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Each time somebody talks in regards to the excellent or finest sport for the Steam Deck, Vampire Survivors is the primary sport talked about. It’s a particularly addicting expertise, very low cost, and an ideal match for the Deck with nice efficiency and really low battery drain. It goes with out saying how actually nice the sport is, and developer Poncle has been crushing it with updates and DLC to maintain including content material to the sport and make it even higher. That’s why I couldn’t resist once I obtained the supply to play and evaluation the upcoming Ode to Castlevania DLC, I slammed the keys on my keyboard and began diving into the DLC with out hesitation.
For some context, Vampire Survivors is a small sport that has you selecting a personality, who all have their very own particular talents, and going round maps, destroying scores of enemies, leveling up, selecting new gear and upgrades that improve your character with new weapons or stat modifications (6 weapons and 6 equipment), and hopefully surviving for half-hour to beat the stage. There are a plethora of upgrades to select from, and each could be upgraded additional to extend the consequences of no matter they do.
It’s a easy idea total however one that’s layered inside a extra strategic system. Selecting weapons and upgrades that complement one another is important and might even result in evolving your weapons to turning into much more highly effective. Relying on the map you play on, you may also discover weapons and equipment to equip, which might go over your restrict when you’ve got 6 totally different weapons/equipment already. There are additionally tons of unlockable from new characters to new weapons and hidden phases, and it’s actually simply all so addicting.
After which we’ve the Ode to Castlevania DLC, which provides a lot extra content material on prime of it, all based mostly round Castlevania.

Let’s begin with the brand new characters. The DLC provides over 20 characters to play as, representing the largest characters from the collection like Simon Belmont and Alucard. Every one has a brand new weapon, and they’re all fairly distinctive. I used to be a bit of apprehensive that all the Belmont characters had whips and so they would not stand out, however each performs very in a different way and I completely had favorites (Sonia together with her sideways twister Sonic Whip).
We even have a model new, large map that permits us to discover the fort grounds, and it’s loaded with bosses and a few superior secrets and techniques. Just like the Contra map, we even have a boss that modifications our perspective to solely go left and proper to battle a doppelganger, and the altering shift is all the time a pleasant contact. The sheer quantity of stuff to seek out, bosses to battle, and secrets and techniques to find is insane. They point out that that is their largest map thus far, and it truly is.

Then, we’ve new and intriguing gadgets. The spotlight of those are particular gadgets that help you choose totally different weapons, spells, and even little acquainted creatures that will help you out. These are weapon selectors and you should utilize them for every character, letting you choose no matter beginning weapon you need in your favourite character. For instance, any Belmont character can choose any sort of Whip, so if I wish to use Trevor’s capability with the Sonic Whip from Sonia, we will!
On prime of all of this, we’ve over 30 new items of music that’s both authentic from the Castlevania video games or remixed to suit extra for Vampire Survivors. I’ve actually fallen for a few of these tracks, and it feels a bit nostalgic and thrilling to play via the DLC as a fan of Castlevania.

To sweeten the deal, there’s additionally a HUGE secret to find with the DLC that we do not wish to spoil, however it’s going to really blow your thoughts. Once I was advised, I really gasped as a result of what the DLC affords is pretty priced, however with this secret, it eclipses what every other DLC for Vampire Survivors has finished.
So, after studying all of this, you might be most likely asking your self if I discovered the DLC well worth the $3.59 price ticket proper? Properly, the reply is a powerful sure. The sport is already so addicting, so add in much more characters, a ridiculously big map with secrets and techniques and tons of bosses, nice new music, great new weapons and gadgets, and a lot extra, and we’ve most likely among the finest DLC I’ve seen for any sport. I could also be feeling this is a bit more worthwhile because of the worth of it and the bottom sport, however in case you are even remotely a fan of Vampire Survivors, that is an important buy.

And sure, efficiency on the Steam Deck holds robust. Capping at 60 FPS shall be finest for some very busy scenes, however for essentially the most half, it’s going to stick with 90 on OLED with 9W battery dain.
You may get the Ode to Castlevania DLC for Vampire Survivors for $3.59 at 10% off till November seventh.
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