hearts, Tales of, the Ys 6/Oath/Origin, Xanadu Next - but the PS1 era is pretty slim. You have Granstream Saga (also by Quintet/Shade) (1997), which is more focused in combat scope (I haven't played it), as well as Brave Fencer Musashi, which is simple and 2D zelda-y in combat scope. Alundra 2 has a lot of money put into it but the boss design and combat design are a bit straightforward. Parasite Eve is good, although more of a shooter.

We also have Mega Man Legends, great 3D 3rd-person shooter RPGs, and Threads of Fate.

Of course there's the N64 Zeldas - which feature combat, but honestly more as a 'texture' than as a combat system that was interesting to engage with. Funnily enough the Wikipedia article for Action RPG skips completely from late 90s 2D ARPGs to Demon's Souls...! On the Western side, developers didn't seem to explore the 3D ARPG much? I guess it was just hard to do 3D games then. There's Ultima IX, King's Quest VIII (a personal favorite...although not a very sound game, design-wise, haha).

Anyways, the point is, Brightis did a pretty good and forward-looking job in 1999! I wouldn't be surprised if it was the basis for some of FromSoft's 2000s (also mixed/so-so) ARPGs - Evergrace 1 and 2, those other ones after it.

Alright, back to the game...

SO WHAT'S GOOD ABOUT IT...?

The story isn't too substantial, standard genre dark fantasy fare, but it is fun to revisit the village over time and talk to NPCs and see how they're feeling.

What's neat is the overworld and dungeon design. Though both go stale quickly, the game features a fully connected overworld (with loading pauses), which gives it a very 'lived-in' and hiking feel. As far as I could tell there is no fast travel (if I missed the option then... lol), so you have to walk everywhere. Areas feel like snowy mountains, or ravines, or grassy plains. You'll even unlock a few shortcuts around the overworld.

It goes stale, though, as only a few enemy types roam the overworld. They get boring to fight and also barely give EXP or have a reason to be killed. Still, the overworld spaces always have some interesting visual gimmick to them, but you have to really wish that there was a wider screen at the time or better camera controls. This is a case where the super short draw distance is kind of sad, actually...it hides a lot of the expansiveness the game designers were going for.

Dungeons are interesting - they, too, are 'continuous' and I think, realistically laid out. But it's hard to keep the whole structure in your head because most dungeons are interior hallways. Still, the dungeons are very ambitious - there's a beautiful temple near a lake with sprawling, Shadow of the Colossus-esque mossy ruins, and a tower climbing into the sky. You'll find huge underground caverns, strange ruins... etc.

It was a lot of fun to see these RPG tropes brought to life in a way that reminded me of the later Souls series.

That being said the design gets a little boring, simply because there isn't much to do except walk around and fight enemies with the sort of flat battle system where enemies all have the same strategy and it doesn't control well enough to want to fight. You quickly see why N64 Zelda opted for items and puzzles to spice up their fairly flat combat system. Dungeons feature a 'brightness' mechanic where if you can run out of light and it becomes hard to navigate levels or have a sense of the space. This happens a lot in later levels.

Dungeons generally have pacing issues - you have to clear them in one go without leaving or you lose your keys. This is tiring and also, because you can't get a sense for the whole dungeon layout, it's hard to tell how far along you are. this is quite the headache when you're far along from a save point, trying to figure out where you are, without dying to something..

Still, I think it's brilliant for the time and quite ambitious. It's a shame that Quintet and Shade folded after this or split up, because they really could have done something amazing in the 2000s! If there's anything I've learned about Exploratory Action RPGs, from the '80s till today, is that it's very hard to make one. Everyone's just building off of ideas from the previous games, while trying to push things slightly forward, or finding ways around the difficulty of the 3D view and camera.

