Even though Halloween has come and gone, there’s never a time of year when we can’t enjoy some classic monstrous behavior. And there’s nothing quite as classic as a story about the night-walking, blood-sucking undead icons known as vampires. And that’s exactly why for today’s article we have gathered a variety pack of 15 different vampire-centric games, which each cover a surprisingly broad range of genres that might even leave you a bit surprised. So let’s not waste all day here in the preface and instead get right into this Top 15 list, which we’ll kick off with…
#15: Few Nights More (PC)
Few Nights More - Steam Trailer
In a world where a civil war nearly destroyed all of vampirekind from the inside out, leading your more holy rivals to gain further influence and strength, it's up to you to rebuild and reclaim what’s yours. Opening up this list, Few Nights More is a roguelike turn-based RPG in a world filled with vampires, warriors of the sun, and those caught in between your unending war, where your goal is to seek out and conquer lost vampiric territories so you can rebuild your presence in this strange world. Throughout the game, you will fight against numerous enemy varieties in turn-based combat, designing and defending your new vampiric stronghold and ultimately fulfilling your vampire Lord’s true potential. So long as you don’t die first, that is.
Few Night More takes its main gameplay focus of turn-based RPG combat and combines it not only with roguelike elements such as perma-death that forces you to restart your current run but also the element castle management. Once you select one of the eight playable Vampire Lords who each come with a unique history, gameplay, and abilities, you’ll be able to try and master one of three Disciplines that each come with 60 unique skills for each new run before moving on to the actual gameplay, where you will need to design your new castle by adding new rooms, traps, and minions to help you defend against the would-be vampire slayers invading your castle. By stacking buffs with shiny decors to make the castle itself strengthened, and randomly acquiring new character skills to strengthen your Vampire Lord, you will continue to grow in strength by testing your builds against a variety of vampire hunters, veterans, and unique boss fights during the action-packed turn-based combat encounters that await you.
If you truly have what it takes, you can attempt to endure the in-game story that takes place across three acts and 12 difficulty levels, or you can take it a step further by testing your mettle in Infinity Mode. In Few Nights More, it’s up to you to decide what kind of vampire you want to be, as you can choose to excel in being a prestigious vampire, a seductive vampire, or to become a terrifying presence that your enemies will regret facing. But in the end, no matter who you are, it’s all about possessing the strength, and maybe even possessing that extra bit of luck that will help you conquer this world and claim your birthright.
Seek out many abandoned vampiric territories and claim them for yourself by fending off invaders and slowly conquering what’s rightfully yours in the name of your Vampire Lord.
#14: Vampire Mansion (PC)
Vampire Mansion | official trailer video
In Vampire Mansion, you are nothing more but the victim of unfortunate circumstances, as you take control of a regular human man who, while trying to deliver a supply run of goods to the marketplace with your horse-drawn carriage gets caught in an accident when a tree nearly topples into and causes you to crash. Now with your delivery ruined, you’re stuck out in a heavy rain storm and facing having to travel back home in these less-than-desirable circumstances, until you are suddenly helped by the owner of a nearby mansion named Velina. But things quickly take a turn for the worse, and you soon find yourself desperately trying to escape this mysteriously elaborate mansion after Velina is revealed to be a vampire out for your blood!
The gameplay of Vampire Mansion is straightforward, with a style that is reminiscent of the Amnesia games in the sense that you are stuck inside this winding mansion and you’ll either be forced to flee or use various items to stun your foe in order to stay alive. The main goal is to locate a key that will let you out of the main doors outside, and to get that key you will need to gather certain objects such as holy water, garlic spray, holy light, and a handful of other items that can temporarily wound Velina and cause her to drop the key. But be careful, because in the very likely possibility that Velina catches up to you, she won’t hesitate to drain you of your blood… among other things.
Since it’s obvious, I won’t beat around the bush by ignoring the fact that this game contains some sexual content in it that you will unlock by first beating the main difficulty, and then unlock further content by beating the harder difficulty and so on, content which includes new outfits for Velina, new hairstyles, and of course, new cutscenes. So whether you want to ignore that side of the game or if that kind of thing is right up your alley, we don’t judge here folks, you’ll find that Vampire Mansion is a decently built little indie game that was only released back in September of this year. And for the low cost of $3.99, well, I’ll let you decide how to feel about that.
