It was almost too perfect when Vampire Survivor’s first Konami collaboration was with Contra. It seemed like, for a quirky game blatantly, shamelessly paying homage to Castlevania while leaning on a “zero vampires” bit, actually doing Castlevania would harsh the vibe. At the same time, when Ode to Castlevania does show up and dump an absurd amount of everything possible in just its debut trailer, things just felt right. Instead of risking the bit, it turns out the folks who made an accidentally tremendous indie hit have enough sicko energy to power the world’s most thorough tribute to Castlevania in a world that’s seen several instances of this exact thing in just the past year or two.
After rolling credits following a final boss fight I am still somewhat at a loss to describe (thank goodness for spoiler culture in this case), I’m struggling to decide where to start with Ode to Castlevania. It’s the biggest, most ambitious DLC yet for Vampire Survivors, and it’s amazing to see exactly what poncle was able to cram into its own framework without causing it to crumble like Dracula’s castle after a Belmont runs through it. It isn’t just about the volume of new characters and items (which is absurd by itself), but how it structurally pays homage to Castlevania with its new stage as well.
Almost by necessity, the dials are turned back a bit for the Ode to Castlevania level. You don’t level up as fast, and the castle itself is enormous. On the map you’ll notice fixed points that spawn bosses from the series, and several of those bosses unlock warp points, like the ones you’d expect to cart you around the map in the “Metroidvania” games. By staggering out your ability to delve further into the castle and by scaling back your power, Vampire Survivors gets a little of its roguelike edge back while simultaneously nodding to that “search action” style structure the back half of Castlevania wrapped into its identity. It’s a neat twist on a formula you’ve probably beaten to death by now.
Meanwhile, the rest of the DLC is all about diving into this latest pool of characters, trying them all out, and painstakingly evolving their weapons to unlock the next thing. This made me realize I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy Vampire Survivors casually up until this point, as aside from some guides work in the past I’ve never done capital-c Coverage until now. Figuring that stuff out on a time crunch is a different experience entirely, and it made me well aware how that aspect of my life can impact the way I play a game for better and for worse. That’s a whole other can of discourse worms, but for now I will say that when I guessed right on the key to a weapon evolution based on context clues, I was a happy boy!
And there’s a real delight in seeing how certain characters you wouldn’t expect, like Castlevania 3’s Grant Danasty or Bloodlines’ Eric Lecarde, are absolutely busted. Leon Belmont, your starting character and not a particularly popular protagonist, is also a massive powerhouse. These examples (and more) in many ways show how the devs aren’t just fans of Castlevania, but did their homework and put a lot of creative effort into adapting the rabbit hole that is Castlevania lore into their gameplay systems. There’s plenty of room for goofy excess as well, and by the end of the story I was running an endless mode build with Richter Belmont (the best and worst Belmont, IYKYK) holding every whip weapon all at once and dominating the whole castle just because it seemed like a funny idea.
Even though I saw the credits roll and experienced the unhinged culmination of everything Vampire Survivors feels like (in retrospect) it has been building to, I’m not finished. There’s stuff left undiscovered and unexplored I can’t even begin to guess the methods for, and the fact that is the case blows my mind. This DLC is like watching a bunch of kids tear through a candy store equipped with burlap sacks and chainsaws. There’s an unhinged energy to it, but every bit of excess and absurdity is full of tangible love and respect for where all of this came from in the first place. I didn't even mention the soundtrack yet, which is full of excellent arrangements of classics and obscure bangers. I can’t wait to jump back in, after my wrist stops hurting from the weird ways I’ve been holding my Steam Deck all week.
Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania is available on October 31, 2024 for the PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X|S, and mobile. A PC code for the DLC was provided by the publisher for this article.
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replyLucas White posted a new article, Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania is an unhinged tribute to its inspiration
