There are a few terms that have been bandied around for games that resemble Vampire Survivors. “Auto-shooter” matches a lot of the games on this list, but a fair few require manually aiming at the enemies you’re trying to kill. “Reverse bullet hell” is far too many words for it to catch on, and “bullet heaven” is a derivative of the popular bullet hell genre, but it at least captures just how quickly the screen fills with high-damaging projectiles that melt foes.
No matter what your definition of choice is, Vampire Survivors definitely inspired a fair few developers to make their own take on these simple yet compelling roguelike games. These games like Vampire Survivors all have a relatively inexpensive cost to play, and yet will last you a good while, as each run unlocks either more ways to fill the screen with bullets or new maps to explore.
Megabonk
- Developer: Vedinad
- Release date: September 18, 2025
- Platforms: PC
Megabonk has all the hallmarks of a meme game, but there’s actually a lot of fun to be had in this 3D take on Vampire Survivors. It borrows heavily from Risk of Rain, too, in that your objective for each map is to find and summon the boss from a portal. Upon defeating it, you’ll move on to the next stage or trigger the endgame, depending on how far in the current map’s tier limit you reach. Characters range from a high-looking wizard fox to a skateboarding skeleton, and even “Megachad”. Each one has their own unique traits; the fox gains luck per level up, the skeleton increases speed over time and loses half of it when hit, and Megachad can ‘flex’ to ignore an attack.
As you finish quests to earn achievements, you’ll also unlock the ability to buy new items in each run, just like in Vampire Survivors. Tonally, it’s just as bizarre as Poncle’s smash hit, but visually quite primitive in a charming way that really reminds us of Runescape with a hype soundtrack that is perfectly suited to its chaotic gameplay. It may take you a while to fully get to grips with Megabonk, particularly when it comes to fighting its colossal-sized monsters, but with more maps, weapons, characters, and items on the way, as well as multiplayer promised by the developer Vedinad, it’s no surprise that it was selling as well as it did on launch.
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor
- Developer: Funday Games
- Release date: September 17, 2025
- Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X|S (iOS/Android coming soon)
As a spinoff of a co-op game where Dwarves mine on the moon and shoot bugs, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor isn’t what many had in mind for games like Vampire Survivors. That said, this relentlessly chaotic combination of bug extermination and mineral mining keeps things grounded within the Deep Rock Galactic setting. Its levels otherwise progress just like Vampire Survivors, but where things get spicy is with the Overclock upgrades that completely change how a weapon works. These can give your turrets tank treads so they can follow you around, have them mine resources for you, and even equip them with flamethrowers to burn those bugs to a crisp. As in Deep Rock Galactic, mining is a key aspect, letting you create new paths for yourself to help funnel enemies through.
It’s also one of the Vampire Survivors-like games that has objectives with its missions. These can be a quota of resources to mine, or escorting a vehicle to its destination. You also have side objectives that you can complete to earn extra resources, which you can invest in future runs. With every free update, more missions, maps, and other unlockables are added, so while it is relatively expensive compared to Vampire Survivors, it at least seems to be a one-time cost. Whether you’re a fan of Deep Rock Galactic or a newcomer to the series, there’s a lot to love with this spin-off.
Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood
- Developer: Mega Cat Studios
- Release date: September 20, 2023
- Platforms: PC
Yes, Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, the movie tie-in to the otherwise forgettable Nic Cage film, is actually decent. As Dracula’s familiar, it’s up to you to defeat enemies constantly streaming into each area as you explore the monster-ridden streets of New Orleans. If you’re familiar with Smash TV, then the level structure should be somewhat familiar as you clear rooms by filling up the progress bar each time, culminating in a boss encounter that will test your reflexes.
There’s also some decision-making available to you, as the area you journey to next can reward you for beating it in time. This can be a new pet that fights alongside you, or a survivor you can sacrifice or set free, among many others. It has seen various updates since its release, introducing new characters, weapons, and perks along the way. So, while the movie Renfield was a box office flop, Bring Your Own Blood is a surprisingly good example of a game that transcends its origins as spectacularly as Nic Cage’s acting career has flourished over the decades.
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Halls of Torment
- Developer: Chasing Carrots
- Release date: March 9, 2023
- Platforms: PC, Android, Linux
Halls of Torment is visually like the original Diablo, borrowing its isometric perspective, demonic hordes, and otherwise hellish vibes. It even uses an inventory system that’s reminiscent of Blizzard’s action RPG. However, its gameplay feels like an evolution of the core Vampire Survivors concept, and it even comes with the ability to save an item you’ve picked up for a future run.
With its quest-based progression, you’ll unlock more characters and stages as you combine items to make crowd-clearing weapons. Boss monsters also appear from time to time, similarly to Vampire Survivors, but they have attacks that highlight a small area that you must avoid. If you are on the fence about this one, Halls of Torment Prelude acts as a free lighter version of the full game, with transferable progression. It’s certainly worth diving into the hellish depths.
