The Scale

The Monstergirl Scale

For determining if a game is like Vampire Survivors

-1 to 1 in 60 categories

Genre

1. Rogue-Lite 2. Auto-Shooter / Auto-Battler 3. Real Time 4. Top-Down or Isometric 5. Direct Control of Single Avatar Camera Usually Centered on Player 6. Arcade Style (Little Plot) 7. Bullet Heaven A Many Player Shots 8. Bullet Heaven B Few Enemy Shots / Damage on Touch Focus

Simple Movement Focused Controls

9. One Handed Play (With Controller) 10. Move Only 11. No Dash / Dodge 12. No Trigger 13. No Special Move Button 14. No Aiming 15. No On Attack / On Aim Movement Penalty

Survival Game Modes

16. Timed Survival / Boss Mode 17. Endless Mode 18. Unannounced & Organic Waves 19. High Enemy Count / "Horde"

Power Progression

20. Level on XP Gain Run Event 21. Streamlined Level Choices 22. Currency Based Meta Unlocks 23. Goal Based / Find Based Meta Unlocks

Depth of Buildcrafting

24. Build Crafting 25. Impactful Level / Item Options 26. Weapon Combination / Evolution 27. Interesting Weapon, Item & Ability Synergy 28. Invincible / Broken Builds Possible

Map / Level Features

29. Explorable Map 30. BIG Maps 31. XP / Currency on Ground 32. Health on Ground 33. Temp Powerups / Items on Ground 34. Treasure Chests / Loot Events 35. Vendors on Map / Run

Depth and Breadth of Content

36. Enemy Variety 37. Elites & Bosses 38. Many and /or Interesting Characters 39. Many Challenges 40. Multiple Stages 41. Difficulty Modifiers 42. Bestiary / Lore 43. Achievements 44. Secrets

Aesthetics

45. Retro / Pixel Art Style 46. Damage Numbers 47. Lo-Fi Charm 48. Bumpin' Music 49. Unique / Fun Names / Writing 50. Subtle Humor

Gameplay Vibe Check

51. Panic & Zen Duo Vibe 52. Over The Top 53. "One More Run" / Short Runs 54. Difficulty Ramp 55. Fun Ramp 56. Low Price 57. Technical Check / Functional Polish 58. Controls Check 59. Fun Check 60. Feels like VS

How to Tally

-1 to 1 in 60 Categories
Scoring in 10ths
(example: -.4 or .8)

1: Feature Fully Present
0: Feature Missing
-1: Critical Difference

Tip:

Rely Heavily on Vibes!

Report as number out of 60,
Or Convert into 10 Point Score.

The scale "assumes you're
ranking a very "similar game.
In theory a final score can be negative.

See Definitions for a full explanation of every category on the similarity and review scales. See scoring guide for detailed examples.

Comparison Scale Examples:

Vampire Survivors

10.0 | 60

Halls of Torment

9.0 | 53.9

Chess Survivors

8.0 | 48.0

20 Minutes Till Dawn

6.8 | 40.8

Risk of Rain

5.1 | 30.7

Hades

4.4 | 26.3

Returnal

3.2 | 19.4

Rogue

1.0 | 6.1

Elden Ring

-1.9 | -11.3

Call of Duty 2

-3.8 | -22.9

Fun at Home!

Score games yourself with The Scorecard!

Argue about it on the playground!

Patch Notes Archive

Home » Updates » Patch Notes Feed » Nuclear Throne » November 6th: AMA + Update 99 Release!

Patch notes are imported from steam. There may be errors. This mostly exists so I can stay on top of them to update the features in our tags and scoring categories (which I do manually), but since many of you liked the idea of staying up to date with all the games in one place I'm working on making this data automated (right now I manually hit it every couple days) with better info and linking in with the game views.

There will be more data and proper atribution here (original author, steam link, original post date, etc) real soon, I promise. This is just like a technical test to see if they're coming in ok at all.

Nuclear Throne » November 6th: AMA + Update 99 Release!

Hi there! It’s been a long time, and as you all probably noticed, Vlambeer has been in somewhat of a hybernation state. Nuclear Throne took a lot out of us, and when we finally released the current U98 over a year and a half ago, we were all entirely exhausted. Since then, we’ve slowly been finding our footing again, and now that we’re feeling creative again, we decided to return to form with an long-long-long-awaited final major update to Nuclear Throne for PC, Mac, and Linux.

We’ve hired YellowAfterlife (the creator of the Nuclear Throne Together mod) and worked closely with community members and feedback to create an update 99 that is worthy of the wait. While we want to stress that you shouldn’t expect new content for this update, it is nevertheless significant: the game performs significantly better, is easier to mod, and a lot of quality of life and balance fixes have been introduced.

We’re excited to have one more update art by the phenomenal Justin Chan, we’re excited to see the meta change once more, and we’ve genuinely missed seeing your responses to our silly development antics. We are eternally thankful for your patience, and your sense of enthusiasm and community for the game.

As such, we’re announcing an AMA over on the official Nuclear Throne Reddit for November 6th, and Update 99 will release at some time near the end of the AMA.