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 » Swarm Grinder » v0.3.5

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.

Swarm Grinder » v0.3.5

Skills

– The Vortex Blade skill has been removed from the Bulletstorm character and replaced with a new skill, Feather Blades.
– The Torch skill has been removed from the Bulletstorm character and replaced with a new skill, Pacemaker.
– The Gatling Gun skill has been removed from the Butcher character and replaced with a new skill, Railgun.
– Two new upgrades have been added to the Mortar skill.
– The Heal on Kill upgrade from the Arsenal skill has been moved to the Pacemaker skill.
– Two new upgrades have been added to the Arsenal skill.
– A Cast Time has been added to the Mortar skill. Now, even if the Cooldown is equal to zero, a minimum amount of time will have to pass before it can be used again.
– The Global Damage given by Arsenal when first obtained has been reduced to 20%.
– The Global Damage multiplier provided by Final Touches, the special upgrade for Arsenal, has been reduced to 1.75.
– The base damage of Homing Missiles has been increased to 20.
– The base damage of the Gatling Gun has been decreased to 7.
– The cooldown period for Vortex Blade has been reduced to 2 seconds.
– Base explosion damage has been reduced to 5.

Visual Fixes and Improvements

– All special upgrades now have their own icon.
– The visuals of explosion effects no longer cover the health bars.
– The issue with the hit area showing up when the Boss first arrives has been fixed.
– The problem of the selection frame in the Available Skills section being under the icons has been resolved.

UI/UX Fixes and Improvements

– The option to hide the skill name written on the icon of skills dropped from the Drilling Station has been added. You can access it from the “Options/Interface” menu.
– The problem of the maximum health sometimes being shown incorrectly at the start of the game has been solved.
– The problem with incorrect input hints appearing on the Workshop screen has been solved.
– While in the main menu, if you switch to a different window, the issue of button sounds being heard while navigating with the mouse, even though the game is not in focus, has been solved.
– The reward title of achievements that don’t give rewards has been removed.

Achievements

– 8 new achievements have been added. You can check the details in the Codex/Achievements section.
– The amount of rewards given by most achievements has been reduced.