Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 11.3

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/23/2023

An excellent choice to scratch your Vampire Survivors itch. This one is very inspired by oldschool Diablo 1 feel from graphics to enemy types and attacks. Great enemy patterns/AI, kind of beautiful sometimes to watch them move. Has options for Auto Aim and Auto Attack. Quick Toggle available at all times means it still gets high scores in those columns.

There is a prelude so you can try it out and see if you like the more downtempo vibe. I can see how some people complain about the graphics, but it's pure nostalgia for me! It's a great game, but I'm personally often looking for something a little more over the top and upbeat in this genre, which explains my lower playtime vs. some others.

I should write more on this at some point, it's one of the better games on the list, but I imagine it being up so far and already popular most people already know that. Like a few other games the detail of notes suffers because I played most of my time in it before I was making notes and they are already on my list to play a lot more of. That's generally a good sign, but I intend to revise the notes later.

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 3.5

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/14/2023

First impressions on this Early Access arcade style arena shooter are very positive. Honestly I'm super thankful for this resurgence of arcade style games so I can get stuff like this.

It's a top down shooter in a small arena, with "shape" enemies more complicated than you might see in some retro shooters but very much giving the abstract vibe. While the aesthetics are quite good in my opinion, the general direction of them is that you should concentrate entirely on the play and the play so far is worth concentrating on. I absolutely don't mind when an arcade style game doesn't have plot/setting trappings, it can still get a full score for on the review scale categories from me if it feels like the 'world' is still crafted for the experience the player is supposed to have. You know, Tron without all that talking.

I haven't yet encountered what I would really call multiple maps or stages, though the arena changes at different stages through the run. After beating a run once (referred to as "the game" in the guide accessible in the main menu), you unlock difficulty modifiers.

Has both goal based and currency based unlocks. The goal based ones are pretty solid for giving you something to do in a run, as in the best of these games (get a new ship!) and I enjoy how the refundable currency upgrades also include different play or build styles, like deciding to prioritize burn for the burn ship. Some of these games don't really understand that meta unlocks can be like offering the player interesting new puzzles and not just ways to make the game easier. The skill tree luckily isn't too baroque and easy access to it at the death screen made it easy to loop into another run.

Speaking of ease it certainly feels harder at first but I think this is partially the classic arcade style format. I'm not sure how much content actually exists here yet with early access, but in many of the games in this lineage you're not really expected to be beating all the bosses on your first run or very quickly. At least, I tried to tell myself this as I got used to actually dodging boss bullets again.

There is a special move button and dash. It's in no way bloated, but does include some fun stuff like stats. No bestiary, but then again not a lot of enemy variety yet either. I'd love to be able to unlock an endless mode without bosses so I could truly zone out.

It's definitely not a mowing game, with very projectile based attacks. The auto-aim/auto-fire is sometimes off in a way that feels a little bugged, but for the most part does work pretty satisfyingly. I found myself doing up close strafing more than I would in a classic arcade shooter, partially because I'm trying to collect the XP drops as well. In that way, while in an aesthetic wrapping of an older wave shooter, the gameplay can feel very much like a modern survivors-like. You move towards some things and away from others, getting into a fairly zen state interrupted only by quickly selecting from a simple selection of upgrades and eventually only sorely interrupted by the arrival of an often run ending boss.

I'm a big fan of older arcade style shooters (my favorite perhaps being Super Stardust HD) and while this one is a little slower to get started because it has the metaprogression aspect I found it very much tickled that old enjoyment. The music seems to keep on the same theme and the visuals are a very satisfying mix of retro aesthetics and fairly active and busy scenery in implementation. Overall I had a lot of fun with it so far and am eager to see it get more content through Early Access.

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 8.0

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 10/23/2023

Played a fair amount on Switch as well. Very skill based sidescrolling Rogue-lite. Deep combat system inspired by Dark Souls but with a lot of mechanics of its own. It's another great game I'm not very good at. You may love the One More Run pull of it, but if you aren't good at jumping and juggling a lot of buttons, it won't be able to draw you past that. Gameplay wise it feels very different, but it shares some genre conventions with Vampire Survivors.

