The unlikely yet incredibly exciting prospect of combining one of the finest indies of the decade, Vampire Survivors, with both the sci-fi and fantasy universes of Warhammer. It’s finally here: this is DayOne‘s review of Warhammer Survivors, tested on Xbox Series X and PC!
Auroch Digital feat. Poncle – I Will Survive (2026 Remix)
If you know me, it’s no secret that I’m a fan of the bullet heaven/survivors-like genre. These mechanically simple, yet ultra-addictive roguelike experiences have consumed so many hours of my life, starting from my passion for Vampire Survivors – my 2022 game of the year, that one. That game got increasingly wild updates and DLCs throughout the years, with even a massively ambitious Castlevania-themed expansion, bringing so much content that it may as well be a whole new game.
It is perhaps the scope of that downloadable content that may have convinced Italian developer poncle to consider doing exactly that – full-blown, brand new games based on the marvelous base gameplay of Vampire Survivors – often via collaborations with other developers. These include the upcoming battle royale variant crossover with the manga/anime Jujutsu Kaisen, and this Warhammer-based collab by Auroch Digital of Boltgun (and its sequel‘s) fame. Devs who, unfortunately, have been in the news for notable layoffs recently as well. This is a game I already tried back in May, then in updated form last month, when we’ve also found out it’s going to launch day one into Game Pass Ultimate. Now that the full version is finally here, let’s get to it, shall we?
Universal Pictures
Warhammer Survivors is effectively two games in one, sort of, as players can choose to play either in Age of Sigmar, also known as Warhammer Fantasy, or the more sci-fi themed grimdark Warhammer 40,000. Magic and fantasy creatures, or interplanetary conflicts, your call, as both universes have their own levels, characters, enemies, weapons and more, all with their own permanent progressions, unlocks and even playtimes. There are a handful of power-ups, weapons and stages that cross over between said universes, but for the most part, they are two separate experiences. They play almost exactly the same, but they both have their own unique quirks.
And how is that gameplay, anyway? Well, it is basically almost a carbon copy of Vampire Survivors for the most part – by design, of course, given the fact it’s literally meant to be a crossover title on that title’s original engine. Players start weak and slow against a handful of enemies in a top-down 2D arena, having to survive stronger and stronger waves by powering themselves up. This happens via collecting the XP shards from eliminated foes, which in turns lets you level up and choose random upgrades in a roguelike formula. Future runs will have new characters, new stages, and the permanent upgrades will make us more powerful from the start as well. A classic bullet heaven experience through and through, basically.
Back to the struggle
It’s funny looking back at when I first started playing Vampire Survivors in early access on PC in 2022. It was difficult to survive more than a handful of minutes, as the enemies would get too strong too fast for me, as I was yet not very skilled at optimizing XP pick-ups, choose the right upgrade paths, strategically use the power-ups on stage and so forth. Now, I restarted that game’s progression several times, as I since started playing it on several different platforms. While sure, the game saw balance changes throughout the years, I find myself beating the opening stage on the first try usually – as by now, I know how to best use the game’s logic to my advantage.
Warhammer Survivors takes me back, because I’ve found myself struggling to make big progress in the first stages for a while. The game’s new enemy types, weapons and balance system makes it difficult to find efficient ‘cheese strategies’, with most characters having a larger hitbox too, making it more difficult to parkour between enemy hordes without taking hits. There’s also more enemies doing charage attacks, projectiles start entering the frame earlier, so in general I would say that it’s a harder experience at first. With slow-moving characters and a tough skill check, the game certainly could leave a better first impression, and without some balance updates I can see a lot of players struggling to find the experience fun and rewarding, with the power creep difficult to make happen. I went into many matches knowing fully well I will not reach the end, but I’ll merely collect the necessarily unlockables on the map to make progress.
And then…
At some point however, various new interesting weapons enter the frail, and the permanent upgrades make our characters faster and more efficient. Suddenly, our efficiency increases, and as we get to find some of the wackier new power-ups on the map, it becomes easier to get through the stages. And this is when, finally, Warhammer Survivors reaches its full potential. The combat encounters are actually more mechanically demanding, despite featuring automated attacks, much thanks to the game’s quirks. Weapon evolutions and synergies are similar to Vampire Survivors, sure, but there’s a follower system, as not every playable character can use any weapon. If we find a weapon we can’t use, a different character will become our follower, making them follow our every move. No hitbox or healthbars for them, but their attacks not being centered around us is an interesting tactical twist.
Then there’s the increasingly wild unique enemies, appearing every couple minutes, some of which offer some rather unique patterns – such as a moon-shaped enemy whose attack patterns keep changing depending on their mood. And then, instead of each stage ending on the Grim Reaper attempting to snatch the player, a massive Extremis Boss joins the fight, and the level isn’t over until one of us bites the dust. These boss encounters are surprisingly wild and varied, and they often require very specific tactics to overcome their invulnerability windows and unique patterns, making for some of the most interesting battle puzzles seen in the genre thus far.
Depth over width
Ideas such as these make Warhammer Survivors surprisingly fresh to play, even to players like me who have put hundreds of hours into Vampire Survivors and countless more in other bullet heaven titles. There is however a catch, and that is the difficult comparison with Vampire Survivors itself. This Warhammer spin-off costs slightly more, understandably, even though Game Pass Ultimate players do not have to pay for this one separately. Poncle‘s masterpiece has been expanded to ridiculous levels by now – local and online co-op, an Adventure mode, a hilariously large amount of stages and characters, game-bending endgame stages and meme levels and so forth. Warhammer Survivors does not have these features, as of today, inevitably appearing as a lesser game by comparison. It always feels unfair to compare a new game to one that received content updates for years, but as of today, this is a much smaller game than Vampire Survivors at a slightly higher price.
Therefore, if you’re looking for the next twist on the Vampire Survivors formula and the idea of a Warhammer spin-off excites you, absolutely do not skip Warhammer Survivors – it’s on virtually every platform, it isn’t demanding on the system and and it’s quite cheap. It’s full or Warhammer goodness from two universes, and it introduces various twists the make the combat more varied and engaging. A slow start and the game being a lot less varied and content-filled than Poncle‘s masterpiece do limit the game’s long-term potential, but Warhammer‘s survivors-like romp is a blast, one that will keep me glued to the screen for quite some time even after this review.
A copy of the game was provided to us by the developer. Warhammer Survivors releases on November 10th priced at 7.99 USD/7,49 EUR/6.39 GBP with a 10% discount during the launch window, and it’s available on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Switch 2, but also iOS and Android. It is a Day One release on Game Pass Ultimate and it’s also Play Anywhere on Microsoft’s platform.
Warhammer Survivors
Played on
Xbox Series X, PC
PROS
- The Warhammer tie-in works very well
- Various very smart changes to make the combat more tactical and exciting
- Essentially two games in one
- Dozens of hours of gameplay at least
CONS
- It’s easy to feel slow and underpowered in the first hours
- It doesn’t have a lot of Vampire Survivors’ features, such as the local and online co-op
Story via Playday One. Read the original article
