Uh-oh, I can't stop playing Vampire Survivors' new roguelike deckbuilder thanks to this free Steam Next Fest demo

Vampire Survivors sunk its fangs into me as it did many. Its mix of reverse bullet hell and run-based roguelike upgrades proves incredibly moreish as ludicrously massive waves of enemies crumble under a bevy of attack animations around my hunter. A surprise success, many developers have tried to recapture its lightning-in-a-bottle quality. Vampire Crawlers gets close. After spending a bunch of time playing its free Steam Next Fest demo, its true stroke of genius is taking the Vampire Survivors formula in a new direction.

Coming from developer Poncle, who also created Vampire Survivors, this is a true followup that feels in safe hands – and it's well worth trying the demo for yourself (you can check out our Steam Next Fest guide for more information on the demo festival). Instead of just recreating the original Vampire Survivors with new twists or trying to dial up the chaos, Vampire Crawlers instead identifies what worked so well about the first game and applies it to another genre – the roguelike deckbuilder. I'm always up for slinging some cards, so that's more than enough to hook me, perhaps even more so than Vampire Survivors.

Unbeating heart of the cards

Vampire Crawlers plays out as a first-person dungeon crawler, having you move tile-by-tile through each floor through connecting hallways and rooms. Which means it's a lot less immediately chaotic than Vampire Survivors, as you move into enemies on the map to initiate a battle rather than being endlessly swarmed by foes with no room to breathe.

In battle, you're dealt a hand of cards, your starting build determined by your 'crawler' character, fulfilling the same role as the survivor you control in Vampire Survivors. So far, I've been having an easier time with starting crawler Antonio Belpaese, a whip-wielding hero who gives you a healthy opening mix of zero-mans whip attack cards with an armor and might card to match. Imelda, on the other hand, can supercharge your experience point growth so you'll eventually be more powerful by the end of a dungeon crawl, or Gennaro is built around increasing attack power.

Mana determines the cards you can play each turn before you have to allow enemies to either advance or attack. Encounters start out with simple single rows of enemies, but in true Vampire Survivors fashion, you're quickly taking on masses of enemies that stretch far back on each screen.

The trick comes from Vampire Crawlers' combo system, which multiplies the effects of your cards when played sequentially. Playing a zero-mana card will boost your one-mana card which will then boost your two-mana card. Or, you can squeeze in two boosts of zero-mana to one-mana, perhaps. You're limited by your max mana per turn, but some upgrades you can find on the map can boost that permanently for the run, while some cards can do so temporarily – likewise with other stats from power to range, or even hand size.

Before I know it, I'm summoning waves of twisting bibles, fireballs, and then slotting on rainbow armor to tank enemy attacks, with almost unlimited choice because of how many cards I can hold in hand. Equipping gem slots into each card means I can customize my chaotic hands further, whether that's simply doubling damage to really power-up my combos, returning a card back to hand so I can re-use it, or allowing a draw on play so I can keep dipping back into my deck for more moves to make.

While Vampire Crawlers can be a bit slower to get going than Vampire Survivors, so far I've found it just as much of a blast to play, and being able to take my time figuring out combos is appreciated. It remains to be seen if it can extend that feeling across multiple zones, but having played and finished full runs of both the forest and library zones it's off to a terrific start.

Vampire Crawlers is releasing on PC on a date still TBC.

Zero Parades proves itself a worthy Disco Elysium successor in this free Steam Next Fest demo that has me debating music formats, trading anime swords, and feeling like a fool for doubting this follow-up