Vampire Survivors–like

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Bullet Heaven, also known as Vampire Survivors–like, or simply as Survivors-like, and Reverse Bullet Hell is a subgenre of shoot 'em up video games in which the player combats successive waves of enemies by maneuvering their character. Typically the player unlocks periodic upgrades to their attacks and passive abilities, with each successive run proceeding in the fashion of a roguelike.

The genre was popularized by Vampire Survivors in 2022, with a number of developers creating similar games to capitalize on its success.

History

The genesis of the genre can be found in the 2019 mobile game Magic Survival (released 2018 in South Korea), which the developers of Vampire Survivors drew from when designing its gameplay.[1] Following the success of Vampire Survivors in 2022, various developers produced games with similar gameplay.[2] These titles included HoloCure – Save the Fans!, Brotato, and 20 Minutes Till Dawn, among others.[1] Some spin-offs of existing games were created in the Vampire Survivors–like genre, including Temtem: Swarm, based on the monster-taming game Temtem, which included a catching mechanic,[3] and Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor.[4] The genre's name was initially unclear, with bullet heaven or reverse bullet hell arising as early descriptors. Robin Valentine of PCGamer rated the bullet heaven terminology poorly, favoring the name "survivor games" or "auto-shooters".[5]

In late 2025, a 3D Vampire Survivors–like, Megabonk, with retro-styled graphics, achieved sales of one million copies in two weeks.[6] Its own developer, Vedinad, acknowledged the inspiration, calling it "Vampire Survivors but 3D".[7]

The genre received its own Steam-featured event starting in 2023[8][9][10]. In 2025, a coordinated effort united over 450 developers[11] to finally canonize the tag on the platform. The initiative included a public poll that gathered over 8,000 responses[12] to determine a preferred genre name. Event hosts provided their reasoning behind the event name in a dedicated report[13]. Organizers argued that a standardized Steam tag would improve discoverability for both players and developers, as the genre had previously been fragmented across multiple loosely related tags. According to the poll results "Bullet Heaven" is the most popular name and supporting data were intended to be presented to Valve for consideration, following earlier precedents where community pressure influenced the introduction of new Steam tags.

Reception

Ed Thorn of Rock Paper Shotgun wrote that most Vampire Survivors clones did a poor job of distinguishing the player from the visual clutter in comparison to the original.[14] William Hughes of The A.V. Club praised the large amount of clones, stating that "gaming is an inherently iterative medium, with the entire history of the art form made up of creators building on other people’s good ideas for play".[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Fenlon, Wes (2022-12-29). "So, so many Vampire Survivors clones came out this year". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2025-04-21.
  2. ^ Benson, Julian (2025-04-20). "Vampire Survivors kicked off a game development gold rush, but has a legitimately new genre emerged between the cash-ins?". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 2025-04-21.
  3. ^ McWhertor, Michael (2024-02-20). "Pokémon meets Vampire Survivors in new Temtem 'bullet heaven' spinoff". Polygon. Retrieved 2025-04-21.
  4. ^ a b Hughes, William (2024-03-15). "Game Theory: Yes, please, bring on the Vampire Survivors clones". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2025-04-21.
  5. ^ Valentine, Robin (2025-03-11). "We need to decide on a genre name for Vampire Survivors-like games before a really terrible one sticks". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2025-04-21.
  6. ^ Brown, Fraser (2025-10-03). "Vampire Survivors-like Megabonk makes megabucks, selling a million copies in 2 weeks, and currently has more daily players than Borderlands 4 on Steam: 'I'll be eating spaghetti with EXTRA sauce tonight'". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  7. ^ Colp, Tyler (2025-10-03). "A slot machine for gags disguised as a Vampire Survivors-like is taking over Steam, and I'm just as addicted to pulling the lever as the other 90K people playing it". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2025-11-22.
  8. ^ "Bullet Heaven Fest". store.steampowered.com. 2023-10-23. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
  9. ^ "Bullet Heaven Festival 2.0". store.steampowered.com. 2024-12-04. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
  10. ^ "Bullet Heaven Festival 3.0". store.steampowered.com. 2025-12-04. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
  11. ^ published, Lincoln Carpenter (2025-12-08). "The effort to canonize a Steam tag for the world's 'survivorslikes' and 'bullet heavens' intensifies with a public poll and celebratory sale aiming to finally settle on a name for the misfit genre". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2025-12-12.
  12. ^ Maeda, Haruki (2025-12-12). "「『Vampire Survivors』風ゲームにぴったりなジャンル名」を決める投票、結果発表。結果はValveに提出、Steamタグ化なるか". AUTOMATON (in Japanese). Retrieved 2025-12-12.
  13. ^ "UPD_Bullet Heaven Fest_Report". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. ^ Thorn, Ed (2022-11-23). "Vampire Survivors-likes need to cut through the clutter". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 2025-04-21.
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