Vampire Survivors changed the entire trajectory of indie gaming when it turned a one-dollar auto-attacking experiment into one of the most influential games of the decade. Now developer poncle is trying something unexpected: taking that same energy and channeling it into a turn-based deckbuilder. Vampire Crawlers: The Turbo Wildcard from Vampire Survivors launches on April 21 across Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch, with day-one availability on Xbox Game Pass.
Developed in partnership with Nosebleed Interactive, Vampire Crawlers is the first official spinoff in the Vampire Survivors universe, and poncle has been upfront about its ambitions. This is intended to be the start of a series of genre experiments, each applying the Vampire Survivors philosophy — accessibility, replayability, and affordability — to an entirely different style of game.
Turboturn: A Deckbuilder That Refuses to Wait
The central hook of Vampire Crawlers is what poncle calls the Turboturn system. In most deckbuilders, turns play out methodically: you draw cards, consider your options, play them one at a time, and then the enemy responds. Vampire Crawlers accelerates that entire loop. You arrange your cards in ascending mana order to create cascading combo chains, and the game stacks and executes your inputs in a way that minimizes downtime between actions.
The result is a deckbuilder that feels faster than it has any right to. You can still play methodically if you want — lining up combos, thinking through mana curves, planning multiple turns ahead — but the game also rewards players who trust their instincts and slam cards down without overthinking. Each step in a combo multiplies the next card's effect, creating a satisfying escalation that mirrors the exponential power fantasy of the original Vampire Survivors.
If you have ever played Slay the Spire or Inscryption and wished the turns moved faster, this is the pitch. Poncle describes it as turn-based combat without the trademark waiting, and the demo that ran on Steam earlier this year suggests they have largely delivered on that promise.
Familiar Locales, New Perspective
Vampire Crawlers takes players through dungeon environments inspired by the stages of the original game. You will recognize the moonlit fields, haunted libraries, and gothic ruins, but you are experiencing them from a new perspective — navigating rooms, interacting with walls and environmental objects, and encountering enemies in procedurally generated layouts.
Deck progression works through a leveling system. As you advance through runs, you unlock new cards and pursue weapon evolutions — another callback to the original game's progression loop. The roguelite structure means each run plays out differently, with card rewards, enemy encounters, and dungeon layouts shifting to keep things fresh across dozens of hours.
Price, Platforms, and What Comes Next
At just ten dollars, Vampire Crawlers follows the same pricing philosophy that made the original Vampire Survivors such an easy recommendation. The game launches simultaneously on Steam, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch on April 21, with Xbox Game Pass including it from day one. A Switch 2 listing has also appeared on the eShop, and iOS and Android versions are planned for later in 2026.
Poncle has committed to post-launch support based on player feedback, and the studio has framed Vampire Crawlers as the beginning of a broader strategy. If this deckbuilder resonates, expect to see the Vampire Survivors universe expand into other genres in the years ahead. For now, the game arrives tomorrow with a clear pitch: everything you love about Vampire Survivors, remixed into a card game that somehow still feels like it is running at full speed.
