‘Please remember the game has no plot’: Vampire Survivors dev points out one of the many challenges in turning its roguelike into a live-action film

Vampire Survivors had a big 2024 and what sounds like an even bigger 2025 is on the way, which includes free updates to the action roguelike that “will be a bit chunkier than usual.” Patience is requested from fans, however, because “a lot of time is needed to QA and release patches now, since we’re on so many different platforms,” developer Poncle said on Steam.

Poncle also said there are more Vampire Survivors tie-ins on the way this year, the result of teaming up with other developers (like 2024’s Balatro collaboration for Friends of Jimbo).

And, in addition to the Vampire Survivors animated series we first heard about a couple of years ago, there’s apparently also a live-action Vampire Survivors film in the works. Don’t burst out of your house and dash to the theater, though: the project could be a long way off for a few different reasons.

“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, especially because to make anything that isn’t a videogame out of VS requires good ideas, creativity, and that quirky knowledge of the game, that is a very difficult triplet to get 100% right,” Poncle said.

The other issue is one I wish more makers of videogame adaptations would be aware of before rushing a movie to the big screen with dollar signs in their eyes. “Please remember the game has no plot,” Poncle says, adding: “(it doesn’t? 👀).” That makes it tricky to envision what a filmed version of the game would even be. The studio says it is also “respecting all the strikes and taking our time to get things right.”

Patches, updates, DLC, videogame tie-ins, a live-action film and an animated series isn’t even the full list of what Poncle is working on. “This year we should also be able to reveal a few other ‘cross-media’ things we’ve been working on. I’m just going to leave this sentence here,” the developer said cryptically.

Well, what else could there be to make? A card game? A tabletop RPG? A Vampire Survivors theme park filled with real vampires? We’ll find out later this year. There’s lots more info in Poncle’s post on Steam, and below you can watch the 2024 Vampire Survivors wrap-up video.