Vampire Survivors – Legacy of the Moonspell adds a lot of content for very little cost.
Just when I thought I’d finally kicked my Vampire Survivors habit, along comes the DLC expansion to pull me straight back in. The base game is excellent and became the indie darling of 2022, resulting in me adding it to my top games of the year. The fast-paced, incredibly accessible gameplay was enhanced by a surprisingly deep upgrade system based on weapons and passive enhancements. Add to that a horde of levels, characters, and items to unlock, and mysteries to uncover and you’ve got a satisfyingly enjoyable game with a very low cost of entry.
Legacy of the Moonspell adds more content, and if I’m honest that’s all I really need for a game I’m already all in on. The core gameplay hasn’t changed, with you taking your chosen character around the map whilst they automatically attack. Picking up crystals will level you up, allowing you to select and upgrade weapons and items, making you an even more effective killing machine. Certain weapon and item combinations can evolve into even more powerful versions, and you need to effectively select your upgrades to survive as long as possible. This expansion adds eight new characters, over a dozen items, and an expansive level.
The level, Mt. Moonspell is excellent, being a bit more restrictive than a lot of the base game’s stages. This snowy region has a few buildings scattered around, containing items and secrets, but if you start heading north you can scale the mountain itself. Aside from one of the new weapons being available should you reach the top, you’ll quickly come across a slew of new and dangerous enemies once you pass through the torii gates. The yokai and oni that swarm you are very powerful, and it’s advisable to power up at the base of the mountain first. With footpaths and secret caves aplenty, you’ll find a few ways to work your way up, but you will be quite restricted with your movement due to the tight confines. Always having a way back down is crucial.
Initially, you won’t have access to any of the new characters, and you’ll need to unlock the first one, Miang, by finding her in Mt. Moonspell. She’s absolutely worth getting as her new weapon, Silver Wind, can be devastatingly powerful when evolved. In fact she’s the first character I’ve used that has managed to kill the red reaper. Evolving her weapon will unlock the next character, and evolving theirs will unlock the next, and so on. Without spoiling too much, there are some pretty interesting new options to play as, as well as some super-powered versions of characters.
The new weapons feel devastating too, especially when evolved. I particularly liked Four Seasons, which sets off explosions all over the screen every few seconds. It was really satisfying after feeling quite weak to begin with, and this seems to be a theme with most of the new items. I found that some of these somewhat trivialise some of the base game levels, as they are really powerful with the right combinations, but in a way that was true of the base game as well if you knew what you were doing, so it’s not really a fully valid complaint.
If you already own Vampire Survivors, Legacy of the Moonspell is an absolute must, as both the base game and the DLC combined come in at under £5 for an enormous amount of content to get through. Learning the new combinations and synergies is just as enjoyable as before, and the new mysteries to uncover just add to the enjoyment. If you don’t already own the game, then frankly I’d say buy it anyway, as it’s still as enjoyable as it was, but now with more goodies! I’m keen to see more content released over the next 12 months, as I’ll take any opportunity to keep adding to an excellent game.
Vampire Survivors – Legacy of the Moonspell is available now on Xbox and PC.
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