Dash through a dizzying and dark mansion with a vampire hot on your tail, doing whatever you can to escape her clutches lest you be caught and drained of your blood! Although, depending on how you feel, things could be worse…
#13: Vampires Dawn 3 - The Crimson Realm (PC)
Vampires Dawn 3 Trailer (English)
Getting back to a more standard track, we’ll now focus the spotlight on Vampires Dawn 3 - The Crimson Realm, a game full of vampires, blood, and tragic moments. Created by German developers Dawnatic Games, Vampires Dawn 3 is a retro-styled party RPG that features old-school 2D-pixel graphics reminiscent of the classics, where you follow a story that primarily focuses on Asgar Serran, a second-generation vampire, and those who have been affected by his exploits in the past 450 years. In this game, you will travel across the world and witness the trail of blood and bodies left behind in this brutal war between vampires to determine the fate of humanity’s future.
The game’s narrative surrounding this vampiric civil war and those who are caught up inside it unfolds with a perfect blend of suspense and mystery, keeping players on the edge of their seats as they uncover the deep lore behind each major character. This story will take you far and wide across a vast open world filled with countless secrets, where sooner or later you will fight intense turn-based battles alongside your party, using both conventional weapons and the game’s extensive magic system that features the use of vampire powers. Not only can you turn into a bat and fly across the world’s map, but you’ll also be able to turn humans into vampires who fight by your side in your party, along with the ability to summon powerful monsters like skeletons, werewolves, demons, and zombies to fight alongside you in combat. And what better way to flex your vampiric might than having a horde of undead thralls following you into combat?
If you choose to give Vampires Dawn 3 a playthrough, you’ll be swept away by classic party-based RPG gameplay, a story filled with dramatic twists and turns, and an immersive world that beckons players to explore its depths. From the hauntingly beautiful soundtrack to the meticulously crafted pixel art, any kind of player out there will find themselves surprisingly hooked to this game once they take that first step into seeing all that it has to offer. If you’re a fan of RPGs with a twisted blood-sucking take on the genre’s usual formulas, you should check out Vampires Dawn 3 - The Crimson Realm today, because you might just find yourself with your new favorite gaming obsession.
Former lovers turned enemies Asgar Serran and Alaine Frynia wage a bloody civil war to determine whether humanity will forever suffer under the reign of the vampires, or if there’s hope for a future free from their undead oppression.
#12: Vampire Legends: The True Story of Kisilova (PC/Mac/Linux)
Vampire Legends: The True Story of Kisilova Official Trailer
In the middle of 18th century Europe, 50 years after the great plague had come and gone after sweeping through the lands of the Habsburg dynasty, once more the Emperor’s subjects found themselves facing a mysterious danger. After hearing reports of nine deaths taking place in just one week in the small riverside village of Kisilova, you are sent as a Royal Investigator to Kisilova to investigate the cause behind these mysterious deaths and to send a full report back to the Imperial Court as soon as possible. But little did they know that the force behind these deaths is something far worse than the return of the plague…
Vampire Legends: The True Story of Kisilova is a generally short but sweet Point & Click adventure game themed around the mysteriously gruesome murders that have taken place in the small Serbian village of Kisilova. Joined by a fellow royal investigator, the player-controlled heroine is tasked with routine tasks like investigating the town and interviewing the 14 intriguing, along with solving a series of strange puzzles that involve completing mini-games, uncovering hidden objects, and overall paying close attention to the little details, as you never know what might end up being important. And the deeper you find yourself getting inside this mystery, the more often you find your investigation sabotaged by a hooded stranger who seems hell-bent on thwarting your efforts to uncover the truth.
I’m a sucker for these old-school-styled Point & Click puzzle games, as I played my fair share of them when I was a kid, thus forming a strange sort of passion for them that persists today. So if you enjoy all those weird little Point & Click mystery games like I do, then you’ll be more than able to get plenty of enjoyment out of Vampire Legends: The True Story of Kisilova. So long as you don’t end up as another victim in this string of grizzly deaths, that is.
