Demo of the first-person card roguelike from the Vampire Survivors creator draws thousands of players

Poncle released a free demo of Vampire Crawlers – the second game set in the Vampire Survivors universe – on PC and Xbox as part of Steam Next Fest 2026. The title shifts genre from bullet-hell roguelike to a turn-based card game with deckbuilding elements. The demo pulled in over 3,000 concurrent players on Steam shortly after launching on February 23.

Vampire Crawlers carries over familiar elements from the original – pixel art visuals, returning characters like Antonio, Gennaro, and Arca, and enemies from the first game. It takes place in the same universe but switches to a first-person perspective after an opening top-down shot that serves as a nod to Vampire Survivors.

Poncle introduced a "turbo turn" concept that lets players cast cards simultaneously without waiting for animations to finish, while still keeping strategic layers like mana costs, gems, and combo effects intact.

"Sometimes, [turn-based games] become slow and repetitive, to the point that many modern titles offer speed-up functions, as well as options to skip animations," Poncle says.

Vampire Crawlers addresses this through a system built around nonstop combat – players can unload their entire hand at once, regardless of what stage of battle they're in.

Poncle has plans for a full series of Vampire Survivors spin-offs, taking the core pillars of the original – accessibility, replayability, and plenty of flashy effects – and applying them to different genres. The studio has promised long-term support for Vampire Crawlers beyond its 2026 launch, saying the team already has "a thousand ideas" for what to do next.

Vampire Crawlers is coming to PC and all consoles.