The Vampire Survivor-Like Genre has gotten out of hand

[@LushieTilde]

Whoa Gatekeeper Infinity looks like exactly the type of game I wanted to play for a while now! Thank you for showcasing it!

[@DevTwoThousand]

I've spent so many $5 on games like these the past few years and this video is making that number grow exponentionally. It's so cool that the vampire keeps surviving all that, honestly.

[@DampeS8N]

I like how creative people are getting with some of these mashups. It is something you see in some emerging genres and not others. Don't know why. Where are our weird Stardew metroidvanias, or boomer-shooter puzzle games? Hades was like a roguelike dating sim and we saw a few more of those but only a handful of other dating sim mashups.

[@Tuskbumper]

Hades actually did have some dating sim themes huh? You pretty much give your family and friends nectar and share a dialogue and they have heart amounts... I never thought of it like that because there's so few options to date but I see it.

[@HFOfficial]

I'm gonna say it, swarmgrinder is the perfect name for the genre

[@cristoelmago]

It's kinda good name, but I think bullet heaven describes more how VS feels like, where the epicenter of massive damage is you (contrary to bullet hell games, where epicenter is the boss) yet the bullet concept has been almost lost in DMD for example, where most of the characters are melee main weapon and the improvements doesn't necessarily add projectiles

[@MDKcde]

There's already a wad of Doom with roguelike gameplay with a similar theme to Vampire Survivors (with money and random drops) out there. It came out a couple of years before Vampire Survivors even

[@KlausWulfenbach]

I believe the guy who made VS calls it and the other games "Auto Shooters".

[@Pehmokettu]

Magic Survival was the original game that Vampire Survivors copied. And the creator of Vampire Survivors openly admit it that he copied the idea. So it is not fair to call these games Vampire Survivor clones when in reality those are Magic Survival clones.

[@DanteCrowlley]

You literally can't make anything "different" withouth everyone creating a genre/sub on your idea then saturating it to unhealty levels, I can't open Steam n not see 50 billion copies of this game has been years

[@mile.9768]

I just found your channel and immediately subscribed! Your video quality is amazing. Hope to see more from you soon!

[@KunjaBihariKrishna]

This genre is on the cookieclicker tier. Low hanging dopamine fruit harvesting

[@flyingtenseiken2202]

Very good video, I like how you explain your thoughts. I see potential, one small tip I would give is to put steam links on your description to find the games easier(except if it messes up with the algorithm or something), keep up the good work!

[@timsonnenberg6977]

Good thing it suddenly sprang to mind that a few new videos might have gotten uploaded to this channel in the past few weeks. YT really decided to bury that, despite the subscription and notifications.

[@Soul-Burn]

"Auto-shooter" is the name I saw thrown around, because you know, you shoot automatically. Like auto-scroller or auto-battler/chess before it, auto-X makes sense.

[@braveblade87]

Is there VS clone but kinda like Dynasty Warriors hack and slash style?

[@beerasaurus]

When theres money to be made every single person will jump into the pool.

[@potterinhe11]

I was seriously hoping this would be breaking down the reasons why this genre became popular. The overly simplistic gameplay and uncontrollable progression are big reasons why it's simply not appealing to hardcore gamers. This is basically advertising. The title premise is simply misleading.

[@iTheBeep]

Agreed

[@brianschulz7833]

Yeah, I was hoping for a critical analysis about how the genre has exploded (and subsequently stagnated)-which is exactly what the title and thumbnail suggested the video would be. The ACTUAL video is just “here are some games I like” lol

[@potterinhe11]

@@brianschulz7833 That's a much better way to phrase it, thanks.

[@meathir4921]

Have you seen this channel before? It's not a video essay channel

[@potterinhe11]

@meathir4921 Yeah, but it seems like one on the outset. I think i've seen one or two of his other videos where I was under the same wrong assumption.

[@alululululu]

I'm pretty sure gatekeeper had a demo that i played before the prologue lol

[@vizthex]

i called them "autoshooters" until i played a few that made you manually shoot :'c

[@ShirakiAkarin]

I discovered the genre because a gacha that i play (Nikke) had a minigame that was like vampire survivor, it was pretty fun.

[@HealerGuy]

Good call on Halls of Torment. I dig it.

[@TililioChaosLord]

The mobile market is also swarmed with such games... Lots of them plagued with heavy microtransactions and gacha elements... Even the OG Magic Survival changed its progression system to a gacha...

[@shinjiikari1021]

Holo cure go brrrr

[@chaoskiller7972]

If you want another good risk of rain like give deflector a chance!