Under the orders of the Habsburg dynasty, you and your companion have been sent to the small town of Kisilova to investigate a string of mysterious deaths under fear of the plague returning, only to soon discover that that truth is far more sinister…
#11: Vampire’s Melody (PC/Mac)
Vampires' Melody Official Steam Trailer
While most games on this list center around the violence that vampires tend to carry with them across their journeys, Vampire’s Melody is a more casual and cutesy take on the existence of vampires because, in case you couldn’t tell, this game is a visual novel. You’ll be viewing this story from the perspective of Raylan Monroe, a young chef who went up into the mountains alongside his mentor to gather fresh ingredients, only for the two to be soon split up after both getting caught in a treacherous thunderstorm and encountering a hostile scouting party which forces Raylan to run for his life. And as if things weren’t strange enough, after escaping these hostile forces Raylan comes across the strange sight of a mysterious-looking girl sleeping inside a hollowed-out tree trunk. But before he could wake her up, everything suddenly went black…
This mysterious young woman is named Yella Lester, and she soon reveals that she is no normal girl, but rather a vampire who originally arrived on this new continent on a ship filled with settlers and gathered immense wealth and supernatural power, or so she claims. She also reveals that she had apparently been asleep for 300 years inside of that tree, so now she finds herself standing in a world she no longer recognizes thanks to Raylan’s unexpected actions. Now the two are stuck together, and you will witness the two grow closer throughout this story that’s told with high-quality original background artwork and Live2D artwork sprites for the characters. The story itself features many branching narrative pathways that could lead to any of the more than ten game endings for you to discover based on your choices.
Vampire’s Melody is pretty much what you can expect out of any quality visual novel game like this. With its original story and central themes about cutesy romance rather than sucking blood and killing the innocent, this anime-inspired visual novel might not be everybody’s cup of tea. But if you’re willing to give it a try, you might just find yourself unexpectedly charmed by this strangely sweet story.
The relatively simple life of aspiring chef Raylan Monroe suddenly takes a strange turn when one day he encounters a strange girl sleeping in a tree, who he swiftly learns is actually a vampire who has been asleep for the past 300 years!
#10: Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch)
Vampire The Masquerade Coteries of New York Launch Trailer
Although this game is also a visual novel like the last, this story instead takes us in a vastly different direction thanks to its setting within the uniquely rich universe of Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition, also referred to as the World of Darkness. In this narrative experience, you start out as an unsuspecting human who is Embraced and transformed into a fledgling vampire by a mysterious stranger, which only acts as the beginning of your life intertwining with the mysterious vampire underworld of New York City. It won’t be long before you find yourself caught in the middle of a conflict between two vampiric clans, the traditionalist Camarilla and the fiercely independent Anarchs, who continue an endless back-and-forth power struggle, one that you might just end up putting an end to one way or another if you make the right choices. And if not, well…
At the start of a new game, you’re able to choose one of three predefined character classes and play as a Ventrue, Toreador, or Brujah, with each option offering a selection of unique vampiric powers, known as Disciplines, along with different dialog choices and ethical approaches to certain issues. Along with the mainline quests you’ll follow, you can also venture out and engage in character-oriented quests that allow you to interact with four distinct NPCs, ranging from a Tremere sorcerer, a Nosferatu detective, a Gangrel of conflicted loyalties, and a Malkavian multifoliate online personality with their own agendas. It’s up to you to decide which of these characters you will try to win the hearts and minds of, or which of them you will make enemies out of, as you never know where your actions might lead you in the end.
Vampire: The Masquerade - Coteries of New York takes you on a new adventure inside the World of Darkness and appropriately does justice to the setting’s mature themes and excellent atmosphere. If you aren’t familiar with the setting, I would say Coteries of New York is a great way to dip your toes into this supernatural setting. But be careful, because in the city of New York, you never know who might be telling you the truth, and who’s willing to put a stake through your back to obtain their true desires.
Life as you know it has come to a swift and sudden end after a mysterious stranger transforms you into a fledgling vampire, and now you find yourself caught in a tense power struggle for control of New York City’s supernatural underbelly.
