Vampire Survivors is getting mini story campaign Adventures in next update

03.11.2023 - 17:31 / eurogamer.net

If you've ever paused mid-slaughter during a game of Vampires Survivors and thought to yourself, 'Yes, but what's my motivation?', you'll want to ready yourself for the minimalist survival RPG's next free update. As per studio Poncle's latest development update, a new story driven, lore-infused Adventures mode will soon be on the way.

Poncle has teased Adventures before, describing them as a remix of content adding a bit of extra «flavour» through new stage progression and descriptions. Now though, via the medium of FAQ it's gone into considerably more detail, explaining Adventures are essentially self-contained miniature story campaigns — some available as part of the base game, others tied to specific DLC — that'll follow the game's cast of Survivors on a series of «wacky sidequests.»

Adventures unlock at set points during the main game or their associated DLC, and feature a unique progression path that'll see players starting from scratch (main game unlocks won't be affected) using a specific character and item set-up as they attempt to complete a series of custom challenges with a limited arsenal. Those challenges might, for instance, require players to survive a certain amount of time or kill a set amount of enemies, and there'll be bits of lore text forming a mini story arc along the way.

Adventures, which will also support local co-op, debut as part of Vampire Survivors' upcoming v1.8 update. This'll incorporate two base game Adventures — one with a relatively serious storyline that'll demonstrates how the new feature reworks classic content, the other being «absurd» — and there'll also be a third Adventure linked to Vampire Survivors' The Legacy of the Moonspell DLC.

Poncle predicts these initial Adventures should take around an hour or two each for players to complete, but says later Adventures — which'll be included in future free updates and paid DLC, alongside the usual content drops of new weapons, characters, and stages — «might be longer or shorter». And once you've finished an Adventure (which'll reward you with a cache of Coins to spend in the main game), it'll be available to replay in an «Ascended» form. Essentially, this means it'll reset to the first stage but you get one Ascension Point to spent on boosting a stat of your choice by 20% to make a replay «more rewarding». Subsequent completions will each reward one additional Ascension Point and on it goes.

There's no release date for Vampire Survivors' v1.8 update yet, but when it does finally arrive, Adventures will be available on all platforms — which is to say Steam, Xbox, Switch, iOS, and Android. And while you wait, there's always the recent Chilling Update to keep you amused.