Even 3D exploration-action games in 2023 are still coasting (FromSoft included) off of the innovations of Demon's and Dark Souls 1, going down more technically-demanding paths (Nioh), rolling around in the impotent mud of gacha action design (Genshin Impact), or falling into that +0.5% Defense Diablo Garbage Picking Hole. To me the genre feels a bit stale nowadays. It's time for someone to shake it up again!

if i had played this myself i never wouldve finished it. i just cant hang with final fantasy's design sensibilities, it's like zelda, zero beef, it's just something i've never been able to wrap my head around.

but i didnt play it myself, and so im able to say, wow, i really loved this. in particular, there are some tremendous quiet moments that still to this day feel fresh and innovative. terra's arc is really sweet, that opera sequence is famous for a reason, and while i get the hesitance about the game's story structure being split along the back half, it's such a gutsy move i can't help but appreciate it, and all the small interconnected beats the game gets out of it. i know this will sound like total boss baby tweet shit but i think weirdly the back half of this game had more of what i wanted out of the evangelion rebuilds than the rebuilds themselves lmfao. what can i say rei and terra are cut from the same cloth.

uematsu's mastery over the sufami's sound hardware is fundamental to this game's lasting appeal imo. having recently played dragon quest 4 and actively disliking the music (and only the music), for how dull and static the arrangements and instrumentation felt, ff6's ost feels brimming with humanity and warmth.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA So good. So I was looking forward to this game for like over 3 years or so right? Been loosely hearing wind of it's development and peeping any little morsels of information right? And you would THINK that in some way shape or form id have some type of expectations for how much Pizza Tower does with being a platformer of the warioland-esque variety? I am here to Tell YOU!... it exceeded pretty much every expectation i had LMAO

No really like the game is that good :O !!
Ya girl already fucks with ms paint art style and this really shows how much humor, emotion and vibe you can give off within it. Pepino's expressions and movement are played up in the best way possible and every drop of that is seamlessly imbedded into his platforming kit
and oh Boy it takes full advantage of that with these levels

There's about 5 floors in the tower, which means 5 arcs of the game with a handful each and then a boss fight, pretty standard fare- HOWEVER u also have secret platforming levels to look forward to that are embedded into the level layout and some of them are pretty fun to stumble upon while you maybe messed up a jump and then others you will probably be gnashing your teeth out of your skull before eventually caving in and looking up some kind of a guide to find the remainder of the damned things (not that thats inherently a Bad thing i mean they are called SECRET levels its not like theyll snitch themselves out to you

I think the only thing abt this game at all that kinda pisses me off is when u do a misinput in this game and pepino bounces off the ridge or goes doink against the wall, it can be DAMNING in the later levels Good Loooooooord
but thats more of a nitpick than anything else

final thoughts:
a new favorite game of mine and blew expectations out the water, and GOD hype as fuck conclusion. I never even sunk my teeth in any of the games it drew inspiration for but this was intensely pleasant

HOT DAMN!!!!! Ok so obvious shit out of the way first this game is packed to the brim with color and energy and the art style is definitely hitting the chord of being something like a niche mini series of a show that happened in the early 00s that had this as a tie in game that somehow crossed dimensions over to us in present day... does that sound insane? MAYBE!!!! IDC THIS SHIT WENT HARD AS FUCK!!! And here's why

A rhythm action game is a unicorn of a mashup that honestly i dont think ive ever seen done in this exact way, everything from the environments that bustle and bounce along to the beat of the world around you.. to the beat of your allies and enemies attacks its all SO! FUCKING! A D D I C T I N G! Sometimes id find myself genuinely just lingering around areas for much longer, my play times for these levels that are around maybe 30 minutes a pop each sit around an hour and do you know Why?????? I LOVE TIMING MY SHIT TO THE BEAT, I LOVE GETTING THAT TRIPLE DASH IN EVEN IF I DONT NEED IT, SOMETIMES HANGING ON IT FOR MINUTES ON END ITS SO G O O D

The story also makes a lot of use of this, each boss syncs up with the beat and theyre ALL fun in my opinion. Like youd expect them to run out of steam or something at some point but they Always manage to do something DIFFERENT with each one, now im not completely dicksuckin the game by sayin youll see never before seen concepts before for those boss fights constantly but its lavishly presented in a way thats so fresh and figuratively AND literally keeps the beat going and doesnt dwell too long on one verse. Even the structure for which you approach the bosses can be pretty different as well!!!!

