Vampire Crawlers Could be 2026's Version of Hades 2

2026 is shaping up to be a year when one game will dominate the discourse, with Grand Theft Auto 6 on the horizon. Assuming Rockstars' upcoming title isn't pushed back to 2027, it will likely sweep all the awards and bring in millions in sales.

Or will it? See, 2025 proved that the double A and indie scene can take over the discourse. 2025 was the year of Hades 2, Hollow Knight: Silksong, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Incredible gameplay and visual design can easily capture the imagination of fans, especially in an era when people have grown weary of live service and annual releases filled with gambling mechanics.

And this brings us to Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors, a game whose silly name I'm only writing out fully once. Vampire Crawlers has a demo available on Steam, and this small slice of addictive gameplay is signaling a release that might be a strong contender for Game of the Year, Grand Theft Auto 6 be damned.

Vampire Crawlers Switches Surviving for Turn-Based Dungeon Crawling

Vampire Crawlers has the same setting as Vampire Survivors, and starts out with the familiar top-down view of its sprite world. The perspective quickly shifts to first-person mode, giving that strange feeling of visiting a recreation of Kanto from Pokémon Red & Blue in Minecraft.

It doesn't take long to get accustomed to this new viewpoint, though the gameplay shift could take a bit longer. See, while Vampire Survivors was a fast-paced action game, Vampire Crawlers is a turn-based first-person deckbuilding title. The setting and aesthetic are the same, but the gameplay is vastly different.

The perspective shift means that the player is now exploring linear dungeons, with enemy encounters laid out in static positions on the map, meaning you actively have to approach them to engage in battle, at least in the demo. This hearkens back to the earliest days of RPG history, such as Wizardry or Eye of the Beholder, at least in terms of traversal. Once a battle begins, it's a whole new story.

How Combat Works In Vampire Crawlers

As seen in the screenshots above, there are four areas of the battlefield that the player needs to focus on in Vampire Crawlers. The bottom left is maximum health, which is occasionally boosted with Armor, the bottom center is your current hand of cards, which refreshes each turn, the top center is your experience points bar, and the blue orb on the bottom right is your Mana.

The cards represent the attacks, items, and special moves the player can use each turn. The text on the bottom determines their effect (dealing damage, inflicting status effects, etc.), while the number in the top left is their Mana cost. You can only use up to your Mana value's worth of cards each turn, but this refreshes each turn. So, if the Mana value is free, you can play three 1-cost cards, a 2, and a 1, etc.

The Mana values are also important for making combos. If you play cards in ascending number order (0 to 1 to 2 to 3), then this activates a combo that bolsters the effects of the cards played. As the Mana and hand size get larger over the course of a run, you can perform all kinds of impressive combos, unleashing multiple attacks and buffs in the same round.

You start out each stage with a handful of low-level cards, but this number is increased by leveling up and finding items. You need to upgrade cards by finding gems in stages, which can increase their damage or add buffs, and, like in Vampire Survivors, weapons can be evolved into stronger forms.

The choice of character (referred to as Crawlers) is also important, as they can appear as cards in your deck and have special abilities, usually tied to the color of your cards. The trailer for Vampire Crawlers showed multiple Crawlers being used in a single run, meaning they'll be more prominent in the final release.

But what about the enemies? Vampire Survivors was notorious for its unrelenting enemies, who constantly encircle the player. The turn-based nature of Vampire Crawlers means monsters aren't quite as dangerous here. It's possible to wipe out fields of foes with a good starting hand that can be comboed.

In Vampire Crawlers, enemies are dangerous through chip damage. While there are a handful of healing items hidden throughout each stage, they don't fully restore health. As you progress through each level, enemies appear in bigger groups, meaning you might be able to wipe out the first wave with ease, but the second wave will come in to whack you for some damage. Then, when you get to the bosses with barely any health, they'll tank your combos and kill you.

It's the entire level that's the foe in Vampire Crawlers, and you need to quickly master the combo system, balance the use of Armor and buffs with attacks, and keep a balanced deck.

The Vampire Crawler Addiction Has Begun

It doesn't take long for everything to click in Vampire Crawlers, but when it does, the experience is electrifying. While it doesn't offer quite the same level of panicky excitement as Vampire Survivors, Vampire Crawlers is still a thrilling and engaging game, with countless little puzzles to solve.

Once you've finished a dungeon, you can return to town, where all the unlockables are kept: new Crawlers and the power-ups that last between runs. These are purchased using the gold found in each stage, meaning you're gradually getting stronger, even when being slain during a run.

And here, the addiction kicked in. I had become enthralled with the combo strings, gradual deck tweaks, and the desire to keep getting stronger. Cruelly, the Vampire Crawlers demo only offers a handful of stages, and it's not enough. I need more. I need to experience everything this game has to offer, to make combo chains that go through the stratosphere.

The last game that made me feel this way was Hades 2, a similar sequel to an indie darling that took the industry by storm. That endless thirst for one more run, one more injection of gameplay that will make future runs easier, is here, and in full force.

Now, will Vampire Crawlers be as good as Hades 2? The big issue is a lack of character. While Vampire Crawlers is bursting with charm, it doesn't appear to have much in the way of story or interesting NPCs, which is where Hades 2 excelled. Obviously, the full game could be different, but right now, it looks like Vampire Crawlers is going to be all business, which means it won't fully stack up to Hades 2.

That being said, Balatro wasn't exactly The Wolf Among Us, and it still earned worldwide acclaim and success. Incredible gameplay and visual design are all that matter, and the Vampire Crawlers demo has them in spades. If the full game keeps up that level of content, then it could be the big indie classic of 2026, and maybe a candidate for Game of the Year.