#9: Priest Simulator: Vampire Show (PC)
Priest Simulator - Official Trailer (2021)
Set in the fantastical world of modern-day Poland, Priest Simulator: Vampire Show is an action-orientated first-person sandbox shooter that follows the “messed-up” mockumentary-styled story of a vampire posing as a priest, who is on a mission to get back to Hell. That goal is easier said than done however, since due to the old pastor selling some totems imbued with demonic powers to the local villagers, the village of San de Ville is now under threat from Shatanists, demonic possessions, and plenty of other evils that seek to harm the locals. And since performing exorcisms and sorting out the mess your colleague left behind isn’t exactly glamorous, the vampire-turned-priest feels right at home and decides to put on the cassock and protect the peasants of this village by living up to the responsibility that your new title holds. Or not. Don’t worry, the road ahead isn’t all blessings and holy water.
For those familiar, the similarities between Priest Simulator and the POSTAL franchise are immediately clear and, if you’re a fan, that should let you know immediately that this game’s for you, although similar obviously doesn’t mean identical. In Priest Simulator you’re given 8 holy-themed weapons that can be dual-wielded in any combo you prefer to fend off the village from the Shatanists, Hell’s envoys, and everything else that wants to steal the souls of the pious, and with so many threats emerging you’ll need to gather black metal to craft upgrades for your weapons. But as important as fighting the demonic and doing house-call exorcisms is, at the moment your church is a dump, so you will also need to purchase church restoration blueprints and use modern technology to renovate your temple, which in turn will increase the faith of the villagers and increase your strength for future fights. Plus, the more you improve your church, the more new attractions you’ll unlock, such as confessionals and sermons, which will help keep the cash flow a-rollin’.
When worlds collide between Heaven and Hell, typically speaking, it shouldn’t be this entertaining. Or would that be morally speaking? Either way, despite your hellish origins you still take on the responsibility of helping guide this shepherdless flock while seeking out your own objectives, and you do so in an intense, fast-paced, and violently entertaining way. Promising to give its players one of the weirdest and most messed up simulators in the history of sandbox shooters, all capped off with a fully unprofessional English dub that bleeds more humor than your enemies bleed actual blood, Priest Simulator: Vampire Show is a hidden gem that I believe is well worth your time if you’re a fan of humorous insanity with a side of intense FPS action.
It’s up to you to don the priest’s cassock and grab your arsenal of holy-ish weapons to defend this modern-day Polish town from demons, Shatanists, and whatever else Hell tries to throw at you, all while trying to balance being a decent priest at the local church. Oh, and you’re also a vampire in disguise.
#8: The Last Faith (PC/Mac/Linux/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch)
The Last Faith - Launch Trailer
And though both this game and the previous one share the common theme of holiness in a twisted world, that’s where their similarities suddenly end, as the world of The Last Faith is far from a humorous one. You will need to be just as precise as you will be merciless in the combat that awaits you ahead in this nightmare-filled world as a man named Eryk, who awakens without any immediate recollection of his past, and soon finds himself in a race against time as his mind and conscience begins to deteriorate. It’s his desire for salvation from the strange affliction that’s seemingly brought him back to life that sends him on a cursed mission that crosses paths with ancient religions and divinities, and chances are none of them will be looking to save your soul.
The Last Faith dubs itself as a dark, gothic fusion between Metroidvania and Soulslike elements that will see you engage in brutal combat across a range of non-linear levels to explore. You will need to hold your arsenal of melee weapons, ranged firearms, and arcane spells close if you want to survive the trials ahead, as each location you’ll find yourself in has been infested by vampires and other blood-thirsty monstrosities, including a series of massive boss battles that you will need to overcome. But if you fall in battle, don’t worry, your blessed curse will revive you so you can continue your unholy mission whether you like it or not.
Nobody said the journey to salvation was an easy one, and that message will be beaten into you time and again as you step up to the plate in The Last Faith. For fans of challenging difficulty and non-linear exploration, The Last Faith offers you a familiar, yet still all-new experience to delve into. Having released just over a month ago on November 15th, 2023, this gorgeously crafted pixel-art game is one that you won’t want to miss out on during this holiday season.
In this world filled with monsters and madness, you can only rely on yourself and your weapons if you want to survive the trials ahead and save your soul. In this ruined world the wicked and the blessed will be judged the same, so let nothing stand in your way.