The Story absolutely knows what it is and takes as much opportunity as it can to just get to the point, be pretty funny and even in a cheesy way tug at my heart TBH. It's not winnin any awards in that ballpark, sure, but this is actual candy for your retinas...

Final Thoughts: this shit is STILL unreal to me. a day 1 announcement and release game that shows up and manages to have so much content even after you beat it w/o being trickled in free dlc or paid dlc at all... the OST, the art style the sounds the gameplay oh my fucking god. It's a beautiful taste of early 00s action gameplay like what i felt experiencing via Devil May Cry but weirdly more enjoyable to me... i think what choked me up the most about this game too was that the story and gameplay are all so to the point and the message in it is so pure.. that i think it actually hit at the perfect time in my life. Seeing all these weenies be friends made me taste something, and at first i thought it was envy.. and then i thought harder about it for hours until it clicked that its not Envy but in awe at how this game reminds me of better days. It reminds me of having a tight friendgroup where everyone feels there for each other, it reminds me of how vibrant things felt and how they can Still Be if you seize your own beat in a myriad of others in society. Because if you lose that? It's all just noise, the hardest thing to overcome in the game. Each enemy individually is easy pickings, but in high numbers you cant lose your beat.. that rhythm that guides you and cuts harder than any swing of your guitar.
This game is the first ever that I think has made it sink in that while im thinking about all of these things..
Im getting old :\ ... but thats Good because that means I can appreciate shit like this immensely more than I would if I was a preteen or a kid for the reasons i stated
And I STILL have content to see.....
FUCk.

This game is an utter work of art in my eyes. I knew that i'd fall head over heels for it from the "Anti-RPG" tagline toted around alone but I didnt think id be so into it that id 100% the damn thing (which may not matter to whoever's reading but Ive never done this before especially with an RPG)

But to the actual points of the game,
This game has aged incredibly fucking well and still holds up all these years later because its way of "meta" and messages about love, morality, and video games as a whole are still so potent to this day. Every character in Moon feels less like youre trying to "Save" them and more like youre crafting your own story about making connections with other people and understanding the different passions felt by the characters, though youre also reminded semi-often that these Are still video game characters.
I think everything about this game is satisfying from its art direction of putting together clay figures,sprites, pre-rendered environments its all so fucking good and mouthwatering its genuinely three favorites of mine all rolled into one. This is was simultaneously such a tender as fuck game but also one that still has that separated degree of wanting you to Not stay super attached

Even if getting everything with no ingame checklist(i used notes app to keep tabs on shit) would probably be next to impossible (for me anyways), I had so much fun seeing each and every little thing the game had to offer and seeing each event play out. I think if i were to pick out any negatives with the game itd be how the action meter Does kinda just stop mattering after a bit but that in it of itself kind of removes the tension from The Hero wandering around and you shift into this state of thinking where you realize this and thats Okay because you arent stressing over grinding before everything ends because youre on the inverse of his progression path.

Also i think the fishing in Moon is actually really cool, except for when im being timed, when im being timed it makes me wish the guy that designed the fishing had their nutsack hair cheesegrated off their body.. but that aside most of the minigames are cute and funny

Final thoughts: kind of all over the place on this because I dont want to talk spoilers and want people to just maybe see this and take a chance on one of the best games ive ever played and will ever play in my life, thank you love-de-lic for giving me a similar feeling that rekindled my love for series such as the MOTHER franchise yet also giving me a completely different kind of warmth that permeates the 4th wall so hard that it hits you like a bullet. Even when I needed help from a guide the payoff felt so good, hell most of the game I discovered by simply bumbling around and doing random shit & it was still a great time

so yeah

that unused ending gets a similar message across from the regular one but wow is it dark as hell

the clis song is kind of cute after you hear it 9 times

i spent like 53 hours playing this game and i checked on avg how long it takes ppl to beat it after and tht shit said "23-25" hours for 100% completion
so that means i spent atleast 10 extra hours on that stupid ass fishing tournament which is... hillarious

the best interactive dont be a shut-in + go touch grass PSA ever

poppas is a cunt

thts all i got, cya