‘Vampire Crawlers’ PC Review: Lightning Strikes Twice

InnovationGaming‘Vampire Crawlers’ PC Review: Lightning Strikes TwiceByGeorge Yang,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. George Yang is a critic covering Japanese and Western games.Follow AuthorApr 27, 2026, 12:01am EDTApr 27, 2026, 12:06am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.The key art for "Vampire Crawlers."poncle/Nosebleed InteractiveI was curious to see how developer poncle would follow up its 2022 hit, Vampire Survivors. It was a fresh take on the auto-hit mechanic to create an experience that kept me obsessed. To everyone’s surprise, poncle and Nosebleed Interactive created a spin-off deck-building dungeon crawler that’s just as fantastic. Even in a hugely crowded genre, Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors (what a mouthful) manages to translate Vampire Survivors’ unique gameplay mechanics to make it stand out.In Vampire Crawlers, you have to go through different dungeons while picking up random power ups from treasure chests and battling enemies. During enemy encounters, you attack the front row, and then the enemies towards the back will come closer as you continue wiping them out. It’s a really clever way that translates Vampire Survivors’ wave-based gameplay into a card-battling structure.You can pick from a cast of characters, each with their own special abilities. For example, Imelda gains XP growth every time she plays a yellow card, and Arca gains one mana point when a purple card is played. More characters can be found and unlocked as you progress the game. While characters add quite a bit of range in how to approach runs, the descriptions of their abilities aren’t always entirely clear. It can discourage experimentation and make you stick with ones you’re already familiar with. Given how fast-paced battles are, it can be hard to detect when abilities trigger, and they feel more like aftert...