I guess the question you ask, when you boot up and play vampire survivors, the one that screams at you at full volume, is "is this good?"
And is it? I don't know. Kind of? It's a chaotic ball of nonsense, particles and AoEs, tens to hundreds to thousands of enemies on screen, as if Cave really took the limiters off. It has a magical loop of levelling and upgrades that feels good.
But it's so obviously wonky, right. It's the first thing you see when you boot the game, on the title screen which scales badly to 16:9. Is this deliberate, or just unimportant, a detail that doesn't matter because it is extraneous to the meat of the game? Does it even really matter?
I think I like Vampire Survivors more in just one play session than I like most AAA games after multiple hours. It's rare to find a prestige game that isn't obsessed with presentation, whether it be RTX ON visuals, fancy Birdman camerawork in a Sony game that doesn't even make sense when you consider that you can fast travel, slick menuing, even the sweet and sexy style of a well-formed combo system. All of that is to some extent a veneer, right? That's not to say all of it is bad (I love that combo system flavour of softwood) but it is inherently refreshing to play a game that is so obviously uninterested in it. It knows what you're here for and gives you it. Go nuts.
And is it? I don't know. Kind of? It's a chaotic ball of nonsense, particles and AoEs, tens to hundreds to thousands of enemies on screen, as if Cave really took the limiters off. It has a magical loop of levelling and upgrades that feels good.
But it's so obviously wonky, right. It's the first thing you see when you boot the game, on the title screen which scales badly to 16:9. Is this deliberate, or just unimportant, a detail that doesn't matter because it is extraneous to the meat of the game? Does it even really matter?
I think I like Vampire Survivors more in just one play session than I like most AAA games after multiple hours. It's rare to find a prestige game that isn't obsessed with presentation, whether it be RTX ON visuals, fancy Birdman camerawork in a Sony game that doesn't even make sense when you consider that you can fast travel, slick menuing, even the sweet and sexy style of a well-formed combo system. All of that is to some extent a veneer, right? That's not to say all of it is bad (I love that combo system flavour of softwood) but it is inherently refreshing to play a game that is so obviously uninterested in it. It knows what you're here for and gives you it. Go nuts.