At first, I had planned to write a review about Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania as quickly as possible after its launch on October 31. The new expansion is a crossover between my favourite auto-shooter and one of the sacred franchises of gaming: Castlevania. In other words, it was a must play for me.
Ode to Castlevania is actually the second collaboration between poncle and Konami, after the pair teamed up for Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns, a Contra-themed expansion that was stacked with new content too. I didn’t play Operation Guns very much if I’m honest, as it landed at a bad time for me, so it has been a while since I blasted through the Among Us content earlier this year.
The above being so, when I sat down to play Ode to Castlevania there was an awful lot of new content for me to engage with and, honestly, it was a bit overwhelming. If you’re in a similar position to me, returning after a few months away, you might be daunted by the amount of new stuff there is to do. Don’t worry, though, as it’s actually pretty simple to get started unlocking the new content and I don’t think onboarding new players is going to be a big problem.
A big cast in a bigger castle
There is so much love for Castlevania in this expansion. I mean, if you look at Vampire Survivors more generally, you can see the inspiration of Konami’s gothic series all over poncle’s genre-defining action-roguelike / auto-shooter. I think VS is a game that wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for Konami’s gothic platforming franchise.
For starters, this new expansion comes with tons of characters drawn from across the Castlevania series, including a bunch that I’ve never even heard of. I’ve played a few Castlevania games over the years, but not as many as the folks over at poncle, it would seem.
The infamous Belmonts are obviously the highlight, and Simon was my first unlock, but there are so many more. Throw in the Belnades and a bunch of other minor cast members and you’ve got more than 20 new characters to discover – and I’m sure fans of Castlevania will enjoy going through the steps needed to unlock every one.
Doing so will mean you spend a lot of time exploring the game’s huge new map – the biggest in the game to date (and by a margin). And when I say that it’s “huge” I really do mean it. There is a monstrously big castle for players to explore, as well as the surrounding grounds.
There are a few parts of the map where it’s easy to get trapped, but I actually thought that reinforced the idea of taking on a challenge when you’re ready for it, which is very in-line with the expansion’s metroidvania ancestry. Overall, I was impressed.
Whipping up a storm
Adding further depth is the arsenal of weapons that you now have access to. Naturally, there are new whips to master – eight to be precise – and at one point I had several whip-like weapons equipped at once. That was fun.
As you would expect, there are also thematic spells and magic weapons that hail from the original Konami games. In fact, there are also new special weapon selectors, so players don’t feel like they’re locked into a certain playstyle.
On top of all that stuff, there’s also a bunch of new music for you to enjoy while you play. Apparently there are more than 30 remixed Castlevania themes and melodies, and if you’re a fan of OSTs and video game music, I would say that this is one of the expansion’s standout features.
All told, Ode to Castlevania brings a ton of new content to the table, and if you’re a fan of the classic platformer and/or Vampire Survivors, then I’d say it is an essential purchase. Even more so when you consider the ludicrously low price point for the expansion, which is also discounted at the time of writing (for the record, I think poncle massively undervalues their work).
I’ve held back from calling this a full review in the headline, because there’s so much more for me yet to experience; however, I’ve seen enough to know that Ode to Castlevania is a fantastic upgrade and I’m happy to recommend it to existing VS players and Castlevania fans alike. Vampire Survivors is already the best game in its niche, and this new expansion only pushes it further ahead of the chasing pack.
Ode to Castlevania is out now on PC (Mac, Win), Mobile (Android, iOS), and console (PS, Switch, Xbox). If you’d like to find out about similar auto-shooters and bullet heavens, head to my guide to games like Vampire Survivors for more recommendations!
