Vampire Survivors needs very little introduction at this point. What started as a small indie game back in 2021 went on to become one of the biggest roguelike success stories of recent years, inspiring an entire wave of games built around surviving increasingly ridiculous hordes of enemies. Its recently received an expansion too, giving fans additional content to keep playing.
It’s easy to see why the formula caught on. Runs start simply enough, but it doesn’t take long before you’re combining weapons, hunting for evolutions, unlocking new characters, and trying to put together a build capable of clearing almost everything on the screen. There’s always another unlock to chase or another combination to try, which makes stopping after one run considerably harder than it sounds.
While it is undoubtedly the biggest game in its category, it isn’t the only game worth playing. The survivors-like genre has absolutely exploded since its release, and plenty of games have taken that original formula in their own direction.
Here are 10 games that might just give you the same satisfaction and hours of entertainment…
1. Halls of Torment
If you love Vampire Survivors but wouldn’t mind throwing a little old-school Diablo into the mix, Halls of Torment developed by Chasing Carrots, is probably one of the easiest games on this list to recommend.
You’re still wading through enormous hordes, grabbing experience, choosing upgrades, and gradually turning your character into something capable of clearing huge numbers of enemies without much effort. There are 11 characters to experiment with too, alongside loads of abilities, traits, and equipment to build around.
The big difference is how much more it leans into action RPG territory. There’s proper gear to find and retrieve from the Halls, quests to complete, and plenty of permanent progression between runs.
It feels familiar enough to scratch that Vampire Survivors itch without simply doing the same thing again.
2. Keeper’s Toll
Keeper’s Toll is another one that takes the basic Vampire Survivors idea and asks you to get a little more involved in the fighting.
There are still hordes coming from every direction, plenty of upgrades to choose from, and increasingly ridiculous builds to put together as a run develops. The difference is that enemies and bosses require considerably more attention, with attacks to avoid and mechanics to learn rather than everything simply disappearing underneath your latest screen-clearing ability.
Each of its six characters has their own progression and playstyle too, so switching from something like the Necromancer to the Shadow Monk can make runs feel very different.
If you like the horde-clearing side of Vampire Survivors but want combat that keeps you a little busier, this is a good place to look.
3. Yet Another Zombie Survivors
In Yet Another Zombie Survivors by Awesome Games, instead of controlling one increasingly overpowered character, you gradually build an entire squad. You start each run alone before recruiting additional survivors, with different characters bringing their own weapons and abilities to the group.
That still gives you the familiar Vampire Survivors pleasure of watching a fairly manageable build turn into complete chaos, only now you’ve got several people contributing to whatever is wiping thousands of zombies off the screen.
There are permanent upgrades, character evolutions, different weapons, and plenty more to unlock between attempts too. If your favorite part of Vampire Survivors is reaching the point where the screen becomes an absolute mess, adding a whole squad certainly helps.
4. Boneraiser Minions
Boneraiser Minions has all the enormous enemy hordes you’d expect from something inspired by Vampire Survivors, but this time you don’t have to do most of the killing yourself. Instead, defeated enemies leave behind bones and souls that can be used to raise an increasingly ridiculous army of skellies and demons.
Different minions handle everything from melee attacks to magic and support, and gradually improving that undead mob becomes the real focus of your build.
You still spend plenty of time dodging enemies and grabbing resources, so the Vampire Survivors influence is easy to spot.
If building one overpowered character isn’t enough for you, building an entire overpowered army might do the trick.
5. Death Must Die
Death Must Die feels a little like someone started with Vampire Survivors and then decided it needed considerably more Hades and Diablo.
You’re still fighting thousands of enemies and choosing upgrades capable of creating some ridiculous combinations, but those powers are handed out by a pantheon of gods. There are hundreds of blessings to discover, alongside different heroes with their own traits and talent trees.
The biggest difference is all the RPG stuff happening around those runs. Enemies drop randomized equipment that can be carried between attempts, giving you proper gear to hunt rather than relying entirely on whatever upgrades appear during your next run.
