Vampire Survivors developer Poncle has shed light on the challenges of adapting their popular game into a new medium, initially announced as an animated series but now shifting towards a live-action film. The core difficulty stems from the fact that "the game has no plot," making the task of creating a compelling narrative particularly daunting.
In a recent Steam post, Poncle reaffirmed their collaboration with Story Kitchen on this live-action project. Despite the initial announcement in 2023 of an animated series, the developer emphasized a cautious approach to ensure the adaptation aligns well with the essence of the game. "As mentioned last year, rather than jumping the gun and make stuff for the sake of making it, we have preferred to wait to find partners that felt right," Poncle stated, highlighting the need for "good ideas, creativity, and that quirky knowledge of the game" to successfully translate Vampire Survivors into a non-video game format.
Poncle acknowledges the complexity of this endeavor, stating, "That is a very difficult triplet to get 100% right. Please remember the game has no plot — it doesn't? — so nobody can really anticipate how a film about it is going to be. That is part of what makes it exciting." The developer even playfully remarked on the irony of the situation, saying sarcastically, "the most important thing in Vampire Survivors is the story," underlining the unique challenge of building a film around a game with no inherent narrative.
As of now, no release date has been set for the Vampire Survivors film, as the path to adaptation remains uncertain even to Poncle themselves.
Vampire Survivors is a fast-paced, gothic horror game with rogue-lite elements, celebrated for its ability to allow players to snowball against hordes of monsters through strategic choices. What started as a modest indie title on Steam quickly surged in popularity, becoming one of the standout hits of recent years. Poncle has since enriched the game with substantial content, now boasting 50 playable characters and 80 weapons, not to mention two major expansions and the acclaimed Ode to Castlevania DLC.
In our 8/10 review, IGN praised Vampire Survivors, noting, "Need a game to play while listening to podcasts? This is it. Vampire Survivors is outwardly simple but turns out to be an incredibly deep hole to fall down — though it's not without extended dull periods when you get ahead of its curve."