Soulstone Survivors
- Developer: Game Smithing Limited
- Release date: June 17, 2025
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, MacOS, Linux
Soulstone Survivors is the most expensive game on this list, but we promise it’s worth it. Having seen plenty of updates since its full release, players take on the near-endless forces of the Void King with a sizable roster, and you have a huge amount of freedom to upgrade. The key thing that separates this one from the others is that instead of automatically choosing a weapon type, you get skill points that you can invest in buying or upgrading skills, rerolling, banishing, or locking in a skill. By tying everything to skill points, it makes late-game decisions a bit more flexible, as you’re not constantly trying to weigh up whether or not to use a vital reroll.
Levels are also a lot bite-sized, given that the structure is more objective-based. With fixed maps, materials spawn randomly, so you’ll want to grab them as soon as possible. You can then use gems and other trinkets to unlock new characters, craft weapons at the blacksmith, obtain new runes, and get abilities in the skill tree. There are plenty of ways to modify the difficulty, and thanks to its wide variety of gameplay with 22 characters, each with vastly different play styles, it at least goes a long way to justify its price tag.
20 Minutes Till Dawn
- Developer: Flanne
- Release date: June 8, 2024
- Platforms: PC, MacOS, Android, iOS
As one of the reasons the term “Auto-shooter” doesn’t quite fit, 20 Minutes Till Dawn has the player manually aim, fire, and reload their weapons as they fight Eldritch monsters in the shadows. By collecting gems, you can unlock more stuff in the main menu, similar to how Vampire Survivors uses its gold, such as Runes to enhance your abilities across runs. Tomes dropped by bosses also give you significant buffs that could ensure your survival if your aim is true.
Another major detail about 20 Minutes Till Dawn is that the default time limit is stated in the game’s name. This means that runs are relatively short, though an endless mode is available if you so wish. It’s a bit more basic compared to many on this list, as there aren’t as many unlockables. However, if you’re the kind of player who loves Vampire Survivors’ concept but wishes it had a little more agency, then you can’t go wrong with this one.
Bloodshed
- Developer: Com8com1 Software
- Release date: May 22, 2025
- Platforms: PC
How about a Vampire Survivors-style game, but in first person and looking a lot like 90s shooter Blood? Your chosen character in Bloodshed has both a unique skill, such as shoving enemies aside or a slide to get out of harm’s way, as well as a choice between two upgradeable guns and one melee weapon to purge cultists, undead, and demons alike. You can either play it with said firearms of choice blasting at the nearest enemy automatically, or you can deliver divine justice to them manually, all to a soundtrack that adapts to the level of violence on screen.
Similar to every other modern Roguelike, some persistent upgrades become available to you upon death, and for everyone who likes shooters like Doom, that means bigger and badder guns from fully automatic weapons like Uzis and AK-47s, to the outlandish Tesla Cannon. Updates have added more outlandish playable characters, relics that pretty much break the game, and a modifier system that allows you to influence what’s offered whenever you increase your level. While it’s certainly a little pricey compared to Vampire Survivors, its fast-paced shooting action is more than enough to justify it.
Boons And Burdens
- Developer: FromLefCourt
- Release date: July 16, 2024
- Platforms: PC
From the developer of Gunlocked comes a game where a tiny wizard has a lot to prove. Boons And Burdens pairs Vampire Survivors gameplay with Risk of Rain’s increasing threat level bar, which is constantly filling up in the top right of the screen. The spells you get with each level up have synergies with other schools of magic, so every mention of beams will buff every beam, not just for that spell. You’re encouraged to mix and match as much as possible, which is very much how the very best Vampire Survivors evolutions work.
Boons And Burdens has multiple modes to play. The arena only requires that you survive 15 minutes and is most like Vampire Survivors. The Depths, on the other hand, is a lot more complex. In it, you kill enough enemies for a portal to appear, which requires charging before your wizard jumps through. You then choose what debuffs you face for a set number of rooms, as well as a buff to even things out. Boons And Burdens is great for those looking for a budget option with a decent level of variety and a cute pixel art style.
Picayune Dreams
- Developer: Stepford, Andyland, and Milkypossum
- Release date: December 4, 2023
- Platforms: PC
Visually, this game is somewhat divisive due to its surrealist art style, but Picayune Dreams is a Vampire Survivors-like where enemies fire back with just as many bullets. You start by heading to one of four targets that determine which enemy types will appear for the rest of the run. Bosses will appear after a few minutes of fighting against, well, whatever abstract objects the game throws at you, which is when the game begins to use Bullet Hell mechanics. Weapons need to be aimed manually, although you still automatically shoot rapidly; with experience gained, the numbers that bounce off a target increase with every hit.