[@PhriekshoTV]

Just wish it wasn't called Survivor-Like. I respect VS for reigniting public appreciation for the genre, and we have gotten some excellent titles out of it, but... We've had top down horde shooters since the birth of twinsticks with Robotron, a mid-run upgrade system since the original Crimsonland in 03 or 04, and forced-atuo fire/reverse bullet hells with between-run meta progression since at least 2008's Deaths vs. MONSTARS back on New grounds. Not to mention countless others like Dracula Undead Awakening, Monster Shooter, and more. Hate that the public has unfortunately acted like it invented a genre. Sorry, just venting. Wish the games that have been around for decades got their recognition lol

[@LightPink]

Wowza!

[@ingeniousclown]

why do you have codebullet's photo as your profile picture

[@martintanjung5540]

Maybe "run&shot" genre...

[@joelhatterini6392]

Fun distractions? Yes. Worth the time investment? Uh, debatable. They don't need that much thought but also, they don't ask much interaction. I do like the OG Vampire Survivors, but I must admit these feel like the Taco Bell of video games - cheaply produced, cheaply obtained, definitely not good for you, and will ultimately end with you sitting on the toilet.

[@ingeniousclown]

I love the Taco Bell comparison

[@parthmishra5942]

Thank you baldie, very cool

[@rafresendenrafresenden.1644]

You really need to explore arcade games or shmups

[@qasderfful]

Again, Necrosmith. Now Necrosmith 2. Vampire Survivors, but kinda a strategy game.

[@totorosdad7965]

wish more of better games in this genre would come to mobile, they're the perfect thing to keep you occupied at a party full of attractive women you're too scared to look in the eye.

[@ingeniousclown]

how dare you be so real in my comments section 😭

[@cristoelmago]

12:20 it feels a lot anticlimatic to be killing hordes of enemies, being shoot and attacked by them and suddenly being interrupted by a slow kinda epic-pretend talk of a random "god". That's something nobody solved from the VS formulae. Those interruptions are annoying in every game of the genre, thus they didn't understand why VS put it there in the first place: lights, colors and music, like a slot machine prize. For now DMD is to me the best bullet heaven in terms of gameplay due to the implementation of the dash.

[@PHeMoX]

One could argue Risk of Rain predates the whole Vampire Survivors hype by years. It is very much a survival game. But isn't that the point of any roguelike? I think people mess up the genres now. I don't think there really exists such a thing as a 'souls-like' or 'vampire survivors-like'. Just stop it already lol. @18:00 There's not 'easy to make', they are conceptually easy to make. There's a difference. It's why the 'original' Vampire Survivors is still one of the only good ones out there. Keep in mind that wave-based games are not a new thing at all. And I'm sure people know how tower defense games spawned thousands of clones, still to this day. It has nothing to do with 'ease of development'. But more so with people still actually buying and playing those games.

[@FearfulFellow]

Death must die is pretty fun and looks great but I thought the internet speak one of the characters had was absolutely awful. In my opinion its akin to putting rage comics in your game but thats just me

[@Sealab2021dotorg]

These games done correctly are fun and good and you have a lot of haters in your comments section.

[@potterinhe11]

I call it an Auto-Battler. It's definitely a fad genre, as there is nothing substantial to it.

[@iTheBeep]

this style of game is like fidget spinners for gamers bruh. there's so little substance. so it makes sense why the game and its derivatives are so popular.

[@goldenhorse4823]

Wow, such a letdown of a video. The title sounded like you were gonna analyse why this ganre exploded and promptly stagnated and became tideous and boring but this is just an advertisement for them

[@joshmcgootermier2301]

And of all of them around five of them are worth playing that dont feel completely cookie cutter. Love the video sl far... Still only about half way through.

[@duckybananas2004]

I really hate this genre of game… i cannot even fathom how people find these fun. You dont even play the damn game! Its just an auto simulator that requires 0 gameplay… Edit: Poorly said, by “requires 0 gameplay” i mean that the gameplay is so miniscule that it feels like im not even playing the game. At that point why even play it?

[@ingeniousclown]

if you're gonna complain about the genre at least try not to be hyperbolic about it. they're simple, yes, but "requires 0 gameplay" is literally false

[@memetic_hazard]

Because it compresses 50 hours of ARPG progression into a 30 minute game session. It won't appeal to everyone but I can't fathom how you can't see that some players might enjoy it :p Also VS relied heavily on gambling mechanics for that extra dopamine hit.