Vampire Survivors' Castlevania DLC Is An Essential Part Of The Base Game

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Whenever someone talks about the perfect or best game for the Steam Deck, Vampire Survivors is the first game mentioned. It’s an extremely addicting experience, very cheap, and a perfect fit for the Deck with great performance and very low battery drain. It goes without saying how really great the game is, and developer Poncle has been crushing it with updates and DLC to keep adding content to the game and make it even better. That’s why I couldn’t resist when I got the offer to play and review the upcoming Ode to Castlevania DLC, I slammed the keys on my keyboard and started diving into the DLC without hesitation.

For some context, Vampire Survivors is a small game that has you choosing a character, who all have their own special abilities, and going around maps, destroying scores of enemies, leveling up, choosing new gear and upgrades that enhance your character with new weapons or stat changes (6 weapons and 6 accessories), and hopefully surviving for 30 minutes to beat the stage. There are a plethora of upgrades to choose from, and each one can be upgraded further to increase the effects of whatever they do.

It’s a simple concept overall but one that is layered within a more strategic system. Choosing weapons and upgrades that complement each other is essential and can even lead to evolving your weapons to becoming even more powerful. Depending on the map you play on, you can also find weapons and accessories to equip, which can go over your limit if you have 6 different weapons/accessories already. There are also tons of unlockable from new characters to new weapons and hidden stages, and it’s really just all so addicting.

And then we have the Ode to Castlevania DLC, which adds so much more content on top of it, all based around Castlevania.

Let’s start with the new characters. The DLC adds over 20 characters to play as, representing the biggest characters from the series like Simon Belmont and Alucard. Each one has a new weapon, and they are all quite unique. I was a little worried that all of the Belmont characters had whips and they wouldn't stand out, but each one plays very differently and I absolutely had favorites (Sonia with her sideways tornado Sonic Whip).

We also have a brand new, giant map that allows us to explore the castle grounds, and it is loaded with bosses and some awesome secrets. Like the Contra map, we also have a boss that changes our perspective to only go left and right to fight a doppelganger, and the changing shift is always a nice touch. The sheer amount of stuff to find, bosses to fight, and secrets to discover is insane. They mention that this is their biggest map so far, and it really is.

Then, we have new and intriguing items. The highlight of these are special items that allow you to select different weapons, spells, or even little familiar creatures to help you out. These are weapon selectors and you can use them for each character, letting you select whatever starting weapon you want for your favorite character. For example, any Belmont character can select any type of Whip, so if I want to use Trevor's ability with the Sonic Whip from Sonia, we can!

On top of all of this, we have over 30 new pieces of music that is either original from the Castlevania games or remixed to fit more for Vampire Survivors. I have really fallen for some of these tracks, and it feels a bit nostalgic and exciting to play through the DLC as a fan of Castlevania.

To sweeten the deal, there's also a HUGE secret to discover with the DLC that we don't want to spoil, but it will actually blow your mind. When I was told, I actually gasped because what the DLC offers is fairly priced, but with this secret, it eclipses what any other DLC for Vampire Survivors has done.

So, after reading all of this, you are probably asking yourself if I found the DLC worth the $3.59 price tag right? Well, the answer is a resounding yes. The game is already so addicting, so add in even more characters, a ridiculously huge map with secrets and tons of bosses, great new music, wonderful new weapons and items, and so much more, and we have probably one of the best DLC I have seen for any game. I may be feeling this is a little more worthwhile due to the price of it and the base game, but if you are even remotely a fan of Vampire Survivors, this is an essential purchase.

And yes, performance on the Steam Deck holds strong. Capping at 60 FPS will be best for some very busy scenes, but for the most part, it will stick to 90 on OLED with 9W battery dain.

You can get the Ode to Castlevania DLC for Vampire Survivors for $3.59 at 10% off until November 7th.

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