It also adds narrative focus to its progression compared to the others, and honestly, it’s a bit of a chaotic mess. This tale begins with a woman who’s recruited into a program to save the world from an extraterrestrial threat. It’s not surprising, given that its inspiration is Yume Nikki, a free Japanese horror RPG Maker that’s renowned for its pretty disturbing imagery. If you reckon you can handle the nightmarish themes, then Picayune Dreams will send you down a lore-based rabbit hole that will be fascinating to unpack.
Yet Another Zombie Survivors
- Developer: Awesome Games Studio
- Release date: July 13, 2023
- Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch
Yet Another Zombie Survivors is a prime example of not judging a book by its cover. With a name straight out of the zombie game craze of the early 2010s, it does seem a bit try-hard. However, it’s actually got some rather great ideas, with its master stroke answering the question: why play as one character when you can play as many? With every survivor you rescue in this chaotic gorefest, you get that class’s arsenal.
Since every character class has its own set of power-ups, including drones, choppers, and tasers, among many other weapons, you get way more options to use all at once, and it’s as deeply satisfying as it sounds. It’s still in Early Access, so new characters and weapons are being added constantly. The most recent update is the final major one until its full release during the first half of 2026, so now might be the best time to pick it up before a potential price hike makes it the most expensive game on the list.
Death Must Die
- Developer: Realm Archive
- Release date: June 3, 2023
- Platforms: PC, MacOS
Probably the game with the closest visual style to Vampire Survivors, Death Must Die is a pixel-based dungeon crawler where you must unlock new godly powers. It also draws a fair amount of inspiration from Hades, with its very chatty deities who wish to aid you in your quest to grant you powers. Death Must Die is otherwise fairly similar to the rest of the games on this list so far: a choice between manual or automatic controls, powers you can scale to make great builds, and more.
However, there’s a bit more of Diablo’s DNA here. Loot on the ground can be picked up and equipped, persisting per run and each with its own rarity and buffs that it grants the wearer. Shrines also give temporary boosts upon activation, and even the character select screen has the roster huddled around a campfire. With each update of this Early Access game, you get a new act that expands the story, brings a new god to win over, along with a new playable character, among many other upgrades and features. It may wear its influences on its sleeve somewhat, but if you like those same games, then you’ll enjoy Death Must Die.
Rocket Rats
- Developer: Gagonfe
- Release date: December 17, 2024
- Platforms: PC
Fending off those cheesy stars, moons, and planetoids in Rocket Rats is hard enough without the limited space to consider. But in this cute indie game about rats in space getting cheese, you’re going to need some big guns. Luckily, these critters know their way around an arsenal, and the upgrades scale up your damage output in a staggering way. Maximizing the level of two upgrade types gives you a rare chance to get a combined power, such as making arrows poisonous, and therefore breaking the game. In fact, the only limitation to your power is the 30-level cap, where each subsequent round is more to see how much bonus cheese you’ll get.
After every run, you can use said scavenged cheese to invest in new weapons, upgrades for your guns, and even unlock more mousey friends with starting perks of their own. These include making your rat’s primary weapon type appear more often, but also stuff like giving arrows penetration or poisoned enemies an AoE spreading effect when they die. They also branch off, giving you a moment to make decisions on which set of perks is going to get you beyond wave 30. Like its adorable rodents in space suits, it’s short but sweet.
Nimrods
- Developer: Fiveamp
- Release date: October 28, 2024
- Platforms: PC
In Nimrods, you begin with a standard pistol. It’s “weak but highly customizable”. And that’s the crux of this game: You can put parts together into craft screen-clearing weapons. On every level up, a dropship smashes into you, giving you a choice of perks for that weapon. These range from stocks that buff your stats to add-ons that give you alternative firing options like a grenade launcher. So far, so much like every other game on this list.
The thing that makes Nimrods a little more chaotic than some of the others on this list is that you also have access to a drone that can equip a weapon you had on the previous run. So if you had a particularly disgusting set of upgrades, you can reuse that weapon in the next run. Missions keep you on track while rewarding you with coins to get a new base chassis for your gun of choice. If you’re on the fence with this one, a separately hosted demo is available here so you can see for yourself how much fun it is to combine gun parts to make a boomstick that would make Bruce Campbell jealous.
Disfigure
- Developer: Cold Brew Entertainment
- Release date: July 27, 2023
- Platforms: PC
Disfigure has one major advantage over just about every other example on this list: it is a completely free game. It also requires a little more from the player than just moving around and collecting power-ups, as holding down the right mouse button changes your character’s view so they focus on what’s in front of them. Letting go of the button narrows your range, but covers all angles. As such, it’s far more of an active experience than a lot of games on this list.
That said, it’s part of why it’s so compelling. Some perks can buff your shots when you can see the enemies in your line of vision, while also making them take less damage while hidden from view. Its visual style is a bit more minimalistic, making it stand out compared to its paid-for competition. It may not last as long as many of the others on this list, as it currently only has two maps. However, it’s constantly being updated with new weapons and features. In fact, the only reason not to play this is if you have a fear of insects. There are certainly creepy crawlies here.