If you wanted more buildcrafting and loot from Vampire Survivors, there’s plenty of both here.
6. NIMRODS
NIMRODS takes the survivors-like formula and gives you considerably more control over what’s actually firing all those bullets.
The hordes, constant movement, experience gathering, and increasingly ridiculous amounts of firepower should all feel familiar to Vampire Survivors players, but guns are the real obsession here. Weapons can be assembled from different parts, allowing you to experiment with combinations rather than simply picking another pre-made weapon whenever you level up.
There’s an interesting twist when you die too. Previous builds can return as drones during future expeditions, meaning something you created during an earlier attempt can carry on helping long after that run is over.
If your favorite part of Vampire Survivors is finding ridiculous weapon combinations, NIMRODS gives you the tools to start building your own.
7. Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel
Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel takes the familiar idea of fighting off enormous hordes and drops the whole thing into Norse mythology. You choose a hero, slaughter increasingly large groups of enemies, and pick up new abilities and upgrades until you’ve hopefully created something powerful enough to survive whatever Hel throws at you next.
The Vampire Survivors influence is pretty easy to see, but Jotunnslayer gives its runs more structure through missions and objectives that need to be completed along the way. Divine blessings from different Norse gods give you plenty of build options too, while big boss fights provide something more substantial to work toward.
If you like Vampire Survivors but want something that looks and feels considerably grander, this is definitely one to check out.
8. Soulstone Survivors
If your favorite part of Vampire Survivors is watching your build get completely out of hand, Soulstone Survivors gives you plenty of opportunities to make that happen.
There are more than 350 active and passive skills to work with, alongside characters to unlock, huge skill trees, over 100 weapons to craft, and enough different combinations to keep you experimenting for a very long time. You’re still running around enormous groups of enemies, collecting experience, and gradually filling the screen with increasingly ridiculous attacks.
Where Soulstone Survivors really differs is the sheer amount of progression surrounding those runs. There are curses, different modes, weapon crafting, and considerably more control over how your characters develop.
There’s a lot going on here, particularly if Vampire Survivors left you wanting even more things to unlock.
9. Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor
Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor takes the auto-shooting of Vampire Survivors underground, but being surrounded by aliens isn’t the only thing you need to worry about. You also have a job to do.
Mining is a huge part of each run, with valuable resources buried throughout the environment and objectives that need to be completed before you can escape. Digging through walls can open new routes or give you somewhere to escape, but spending too long happily mining away can leave you surrounded by a fairly substantial number of bugs.
The weapons, automatic attacks, hordes, and constant upgrades will all feel familiar to Vampire Survivors players. Having to balance all of that with mining and mission objectives gives each run a very different rhythm.
10. Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok
Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok is another game that sticks fairly close to the Vampire Survivors formula, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing when that formula works so well.
You pick a survivor, head into one of its Norse-inspired realms, and gradually put together a build capable of dealing with the huge numbers of enemies trying to surround you. There are more than 10 characters, over 150 relics, nine maps based on Norse mythology, and plenty of permanent progression to work through.
Character development is where things get more interesting. Each survivor has their own Constellation Ability Tree, alongside Masteries and relic Ascensions that give you plenty to work toward outside individual runs.
If you’re looking for something immediately familiar but with a huge amount of progression to dig into, Nordic Ashes should keep you busy.
There’s Always Another Horde Waiting
Vampire Survivors might not have invented the idea of surviving against overwhelming numbers of enemies, but there’s no denying just how much it changed things. What followed is an entire genre filled with developers finding their own ways to make that basic formula work.
Halls of Torment adds plenty of old-school Diablo, Boneraiser Minions gives you an undead army to do the fighting, NIMRODS lets you build your own weapons, and Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor somehow finds time for mining while thousands of aliens are trying to eat you.
There are plenty more out there too, and with survivors-likes showing absolutely no signs of slowing down, this probably won’t be the last time we’re staring at a screen filled with several thousand enemies and wondering how we got ourselves into this mess.