A newly unveiled Warhammer game called Warhammer Survivors looks strikingly similar to Vampire Survivors, and it already appears to be drawing attention from fans of both franchises. Vampire Survivors launched in Early Access in 2021 and quickly became a massive hit among roguelike and bullet heaven fans, eventually inspiring an entire subgenre now commonly referred to as survivors-like games.
Despite its popularity, Vampire Survivors never received an official sequel. Instead, it spawned another spiritual successor called Vampire Crawlers, which takes the original formula and adds a deck-building dungeon crawler twist. Although this spin-off has received very good reviews, it has largely failed to satisfy fans eager for a fresh Vampire Survivors experience. That said, this new Warhammer game may finally be able to scratch that itch.
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Vampire Survivors’ Studio Was Involved in Warhammer Survivors’ Development
There is a very good reason why Warhammer Survivors looks like a Vampire Survivors spin-off: According to developer Auroch Digital, the game was built using Poncle’s engine. For those unfamiliar, Poncle is the studio behind Vampire Survivors. It remains unclear whether the two developers collaborated on the game itself or if the partnership is limited to licensing the engine.
What’s That Weapon?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
Warhammer Survivors PC Requirements
|
OS |
Windows 10 Home 64-Bit |
|---|---|
|
CPU |
Dual Core 2.4 GHz x86-64 |
|
RAM |
4 GB RAM |
|
GPU |
GTX 750 or equivalent graphics card |
|
Storage |
5 GB available space |
Beyond the visual similarities, Warhammer Survivors closely mirrors Vampire Survivors when it comes to its core roguelike, bullet heaven gameplay loop. Players enter a map with a basic weapon, defeat enemies to collect XP drops, gradually upgrade their weapons and builds, and try to survive against increasingly massive hordes. The game also features plenty of familiar mechanics, including Vampire Survivors-esque chests, power-ups, and weapon evolutions.
Based on what has been shown in the free demo, Warhammer Survivors appears to introduce a few creative twists to the tried-and-true formula popularized by games like Vampire Survivors. For example, mini-bosses and stage bosses each seem to have their own set of unique movement mechanics. Unlike the original Vampire Survivors, bosses do not simply approach the player and deal contact damage. Instead, they can attack at different intervals and use repeating patterns that players will need to learn and memorize to defeat them.
Scratch & Peek
Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as
possible.
Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.
EasyMediumHardPermadeath
As for its setting, Warhammer Survivors features two distinct universes: Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar. Players can choose which world they want to play in at the start of the game, with each one slightly affecting gameplay, items, and available characters. Warhammer fans will also recognize several familiar faces, including Knight Commander Pask, Marneus Augustus Calgar, and Sebastian Yarrick. Needless to say, the game’s weapons and upgrades also draw inspiration from other entries in the Warhammer franchise.
At the time of writing, the Warhammer Survivors demo on Steam has surpassed 2,400 concurrent players (via SteamDB), which is a solid start for a single-player game that has not even launched yet. One thing worth noting is that the demo does not currently support user reviews, making it difficult to gauge how players feel about Auroch Digital’s latest release. Warhammer Survivors is currently targeting a full launch on Steam in 2026. However, the developer has also confirmed plans to bring the game to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and both Nintendo Switch systems later in the same year.
- Released
-
December 17, 2021
- ESRB
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T For Teen // Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
-
Luca Galante
- Publisher(s)
-
Luca Galante
