Blood Dungeon Is A Survivors-Like For People Who Don’t Like Vampire Survivors

Not everybody bought into Vampire Survivors. The 2021 game popularized the idea of "bullet heaven," a reversal of elements normally seen in "bullet hell" games, and made such a huge impact on the industry that some call this subgenre "Survivors-likes." But while Vampire Survivors was a giant leap, it wasn't a wholly satisfying one for some. Blood Dungeon, a new "bullet hell" from Nidhogg and Wheel World developer Messhof, runs with some of the ideas that made Survivors a hit, fleshing them out and helping define the future of the genre Vampire Survivors sired. The chief hallmarks of a "Survivors-like" are automatic combat, hordes of enemies that get stronger with every wave, and the kind of randomized upgrades found in roguelikes. You see it in Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, Brotato, and 20 Minutes Till Dawn, and there's even a Breakout-inspired brick-busting riff called Ball X Pit. The RPG-style progression acts like a hook to keep you playing, but the fundamental passivity of their indirect combat, and the inherent unpredictability and impermanence of those upgrades, can be off-putting. And Vampire Survivors itself has an aesthetic that overtly evokes Castlevania, with very simil…