Fall in love with Vampire Survivors | #MobileGamer

Some loves don’t end, they make immense rounds and then they come back. This quote is one of those that sinks into grooves that never quite heal.

One of those that outline with precision laser an entirely human and difficult to represent habit; one of those that, in the most silly sauces, I have read and reread a million times without ever bothering to understand where it came from.

In all probability from a song and by now, you who are better than me, will already know which one.

Meanwhile, recently, Vampire Survivors has arrived on mobilesin a guise totally free from any kind of in-app purchase after raiding on Windows, Mac and an always happy, quick, pass up Xboxes.

I’m certainly no better than you, but I’m convinced one thing can be said: more than a further stage in the conquest of our hearts as players, this mobile landing place means the closing of a circle.
The return to the genesis site for a genre, a formula, that Vampire Survivors has gloriously embodied, taking the ride a bit wide.

I’ll try to explain why, but I warn you, we’ll go get it a little wide we too.

You start making love

I invite you to experiment: enter the name of any exclusive game on any other platform in the search box of your mobile store. A triple A, for example.

The search will first give you as results at least a couple of apps that have no correspondence in the title with the keywords you are looking for. The simple explanation of what you have just tested is the following: the search algorithm somehow recognizes the triple A typed by you and, first of all, lists all the clones present on the smartphone.

We’ve talked about this in the pastand we will continue to talk about it in the future with due humor, but yes, it seems that mobile games have a tendency to copy.

Now that we’ve said it, we’re all calmer and can go on as true best buddies. There are no secrets between best friends.

And so let’s reveal the real secret: this thing that mobile games copy reflects only part of the truth. And believe it or not, it’s a tiny fraction.

Love at first sight

Mobile game developers have a lot of potential limits it’s a great privilegesor, that is being able to try new things with an incomparable freedom. Above all, without important swords of Damocles to weigh on the rump.

Especially on the slope of gameplay and game mechanicswe have witnessed and are witnessing every attempt to implement the possibilities of the native platform: between daring inventions to fully explore the gyroscope or touch controls, to take advantage of the habits of the average gamer and from having a gaming device enclosed in a trouser pocket , of the jacket, of the clutch bag.

There are examples of types of games born on mobile for mobile, idle games or endless runners to name a couple; on the other hand, the case in which such a game has ended up tracing real guidelines is rarer. One of them is Magic Survival.

This little Swarovski appeared on stores a few years ago and was distinguished by two fundamental aspects of undoubted caliber. The first, a very special visual component drawn on a backdrop of rampant black. From the writings to the sprites of the characters, everything appears as inked by a pen with a nervous stroke and poor in details.

Then, the gameplay. Something definitely new. Perhaps at the time, the best definition that could be ventured was: a sort of 2-stick shooter but with only one stick, the one linked to movement. Our character orbits an infinite plane where he automatically shoots abominations that try to get close to deal touch damage.

There are only two more elements on the screen: some clock digits that measure the time of the game and a experience bar, which can be accumulated by collecting the orbs scattered on the map. Leveling up gives you access to a choice of numerous skillsthese also accumulate level after level, giving way to unbridled customization, resulting in the construction of different build from the colorful arsenals.

After a couple of games, however, it was quite clear how restrictive and complicated it was actually to define something like this, so unusual was the mix of what you had to deal with.

Because in love he who runs away wins

Shortly thereafter, like mushrooms in autumn, a series of imitators began to emerge.

Soul Knight, a successful roguelite/shooter, added a mode that was practically its own universe interpretation of this formula. Part hack and slash, part bullet hell, part deckbuilder, part shoot em up: at the time of writing this article, there is still no name to classify this formula.

Everyone’s staple is basically always the same: attack and escape, try to survive the waves of enemies and build your own moveset, one level-up at a time, while the time counter grows and increasingly stronger enemies will come to claim our skull .
All strictly to play with the thumb and free to play, with ads here and there and in app purchases for some.

Since many of the titles that have adopted these characteristics have “survival” or “survivors” in the name, we could speak of survivors-like.

Grimnight Heroes: Survivors (android, iOS) for example, the survivor has it in its name, and it is a survivors-like that recalls the imaginary of Castelvaniathrough graphics and a very pleasant musical component.
The emphasis is shifted to attacks a short range, such as sword lashes which imply a different management of distances. Also here the map is no longer infinite but has some delimitations.
After a certain number of minutes, the cpu spawns a boss: nothing apologetic, in most cases it’s just an oversized version of normal monsters with a few more health points, so shawl.

Project Clean Earth(android, iOS) instead, the survivor does not have it in the name but it is still a survivors-like who returns to supply us with ranged weapons, guns, rifleswith reliable auto-aim and the rnice wide angel.

Better to take advantage of it to keep away, then, from the hordes of enemies who are no longer here mere walking hitboxes the size of their sprite but they in turn have the ability to shoot projectiles at us or charge us with rash shots. Our little robot will be customizable between one run and another, shifting the focus to the orientation of power ups who will lead our matches in one direction or another.

Survivor.io(android, iOS) is one of the ones that got the most prominence, a great Vampire Survivors palliative in anticipation of its coming. It is in fact the most entry level one.

The very rounded and colorful graphics, the collection of experience fragments are very easy, especially in the early stages of the runs, and guarantee quick achievements of the first upgrades.

Perhaps a little lacking in the variety of skills but due to the way it is composed, it is the version most suitable for younger gamers.

The Way Home (Android, iOS) is a game that attempts to embed a narrative to this formula, or incorporate this formula into his fiction, oh well in conclusion.

It just has layers procedurally constructed as if it were a roguelite at the end of which a diary page will fill in to tell us something more about what is happening.
It is not very clear in its intentions, but it certainly opens the way for a type of experimentation that we are sure will not be long in coming in the future.

Demon Survival (Android, iOS), by the developer Ruben Pecellin, confirms the intention of a development on stages and the attempt to give a common thread with a minimum of storylines.

This title is characterized by a very pleasant pixel art and unusually high difficulty spikes, unfortunately indicators of a not always excellent balance in the proposed mechanics. It’s also the first title that adds an additional command, the ability to dash by double-tapping in one direction.

Before loving others, love yourself

But we’ve stalled long enough.
So we come to the end of the journey, the return to Ithaca.

Vampire Survivors (android, iOS) doesn’t invent anything new, but what it does it does well, and we love it for what it is.

We love him for his couragebecause he went beyond the Pillars of Herculesand but it is of our land (developed from the very Italian Poncle), because Anthony And Pasqualina are the names of our friends. Because it’s frantic but strategic at the same time and leaves room for interpretation on the choice of how best to position oneself, following the staid rhythm of the movement of our virtual alter ego.

It rewards us in a way adequate and adrenalinelike getting a tiny jolt every time.
It reminds us that things start well and then get complicated over time, that it doesn’t always go as we would have liked but then we stop, start over and everything can be as beautiful again as the first time.

That sometimes simple things don’t take much to end up being the ones that give us the most.

This is how love should always be.