#7: Evil West (PC/PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S)
Evil West - Launch Trailer
The American frontier as we know it finds itself threatened by a dark menace seeking to consume the citizens of the Old West, and it falls on your shoulders to put a stop to it. You enter the role of Jesse Rentier, one of the last remaining members of a clandestine vampire-hunting organization, and you swiftly find yourself as the final line between humanity and a deep-rooted terror that now emerges from the shadows. With dissension emerging in the ranks of the vampiric leadership, and forces among them wishing to declare war on humanity before their technology evolves far enough to wipe their kind out, the forces of the supernatural are growing unpredictable and putting innocent lives in danger, which is why you must rise up to eradicate this vampiric plague by becoming a Wild West Superhero.
Evil West is a narrative-driven third-person shooter that will see you tear your way through waves of supernatural monstrosities that are emerging across the Wild West in unapologetically brutal and bloody fashion. Whether you play alone as Jesse or you play in co-op mode alongside Jesse’s vampire hunting partner Edgar Gravenor, you can expect to experience plenty of visceral, explosive combat scenarios where you will need to utilize Jesse’s skills with not only his firearms but also a slew of interesting gadgets and his lightning-fueled gauntlet. From vampire enemies like swift and melee-focused Nagals, the massive spear and shield-wielding Leechers, and the most powerful creature among the vampiric enemies, the Highborns, you will face these monsters and dozens more as you explore numerous locations across the American frontier in your pursuits to become the ultimate vampire slayer.
It’s not often that you see two usually separate genres like Wild West frontiering and vampire hunting come together like this, and it’s even less often that an uncommon pairing is done so well. From the brutal combat encounters to the well-designed visuals of the world around you, Evil West’s openly weird Wild West universe is one that’s well worth experiencing for yourself. Because, let’s be honest, the premise of cowboys fighting vampires alone is too cool to pass up, don’t you think?
Vampiric myths and legends are retold within this stylized and weird Wild West universe, where you must become the ultimate vampire slayer if you want to save the United States in a world where evil never sleeps… but it bleeds.
#6: CODE VEIN (PC/PS4/Xbox One)
Code Vein - Launch Trailer
You awake to find yourself trapped inside the monster-infested ruins of a city sealed within a red ring of strange mist, where at the city’s center there lies a hidden society of Revenants, human corpses brought back to life by implanting a Biological Organ Regenerative parasite within the heart, that were created to combat the newly emerging monsters with unique vampiric fighting techniques. And though these Revenants, collectively calling themselves Vein, continue to fight their intended enemies, many other Revenants have succumbed to an overwhelming lust for the human blood that sustains them and has since mutated into beings known as the Lost, cannibalistic mutants devoid of reason and control. Over time the Lost grew in numbers and began emitting a collective Miasma that drives still-sane Revenants mad, but for whatever happens you seem able to not only resist this Miasma but also able to clear it away altogether, thus making you a valuable asset to Vein and their efforts to escape the hell they find themselves living in.
Code Vein is an open-world action RPG that takes place in a post-apocalyptic near-future with a unique twist, as instead of vampires being the villains of this story, they exist as man-made weapons used to fight back against the monsters that began appearing for unknown reasons in an event known as the Great Collapse. Regardless of whether you consider it a blessing or a curse, you still find yourself blessed with the “gifts” that will allow you to fight your enemies and defeat monstrous bosses in this unique story-driven dungeon experience inspired by both the Dark Souls series and God Eater 3. As you fight alongside either an AI partner or a friend in co-op multiplayer, you’ll be able to wield bayonets, axes, spears, and more while collecting new gear, leveling up your character, and learning new abilities and combat strategies that will help you grow more powerful with every step that you take on this journey to rise up and defeat the forces of the Lost.
It’s not hard to see where the previously mentioned inspiration from the Dark Souls series and God Eater 3 factors in when playing Code Vein, as this game delivers a challenging combat experience that gives its players a great sense of accomplishment when defeating particularly difficult challenges, which are further lifted up by the game’s exceptionally well-made and exceptionally over-the-top animations to top it off. And that’s not even getting into how interesting Code Vein’s strange, monstrous world feels when compared to other vampire-centric games in general. So if you’re itching for a game that doesn't pull its punches and gives you a new kind of vampire to play around with, Code Vein has got you covered.
In the face of certain death, you must rise to the many monstrous challenges that await you on your journey to the ends of hell if you wish to unlock your past and escape your living nightmare.
