You would be forgiven for thinking at first glance that Warhammer Survivors is just a Games Workshop skinned version of Poncle’s genre-starting Vampire Survivors. I mean get it; after all the two games boast an almost identical visual style, in-game UI and even more broadly, because Warhammer Survivors is so deeply twinned with Vampire Survivors (Poncle is credited as a development partner on the game) on a mechanical level that it’s hard to shake that overbearing feeling of overfamiliarity of pixel-art powered, reverse bullet-hell shenanigans.
Warhammer Survivors PS5 Review
Yet despite such eye-brow raising similarities, Warhammer Survivors nonetheless manages to earnestly carve a path of its own somewhat, thanks to a deft infusion of the Games Workshop source material and some carefully conceived and really rather neat updates to the Survivors-like formula. The first of these new innovations greets you as soon as you boot up Warhammer Survivors, as players quickly find themselves presented with one of two Games Workshop universes to enter – either the fantasy infused Warhammer: Age of Sigmar universe, or the endlessly grimdark Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Essentially two sides of the same coin, each universe has its own characters, levels, music, weapons, rescued heroes, monsters and unlocks that are unique to its particular track (until at least you start unlocking bonus buffs that can be used across both universes much later on). As a direct result of this, each universe plays and feels palpably different to the other in a number of ways that feel both challenging and appropriate.
Of the two, the Warhammer 40K universe is clearly the most challenging and with a steep progression trajectory to boot. Because combat is largely predicated around bullet speed and line of sight devastation, beginners will note that your damage output is both much lower than it perhaps it should be, while enemies are much hardier (and in smaller numbers) than they should be as well, making progression much more of an uphill climb than I would have expected.
The Warhammer: Age of Sigmar universe on the other hand, is the one which arguably hews most closely to that original Vampire Survivors design DNA. This is down to embrace of attack styles which, at least in the early going, are focused around melee and aura style attacks. Put simply, if you had a thing for garlic and Poe Ratcho from Vampire Survivors, then you’ll be right at home laying waste to legions of Skaven and other such bad folk as Age of Sigmar’s Neave Blacktalon.
Something else which separates the Warhammer 40K and Age of Sigmar universes in Warhammer Survivors are the levels themselves. Whereas Warhammer 40K has you generally rumbling through more tightly designed levels with narrow corridors and doors which can be opened (such as the ruined Space Hulk which forms the basis for the second level of the Warhammer 40K universe), Age of Sigmar by contrast very much embraces much more open spaces which allow you to move more and kite enemies much more effectively – something else which contributes to the comparatively reduced difficulty of the Age of Sigmar setting.
Again, this dovetails very much into the differing play styles that each setting embraces in turn. If Age of Sigmar is all about effective crowd control, spatial awareness and enemy kiting, then Warhammer 40K is all about establishing effective killzones and chokepoints wherever you can (though you’re still not safe from the odd waves of enemies which somehow come at you through the walls in a typical Vampire Survivors trope).
Another neat thing which Warhammer Survivors does is that it allows you to gain additional companions and followers that can add to your firepower. Rather than just having all of the projectiles come from the player character, additional weapon types cause an additional friendly unit to spawn which will follow you around, can be upgraded and will spit forth whatever projectile (bolt gun, lasers etc.) that are unique to their particular unit. Though you might argue that the innovation is somewhat of a gimmick, you do have to account for the different trajectory of your additional projectiles now that they come from a different part of the battlefield, so there is that to consider. And, well, it’s just cool to have other people follow you around to help you kill things, isn’t it?
From an audiovisual perspective, Warhammer Survivors fares pretty much as you might expect. Though the Auroch Digital developed effort does very much embrace that same almost 8-bit like pixel-art style which so well defined Vampire Survivors, the Bristolian developer has nonetheless been able to infuse those charmingly chunky pixels with enough detail that they look like appropriate analogues to the various terrors of the Warhammer 40K and Age of Sigmar universes – even if the default Skaven rat sprite looks far too cute for its own good. From the thundering Leman Russ Battle Tank to a raging Ork Boyz Boss, Auroch Digital have done a bang up job of capturing the Warhammer aesthetic in pixel-miniature.
One other thing I do like about the visual presentation of Warhammer Survivors, is how it isn’t afraid to lean into its tabletop origins. Whether you’re collecting official GW paint pots to trigger unlocks, or fighting across an actual tabletop in one map, it’s clear that Auroch Digital (and as also ably evidenced by its recently excellent FPS sequel, Warhammer 40K: Boltgun 2) has both a firm grasp and love of everything Warhammer – and it really shows.
The audio corner of things is also appropriately accomplished in Warhammer Survivors. Whether it’s the epic tunes of Age of Sigmar, or the grungy heavy metal inflected soundtrack of the Warhammer 40K universe, Warhammer Survivors audio offering is easy on the ears and does much to underscore the ferocity of the on-screen action.
What is quite baffling about Warhammer Survivors though, is that there is no co-operative play functionality at launch whatsoever. A valued addition to Vampire Survivors as part of its update roadmap and released just over a year ago now, it is both surprising and a touch disappointing that such a mode didn’t also feature in Warhammer Survivors too, as it would arguably provide Warhammer Survivors with a valuable pair of extra legs to take it beyond what its solo offering can presently provide.
Much like Vampire Survivors, with which it can boast so much commonality, Warhammer Survivors also represents substantial value for money too with an outrageous bang-for-buck ratio to say the least. Coming in at less than McDonald’s Big Mac (medium) meal, though it can feel a little galling thanks to the relatively slow progress of the Warhammer 40K universe, there are enough levels to complete, progression milestones to hit, heroes to unlock and secrets to uncover that Warhammer Survivors will keep you hopeless engaged for days and weeks to come.
Whether you’re laying waste to waves of Tyranids and Ork Boyz in the Warhammer 40K universe with your trusty bolt gun, or tearing through waves of Skaven with a storm of blessed axes and blades, Warhammer Survivors does a decent enough job of overlaying Games Workshop’s most popular setting onto the Vampire Survivors blueprint which at times, feels a little too familiar and which also misses the co-op experience which has enhanced Poncle’s game so much.
Warhammer Survivors is out now on PS5.
Review code kindly provided by PR.
Story via the original publisher. Read the original article
