By Kevin Torres, Contributing Writer
“Vampire Survivors” was a hit that spanned a plethora of copies and inspirations. Much like how“Dark Souls” created Souls-like, “Vampire Survivors” created what some call Survivors-like. While the originator of the genre, “Magic Survivor,” also has survivor in the title, there is still some debate on what to call it.
While the genre has been given many different names, such as Reverse Bullet Hell, referencing the genre it’s loosely based on, the four names that are frequently used are: Horde / Horde Survival, Action Roguelike, Bullet Heaven, and Survivors-like.
First is Action Roguelike, which are games whose core mechanics (at least with the modern definition) are: meta-progression, sudo-permadeath (player loses run-specific progress), randomized upgrades or items each run, and procedurally generated levels. If someone were to search Action Roguelike in a search bar, a diverse catalogue of games would show up, not just “Vampire Survivors” or games like “Vampire Survivors,” which means that the genre serves more like an umbrella term.
Next is Survivors-like is straightforward in its meaning, as it simply means “games that are like Vampire Survivors.” These games will have the same mechanics that “Vampire Survivors” has, which were the aforementioned descriptions of an Action Roguelike, but truer to the “Vampire Survivors” formula, such as a timer (runs will usually be less than 30 minutes) and staying in one stage. But it could be argued that some games, like “Brotato,” are different enough not to be Survivors-like.
The third name, Bullet Heaven, references the Bullet Hell genre, which is a subgenre of the Shoot-em ups or Shmups genre. In Bullet Hell games, players evade an overwhelming amount of projectiles from the enemy while shooting their own projectiles, so in Bullet Heaven, the player is the one filling the stage with projectiles. A problem with the name is that there is a Bullet Hell game called Bullet Heaven, which could be buried with the adoption of this name.
Lastly, Horde has a straightforward meaning as well, in that it refers to the endless waves of enemies that go against the player. A core aspect of the genre is that hordes of enemies cover the stage while the player has to defeat them while dodging them, but the problem with this name is it only references one aspect of the genre and that it can be applied to many different games, just like Action Roguelike.
All these names are valid in their own way, but a name should be agreed on. The most specific names are Bullet Heaven and Survivor-like. Steam had a Bullet Heaven Fest, where it discounted many games of the genre, yet the tag does not exist, so even a big company hasn’t committed to a name, yet. A potential name, that I personally favor, is Bullet Heaven, as it references Bullet Hell games and emphasizes the purpose of Bullet Heavens games, to make the player feel all powerful.