Many buttons to keep track of and high challenge from smaller amounts of enemies. Currency drops during runs to be used during runs, there's only goal/find based meta-unlocks (and stuff passed to your next run.)

This was be an interesting one to rate. I was inspired to pull it onto this sheet by the Castlevania DLC which not only includes some characters and weapons but a whole fucking castle and soundtrack, so it does have some neo-castlevania vibes which obviously also heavily influenced VS.

A lot of people say it's their "favorite game like vampire survivors" in reddit threads from a while ago, and at that time they just meant.. an action game with meta progression.

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 80.0

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 10/17/2023

A map-making rogue-lite auto battler. You have a character that goes around a loop fighting enemies during your run, but you can only help him by placing map parts and changing gear - no direct control. There's so much to talk about with this one, but it's pretty different from most of the games on our scale. What it shares is really satisfying metaprogression and some autobattle elements.

Put in about 44.6 hours on Steam and then another 40+ hours on Switch when it released there. Amazing game, totally unique, interesting to compare to VS in terms of mechanics. The game is a strategy game played in menus and by putting down tiles, but we'll call the real time use of a click button a 'trigger' press.

One of the best games ever imho, but it's pretty different so no need to really discuss in detail here.

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 29.3

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 10/17/2023

An excellent Hades-like combined with a lightweight town building and citizen management feature. It's got hack & slash rogue-lite runs that take a short amount of time, but besides that it likely won't meet the requirements for a zen-like state or long term addiction.

Art style turned me off at first but really won me over - it's a beautiful little game. I can't imagine how I ever thought it looked bad. Many good things, not as replayable as Hades.

At the end of the day it's not Vampire Survivors.

Scaling and Review Notes

Personal Hours Played: 1.0

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/3/2023

Scale scoring from scorecard submitted by Developer. Once evaluated after a couple hours play and some research, will be adjusted and moved up into the ranking proper.

It's hard to know where to scale the interesting reload mechanic where each of your weapons fires in turn. For now I'm calling the reload a special move button and bumping the trigger and aim mechanics down to full -1 for how important it feels to the gameplay. Technically, I don't think there's a movement penalty but I keep playing like there is one.

It seems like a very simple game but there is a good amount of content and depth here actually, in my review scale score I'm giving it full points for fulfilling what I want from it.

First impressions are VERY strong. I like the simple arcade vibe, the music is great, choices like being able to move though the upgrades to select the "card" are fresh and fun feeling.

I respect the difficulty but do find myself wishing for auto-aim/auto-fire under accessibility options and don't think it would actually make things easier, just different. I also could personally benefit from some currency based metaprogressoin like rerolls/extra heart but am glad it's not bogged down with them also. I appreciate the stripped down straight to the fun philosophy and so far it's pretty addictive and exciting.

Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 11/3/2023

Scale scoring from scorecard submitted by Developer. Once evaluated after a couple hours play and some research, will be adjusted and moved up into the ranking proper.

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Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on ?

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Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

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Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

Added or last checked on 12/26/2023

No notes available yet!

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Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

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Help us rank this game! [Submit Feature Survey] [Submit Review]

Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

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Help us rank this game! [Submit Feature Survey] [Submit Review]

Scaling and Review Notes

Review Disclaimer

Every game ranked was played, but also scaled based on research, talking to developers & your feedback. The priority with the scale's initial design was to compare similarity on relatively objective features - so it doesn't claim to include reviews of the depth and clarity you'd get at a games journalism site, nor the intensive time played you might get from player reviews on steam. We try to incorporate and link all of that along with a 'review scale' that checks for bugs. See the heatmap and breakdown! Time played noted so you can take any notes with a big grain of salt! I can't get to high level gameplay in 850+ games so I heavily research every game. Over 80 game creators let me interview or survey them! I Hope to go back and refine. Please argue or submit your own scores and reviews to be incorporated with credit into the notes and score numbers.

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