It’s no secret that Vampire Survivors takes a hell of a lot of inspiration from Castlevania. In its early days, players even accused the developer, Luca Galante, of ripping off certain Castlevania sprites, which Galante later confirmed were actually from asset packs (even if they were almost like a mirror copy). So this latest DLC named Ode to Castlevania is probably a long time coming and is certainly one of the largest bits of extra content the game has ever offered to fans.
“Vampire Survivors would have been a very different game hadn’t it been influenced by Castlevania in the first place, so this is straight up the definition of a dream coming true,” Galante says in a blog post. “This is not a standard DLC pack. This is a celebration of this historical game series, an incredible, full-circle moment in which we have invested all the energy we could muster and then some!”
The Ode to Castlevania DLC, made in collaboration with the Konami team, adds over 20 new characters (pretty much every single Castlevania hero there is). This includes Belmonts like Simon, Richter, Trevor, and Sonia, as well as the Belnades like Sypha, Yoko, and distant relatives like Charlotte Aulin and Maria Renard. There’s also over 40 new weapons for players to check out, like various whips, spells, magic weapons, projectiles, and Glyphs. So it’ll probably take players a good chunk of time to figure out which character and weapon suits them best.
But the most exciting part of this upcoming DLC is probably the sheer scale of the new stage. “The new stage is our biggest one yet and features a lot of different biomes,” the Steam description reads. “You’ll notice new special icons on the map that will help you in navigating the stage.” Galante even goes as far as to say: “Please try not to binge it when it releases: it’s big. IT’S BIG.”
I’m glad that there are measures in place to help players find their way around this massive stage because I’m just used to fighting monsters in the mad forest or maybe the inlaid library. So, this seems like a serious upgrade that I’m probably not ready for.
The final cherry on top is that there’ll also be a great new music selection with over 30 tracks: “A ridiculous amount of remixes of Castlevania tracks from Vampire Survivors historic composers Daniele Zandara and Filippo Vicarelli, but also from fan-favourites Evelyn Lark and Keygen Church!” Patch 1.12 will also introduce Advanced Music Selection, which will help even the most experienced fans pick the right soundtrack for the occasion.
Vampire Survivors: Ode to Castlevania DLC will release on October 31 and will cost $4/ £3/ €4. This may be just as expensive as the base game currently is, but a lot of work has been put into it: “This DLC is absolutely massive,” Galante says. “I know this might sound like a hyperbole, but I’m sure at some point you’ll see why it’s not. The idea was that for the amount of content and production costs, it feels fair to price it about one less money than Vampire Survivors.”