#5: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt (PC/PS5)
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt - Launch Trailer
Set in the streets and along the rooftops of Prague, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt takes us back into the World of Darkness universe that’s based on the Vampire: The Masquerade tabletop role-playing game, of course. But while most of the other Masquerade games focus on storytelling in one way or another, 2022’s Bloodhunt stands out in the series by being a free-to-play battle royale where a ruthless war between rivaling vampire factions has broken out in Prague. Whether you prefer a sneaky surprise attack or dive straight into battle all guns blazing, Bloodhunt lets you choose to align with several vampire clans that each come with their own clan-specific classes, each of whom possesses unique skills and abilities that you can upgrade by feeding on human blood in order to further cement your strength in this ruthless all-out supernatural war.
The five vampire clans that you can choose from include the deceptively beautiful Toreador, the Tremere who are masters of Blood Sorcery, the Ventrue who are always in the pursuit of power, the quick-to-anger and passionate Brujah, and the Nosferatu, masters of the underground. Each clan has playable classes that use unique vampiric powers alongside the standard possession of firearms, and those powers will help you decimate any rival vampire that comes in your path, whether that means you choose to hunt as a solitary predator who sneaks along the rooftops in search of victims, or if you wish to hunt alongside your friends to go into a visceral, fast-paced battle where teamplay and strategy are essential. And though your fight will mostly be against rival vampires, you will also go up against the heavily armed Inquisition, a group of human vampire hunters, and most importantly, you will have to fight against your own worst instincts, because while you can feed on unsuspecting humans and fight other vampires, you must also ensure that humanity doesn’t discover your presence. In other words, whatever you do, always ensure to maintain The Masquerade.
Though this is branching into new ground for the Masquerade series, Bloodhunt does a superb job of making itself an excellent standout star in both its own series and other battle royale games thanks to its gameplay design. With your vampire abilities always playing a factor, Bloodhunt allows you to constantly keep the momentum going thanks to your supernatural speed and abilities always playing a factor whether you are in a firefight or just stalking the streets. So once you’ve selected your vampire and customized your stylish predator however you see fit, you will go out under the cover of night and wreak havoc upon your rivals in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt, a game I consider to be well worth a try. I mean, after all, it’s free-to-play, isn’t it?
Stalk the streets and soar over the rooftops of modern-day Prague as you and many other vampires engage in an all-out supernatural war between vampire clans, all while struggling to maintain The Masquerade in the process.
#4: V Rising (PC)
V Rising - Gameplay Trailer
After centuries of slumber, you awaken as a weakened vampire in a world where humans no longer fear what lurks in the shadows of night, a world you do not quite recognize. Now, in order to regain your strength you must hunt for blood across a vast open world teeming with mythical horrors and danger, where exploration will lead you through lush forests, open countryside, dark caverns, and a variety of other locations filled with both valuable resources and mysterious creatures. If you want to survive in V Rising, you will have to reclaim not only your strength by feasting on blood but also the status that an all-powerful creature of the night like you deserves by building massive vampiric castles to live in, converting humans into your royal servants, and fighting off any would-be vampire slayer that dares march on your castle. All while ensuring you avoid going out in the sun, of course.
V Rising allows us to view the open-world survival game formula through a new vampiric lens, as on top of the usual open-world exploration gameplay where you gather materials to craft new items and gear, you are also able to discover ancient techniques to gain dark powers. Whether it’s against a hostile mythical creature in the wilderness, a squad of holy soldiers, or a deadly boss encounter, you will need to master the game’s precise WASD and cursor-based aiming controls to make the most out of the available arsenal of deadly weapons and supernatural abilities granted to you, which can be customized to optimize whatever playstyle you prefer. And when you aren’t too busy looking for materials or fighting enemies, or if you just need somewhere to escape the sunrise, you can also construct castles of any shape and size you desire across the game’s five biomes, where you will be able to store your loot and equipment and build crafting machines to further increase the abilities of both your tools and your vampire’s abilities.
V Rising gives you plenty of versatility when it comes to letting you choose how you want to wage your own war for power in this world already filled with conflict, and it even allows you to add other real players to the mix either as comrades to fight alongside you or as rival vampires to fight against. Currently, V Rising is still an Early Access game on Steam, but longtime fans and newer ones can look forward to the long-awaited 1.0 update to be released sometime in the second quarter of 2024, which will only expand on the already vast amount of content that this game has to offer. Whether you’re a diehard fan of all things with vampires or otherwise, if you want a fresh take on the survival game genre, V Rising is a bloody good time that’s worth at least a few hours of your time.
