Vampire Survivors: We tried the co-op mode

Vampire Survivors – one of the gaming phenomena of recent years. Developed by poncle, an Italian who emigrated to the United Kingdom and whose real name is Luca Galante, this is a game born from a moment of despondency of the author that made it almost a form of personal outlet without expecting much in terms. sales. The millions of copies sold later and the special documentary should definitely showcase something, even if we can’t pinpoint exactly what it is.

The fact is that along with various Mario and Sonic, Nathan Drake and Marcus Phoenix, there are now also various Mortaccio, Rotten Ghoul, Poppea Pecorina and all the other crazy characters inhabiting this strange kaleidoscopic 2D action game in which every effort the player tends to feel the feeling of omnipotence that comes with an arsenal that, when pushed to the max, is capable of destroying tens of thousands of enemies crowding the screen until certain death occurs. Over the course of several months, Poncle has repeatedly updated his work, which has grown exponentially between free and paid content, but is not going to stop. We have just received first try Vampire Survivors co-op modethe foothold of the next update coming out on August 17th, which could finally consecrate it… or at least allow us to share the intoxication with some trusted friends.

Vampire Survivors co-op mode

Accessing the Vampire Survivors co-op mode is very simple: by connecting a second (or third and fourth) controller, the title automatically shows additional players in the phase character selection. Each player chooses his hero, making the necessary assessments, and you can start. Naturally, the available heroes depend on how many of them are unlocked during the game, so the effort made alone will not be lost. That’s all? Yes, the only change to evaluate is the number of items per character: as the number of players increases, the number of weapons and bonus items that each player collects during the game decreases.

Once the level is up and running, it’s easy to see how the co-op mode was designed to not change the balance of the main game, although there are some relevant differences. To begin with, all users play on the same screen, so they need to move together in the same direction if they don’t want to get stuck somewhere. In general, even in the cooperative mode, Vampire Survivors remains the same, with the big difference that the monsters can attack whoever they want. As such, the gameplay is still focused on avoiding hordes after hordes, as picking up weapons automatically requires casualties. differences more than single player is about managing experience points and death. Let’s go in order.

Regardless of the number of participants, experience bar remains unique, and characters level up in order. In this way, the poncle avoids imbalance i.e. the fact that during the game some players can prevail over others by stealing all the experience gems from them. So it doesn’t matter who collects them, because you still have to wait in line to upgrade, unless an amulet of friendship appears in the collection of objects, which allows you to upgrade a random weapon of each player by one point. Please note that an unlocked item cannot be obtained by another player. No La Borra for everyone, sorry. The only stop to overall development is character death, which, unlike what happens in single player, is not final in co-op. When the player’s health bar runs out, a sarcophagus with a timer appears in its place. Once the timer expires, the character can return to life with full health. Also in this case, it’s clear how the mode’s design aims to avoid undue frustration for players by ensuring they can get back to the action, provided everyone else doesn’t end up badly.

Last stasis

I must say that the co-op works very well in the initial stages, but makes it a little less in the final, that is, when you are very strong, and hundreds of enemies are crowding towards the players. problem, as those who have played Vampire Survivors a lot will understand, is that these are slow moments, in which there is often little movement, because the number of opponents on the screen is huge, and there is no way to go around the map anymore. too much. It’s a matter of a few minutes of stasis, during which the games are over, the weapons are at their limit, and all one can do is stand back and watch, making short and controlled movements at best. Here, alone, these moments have their own charm and even excitement, because they represent the climax of the game and in some way the reward for the effort, while in the co-op, static is perceived more, not so much on the screen, but on the faces and in the comments. players who are becoming more and more inactive. Chaos remains fascinating, but becomes more alienating as it unrelentingly reveals a decline in the activity of those present. In short, the lack of things to do during the final waves (no weapons to pick or upgrade, no objects to reach, no boss to keep up with us) tends to chill the mood a bit, which remains very attractive. definitely worth a spin.