Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania Review

Vampire Survivors’ latest crossover is finally here! With poncle collaborating with Konami again after Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns, we now have Ode to Castlevania as part of its ever-growing cast of insanity. This is the biggest DLC to come to the game adding in 20+ characters, 40+ weapons, 30+ new music tracks, and a new map to survive in. Now, I might be rusty on my definition of irony, but I find it really funny that the very series that inspired Vampire Survivors now has an official crossover with it. I mean, sure there’s been expansions for Among Us and Contra, but this is just hilarious to think about! Even funnier, now the game finally includes vampires.

FInally, you can survive vampires.

Ahem, anyways, let’s get into it. Once you download the DLC, you should have the map “Ode to Castlevania” available from the stage select. The new map is actually quite unique compared to the base game’s selection, as it’s a handcrafted area consisting of the outdoors and Dracula’s castle, and the castle is really damn big with all sorts of secrets hidden within. With only 30 minutes until you are inevitably killed by the Reaper, it isn't possible to explore the entire thing all in one go on your first run. Parts of the castle are even locked off until you beat certain bosses. Thankfully, once you do beat them, you permanently unlock a fast travel point so on your next run, you can go where you please. It’s really cool slowly but surely fighting your way through the castle like an actual Castlevania game.

What threw me through a loop were some sections of the castle forcing you into a 2D section and it feels extremely weird. While enemies can spawn from anywhere on the screen, as usual, you can only walk along the ground and jump, and the jumping itself feels a little awkward. This sudden shift can screw you over once the amount of enemies ramps up so it’s best to avoid these areas as much as possible.

Pillage Dracula's castle for all its worth. You'll need it all.

But what kind of Castlevania DLC is it if you can’t play as one of the many vampire slayers themselves? Many of the unlockable survivors are past play characters across the Castlevania series, each with their own unique starting weapons that can evolve into serious monster-slaying weapons of doom. From Simon Belmont’s Wind Whip to Alucard’s Alucart Sworb (yes, that’s how it’s spelt), they’re very cool to use. And since you can unlock these weapons for other characters to use, it can lead to the very amusing Whips-only build. They’re all fun to use and it feels good to find their weapon evolutions which can seriously get crazy with their effects. However, along with many characters from across the series, you’ll also be encountering the various foes that need to be killed. The monster sprites are directly ripped from various Castlevania games, so for fans of the series you’ll find yourself facing familiar faces in much bigger numbers than normal.

The new music tracks are great, with remixes of both Vampire Survivors and Castlevania soundtracks being included. They are all very nice to listen to while slaying everything in your path and you should feel nostalgic hearing familiar tunes remade into incredible pieces. But, if you aren’t feeling those remixes, then the original music is also available to select. My personal favourites include “Vampire Killer”, “Victorian Fear”, and “Reincarnated Soul”. You should really listen to the soundtrack, which has all been uploaded on poncle’s YouTube channel.

Taking Alucard to the Bone Zone! (Wow, that's dirty)

Major spoiler for the DLC. Do not read further if you want to discover everything yourself.

Okay, so what I liked most about the DLC is that it doesn’t tell you the whole truth. It is accurate there are 20+ characters and 40+ weapons… by the mere fact that it’s actually more than double that amount. That’s right, there’s way more content than what’s been advertised, actually eclipsing the base game with how much it includes. A reminder, this is ONLY £2.99.

This isn't everything.

If you want to see the credits and unlock the rest of the DLC, you’ll need Richter. In order to unlock him you’ll need to jump through quite a few hoops; unlocking different characters, evolving certain weapons, and beating certain bosses with specific survivors. It can be annoying if you haven’t unlocked enough stuff from the base game and need to grind out both coins and characters, but it's just more reasons to play more and the completion reward for doing everything is downright broken.

I already loved Vampire Survivors for its addictive gameplay and general insanity, and even though I haven’t played a single Castlevania game, the Ode to Castlevania DLC makes me love the game even more than before. It includes heaps of content and replayability for only a single-digit price. I’ve seen full-priced games and their DLC combined offering significantly less stuff than this ($90 mount, anyone?). It’s incredible and I really do recommend getting this just for the sheer amount of love and effort in this single crossover. What an awesome circle this made.