After rising from a centuries-long slumber that left you weakened, you return to a world of conflict to hunt for blood and regain your strength in a quest to build your new vampiric empire. Do you have what it takes to become the next Dracula?
#3: Vampire Survivors (PC/Mac/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/S/Nintendo Switch/iOS/Android)
Launch Trailer - Vampire Survivors
Set in rural Italy in 2021, the Belpaese family and many other heroic survivors are all that stand between humanity and total annihilation after the evil Bisconte Draculó summons near-endless hordes of monstrous creatures to ravage the world. In Vampire Survivors it’s up to you to lead the Belpaese family along their travels through cursed forests, haunted libraries, an abandoned dairy plant, and other monster-infested locations. There’s no time to run or hide in Vampire Survivors, so you must become the bullet hell and hold back the sea of nightmarish creatures for as long as you can until you die, then return, and return to the fight again and again.
Vampire Survivors is a gothic-horror bullet-hell game with rogue-lite elements that pits you against seas of countless supernatural enemies that might appear daunting but quickly will find themselves being snowballed under your might. You can select from 58 total characters which can be bought with acquired gold, save for the 16 of which that are secret unlocks and the 16 additional DLC characters, with almost every character coming with a base weapon that can be upgraded throughout a game by collecting gems, gold, and other items which are dropped by the waves upon waves of enemies you’ll be fighting. During a stage, you will be able to unlock additional weapons on top of upgrading your starting weapons, along with gathering passive items, powerups, relics, and other helpful items that will allow you to further grow in strength as you battle against the 198 unique in-game enemies that will constantly be swarming you in waves of hundreds.
Even though it’s far from the most complex game on this list, Vampire Survivors does stand to be one of the most addicting games showcased in this article, as its deceptively easy gameplay makes it far too easy for you to want to try and get in that one last run before you finally call it quits for the night. Even with certain death looming over you, Vampire Survivors gives you the means to become a near-unstoppable force of nature even when being rushed by hundreds of on-screen enemies at once, fully allowing you to “become the bullet hell” just as advertised. And you know what the funniest thing about this game is? Not even one of the enemies you encounter in Vampire Survivors is an actual vampire at all! Strange how that works out, right?
Hell is empty, the devils are here, and the only choice you have left is to mow down thousands of night creatures and survive until dawn in this supernatural indie phenomenon.
#2: Vampyr (PC/PS4/Xbox One/Nintendo Switch)
Vampyr - Story Trailer
Soon after returning to London from the Great War in 1918, Doctor Jonathan Reid suddenly awakens inside a mass grave, and soon after that, Reid is overwhelmed by an uncontrollable bloodlust, a bloodlust that leads him to tragically feast upon and inadvertently kill Mary, his sister. Afterward, when he is chased into hiding by a group of vampire hunters, he soon begins hearing the disembodied voice of the being who made him into what he is now, cementing the terrible truth that Reid is now a vampire. But before this turn of events Jonathan was working to help develop a cure for the citizens of London who had been ravaged by a strange flu, which leads to the main moral conflict within Vampyr: Will Jonathan Reid continue his work to develop a cure for the flu-ravaged innocents of London, or will he continue to feed on those he vowed to heal and embrace the monster within? That choice is up to you…
Vampyr is an action RPG that lets you choose whether you want to resist the vampire curse that afflicts you or give up your humanity and accept your new lust for blood in all the worst ways. As Jonathan Reid, you will travel across London and engage in combat against vampire-hunting humans, undead skals, and other supernatural creatures by manipulating the battlefield with your new supernatural abilities along with improvised melee weapons. Alternatively, you could stick to the shadows and avoid combat altogether, and instead use dialog options to get what you need from certain characters you can meet to progress through the story instead. You can also choose to feed on the innocent and level up your abilities, or you can choose to kill no one throughout the entire game, but whatever decisions you do end up making will inevitably affect the game’s ending one way or another.
