Tips : this article was first published on the Tencent-IMUR public account
Vampire Survivor is a critically acclaimed game released in 2022. Pioneering the"Vampire Survivor-style Roguelike" game genre, it has become a phenomenon in thegaming industry, inspiring many other games such as Brotato. This analysis aims to explore the design elements and strengths of Vampire Survivor.
Innovation Compared to Traditional Roguelikes
1. Roguelike + Hack and Slash?
Essentially, this concept builds upon the core Roguelike framework by eliminating the "room mechanics" commonly found in such games. In their place is an expansive, tiled map swarming with enemies akin to those encountered in hack-and-slash titles.
Players are not tasked with navigating through successive levels but are instead challenged to endure a set duration amidst perilous plains. Survival against these odds allows players to acquire enhancements, bolstering their capabilities to confront subsequent enemy onslaughts.
2. Shift in Core Game Purpose: Level Completion to Survival
The most distinctive feature of the "Vampire" style Roguelike game is the shift in the player’s core purpose. Most Roguelike games on the market, whether it’s "The Binding of Isaac" with its main gameplay focused on passive item power-ups, or "Dead Cells" which incorporates metroidvania elements, have non-linear level completion as their core objective. Players are mainly tasked with defeating various monsters along the way to reach the end of the level.
However, the "Vampire" style Roguelike changes the core objective of the game to survival over a certain duration. This shift transforms the player’s role from active exploration to passive survival, thereby increasing the game’s challenge and tension.
3. Simplified Controls Lead to Greater Strategic Depth
In most "Vampire" style Roguelike games,players typically can only control their character's movement and positioning without ability to precisely control specific actions like attacking and defending. This mechanisam reduces the demand of player's operational skills and instead shifts the focus to strategic thinking regarding equipment choices and build strategies.
The Underlying Reasons Behind the Popularity of "Vampire" Style Roguelike Games
1.Controllable Game Duration
"Vampire"style Roguelike games set a predetermined game duration for players (e.g. 20 minutes).This predetermined game duration makes the game rhythm more compact and orderly,ensuring that players can have a short, high-quality gaming experience in each round.
2. Thrilling Game Experience
"Vampire" style Roguelike games have borrowed from many hack-and-slash games’ enemy spawning mechanics
"In the game, the monsters’ attack methods are extremely simple. Rather than complicated variations in the monsters’ moves, they tend to suppress the player with their sheer numbers."
The introduction of the hack-and-slash mechanic not only amplifies the visual impact of the game but also enhances the gameplay experience to a certain extent.
This makes the game, in some ways, a thrilling game. Coupled with the inherent controllable random elements of Roguelike, it can also bring more unexpected positive feedback to players, allowing players to experience exponential joy in a short time.
Concluding Remarks
In summary, the emergence of "Vampire" style Roguelike games has injected fresh blood into the already impressive Roguelike genre. The game’s strict planning of survival time and innovative use of Roguelike mechanics can be borrowed for many other games. At the same time, the success of "Vampire" style games once again proves that the fusion of different game mechanics often produces unexpected results for players.
In my opinion, looking at the innovative designs of independent games today, the fusion of different game mechanics and play styles has become one of the main directions. The key to the fusion of gameplay mechanics is to "take the essence and discard the dross," avoid blind homogenization and generalization, which is the key to game innovation.