Compared to many of the games on this list, Vampyr is a return to form to that classic kind of vampire story, only instead of there already being a monster looming overhead, the game gives you the power to become that monster instead. In Vampyr, it will ultimately be your decisions throughout the game that determine how London’s citizens react to you and your continued undead existence. As you use your unholy powers to manipulate and delve into the lives of those around you, inevitably you’ll be left struggling to live with your actions, as they very well might determine whether you end up saving London’s citizens or dooming them. And if you can’t live with that, well, it’s a good thing you’re already dead.
After Doctor Jonathan Reid awakens in a mass grave to discover he’s become a vampire, he must choose between being London’s savior by curing its flu-ravaged citizens or giving in to his thirst and becoming the monster he’s desperately trying to hide inside.
#1: Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines (PC)
Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines PC Games Trailer -
We return one final time to the World of Darkness as we close out this list, and we do so with the most well-known of all the Masquerade games, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Set in modern-day Los Angeles, you are a no-name human who begins the game by being killed and brought to life as a fledgling vampire, though your resurrection is unauthorized and results in the vampire who turned you being executed, while you are spared from sharing their fate due to the intervention of the anarch Nines Rodriguez, who employs your services instead. After entering your new lack of life as a low-level vampire, you are plunged headfirst into the dark and gritty supernatural underworld of L.A. as a creature of the night, where over time you will grow your power and interact with a sea of strange faces as you journey through the game’s story, a story which could end with you reshaping the entire Vampire underworld, for better or for worse.
When you first start a new game in Bloodlines you’ll first have to create your vampire by modifying their appearance, abilities, and attributes like any other RPG, along with assigning them to one of the seven selectable vampire clans that range from the cultural Toreadors who remain closest to their humanity, the untrustworthy Tremere who are masters of blood magic, and the monstrous Nosferatu who are condemned to a life in the shadows along with the other selectable clans, each of which comes with a specific set of Disciplines, or vampiric abilities. Both your character’s chosen clan and the personality you give them will affect how they interact with other supernatural beings in the world, which includes vampires of various statuses and clan loyalties along with other monstrous individuals like ghouls, werewolves, demons, and other creatures. The vampire government is currently in a state of unease, so you’ll find yourself caught in plenty of conflicts against other supernatural creatures as well as normal human beings, and in these encounters, you can use your fists, melee weapons, and firearms just as you can use your supernatural abilities to dominate the battle around you. Along with growing your physical strength, you can also boost more subtle abilities like picking locks and hacking computers if you want to go for a more stealthy approach on occasion.
One of my favorite aspects of Bloodlines is the use of humanity points that are affected by your actions in-game such as, for example, feasting on a human victim for too long will end up killing them and costing you humanity points. If your humanity points decrease to a score of 0, you will lose all control of yourself to The Beast and you be nothing more than a mindless beast of your own making, whereas maintaining a score of 10 will see you as a saint among vampires who is repulsed by their very nature and upholds a strict moral code to keep themselves out of The Beast’s reach. It’s gameplay elements like these that make Bloodlines a unique experience among RPGs, especially the RPGs that were also being released around 2004 when Bloodlines first launched, both in terms of its gameplay and storytelling elements.
Coming up on the game’s 20th anniversary next year, Bloodline still holds up today as an intricately designed role-playing game with a fascinating world setting that you can easily immerse yourself in, and it’s not hard to see how this game still has a following even today. If you haven’t had the opportunity to experience this 2004 cult classic for yourself, I fully suggest that you go out of your way to bathe yourself in the unparalleled atmosphere and storytelling of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Because like any good story about vampires, the world and characters of Bloodlines can keep you coming back again and again no matter how many years it has been.
After being reborn as a fledgling vampire, you now find yourself at the heart of a growing conflict that could tear the supernatural underworld of modern-day L.A. apart… and if you’re lucky, you might just emerge from this conflict alive. Well, for a vampire.
Conclusion
And with that, we have reached the end of today’s Top 15 article. I’d like to offer a quick thanks to those who have read all the way through, it means a lot to me, silly as it might sound. If you have any thoughts you’d like to share, leave ‘em in the comments below since I’d love to read them, but if not, then I’ll simply leave you with everything above and I’ll hopefully see you ‘round for the next one.
You may also be interested in:
- Top 11 Best Top-Down Horror Games
- [Top 10] Best Supernatural Board Games
- Top 15 Best Comics About Vampires
