I prefer the term Auto-Shooter. I understand Bullet Heaven as it's the opposite of Bullet Hell, but I prefer Auto-Shooter as the character automatically using their attacks is one of the core mechanics all these games share. Plus Auto-Shooter rolls off the tongue better than Bullet Heaven or Survivors-Like. Everyone has heard of Dark Souls, but not everyone knows Vampire Surviviors and there are alot of games with the word Survivor in its name or genre so it's just confusing. I'm going to keep using the term Auto-Shooter I think. Vampire Survivors is my favourite Auto-Shooter so far. Truely genre defining & sets the standard for all others. I also quite like 'Army of Ruin' and also 'Spirit Hunters'.
one of my favorite games in the genre is 20 minutes til daytime. it has manual aiming yes, but you can switch to auto aim if you want to go one handed mode
Vampire survivors is fun and I finally have all the achievements and the secrets it was fun to figure them out and unlock them, and then doing things late game with a disgusting amounmt of golden eggs
I used to play a lot of Magic Survival in the past, it's a pretty fun game and I've always liked indie games, and I didn't know that it pretty much created a new incredible genre. And it surprised me a lot that you have this low of a quantity of subscribers, this video was really well made and I hope that you continue on this path.
You should have mention "Death Must Die". It has an item system inspired by Diablo 2 and is more dark and gloomy while also having that pixelated art style.
I like Holocure the most. More unique mechanics, balance, meta progression don't ruin intensity. I still being new "survival" games, but always return to HoloCure. Game soon will be released in Steam. Doing game only 2 people excluding drawing artists and composer. Kay Yu doing game in free time between commissions (doing games like River City Girls and anime OniMai).
I was wondering if you'd like to check out Captain Claw (1997) as well at some point, it's a challenging 2D platformer with a pirate cat. It's abandonware but it has a fansite called The Claw Recluse.
This isnt a New concept. This design goes back to games like Robotron 2084, and Berzerk. And as fun as Vampire Survivors is... Robotron is FAR superior in its execution. The main issue I have with VS, is that its just too easy. Even if you get defeated... you can eventually collect enough power ups... to overcome everything with ease. And once you get powerful enough in game levels.. you spend like +10 minutes, of walking around.. without much, if any.. challenge... Meanwhile... with Robotron, you can get your BUTT totally handed to you, from the very first few levels. It could take a several hours worth of practice, before you ever see anything past level 9. You actually get an extreme Adrenalin Rush... and work up an actual Sweat... as you barely escape death by a few mere (or single) pixel(s)... every few seconds. There are no "Relaxation" moments in Robotron. You get dropped into the middle of like 100 enemies... and then have the near impossible task of trying to dodge and carve your way to survival of the level + saving the Humans. Its those amazing near death moments... where you somehow just barely are able to manage to escape the impossible... that you feel like a total badass Super Star / Super Hero. The game is so Precise in its split-second timings.. that you really need a short-throw / short-activation joystick, like the original Wico Leafswitch joysticks. Analog sticks wont cut it. And even most typical microswitch sticks, are still too long of a throw-distance... and could easily cause you to lose too many lives, due to Directional travel-delay. Of course, that crazy difficulty, and Adrenalin pumping Near-Death moments that happen so often.. are what makes it a Timeless Masterpiece. Where as Vampire Survivors, while fun... its gets a bit too boring / old hat. Eventually you will reach a point where you just wont feel the need / desire to play it anymore. And you certainly are not getting an Adrenalin rush from playing it... IMO. With some modifications... it could become a much better "Gem" of a game. Especially with Dual controls, and the ability to actually switch weapon types, on the fly... based on the Enemies that appear. Of course, todays games being way too easy... is a common problem. A problem that started way back in the 90s arcades... in which you could just insert another quarter to "Continue". It cheapened the entire experience. You no longer had to develop skills to progress. You no longer cared much if you died... and so there was no more adrenalin rush. And once you saw the games end... then you often never / rarely played it again. Meanwhile, I remember playing Congo Bongo in the arcade, countess times... and maybe a year of random off and on playing, was I ever able to get to see level 3. I was jumping for joy, that I finally made it that far... and while I wasnt able to get past that level... I felt quite proud, that I developed the skills needed, to get to that level. That game had No continues. After 3 lives... it was back to level 1. Either you had the skills, or you were sent packin. And that just fueled your Obsession of "Just One more Try!". The failure of the Arcades is way too often blamed on the Home Console competition. However, that wasnt really the case. And in fact, if the Arcade developers kept making ultra challenging games.. similar to the 80s generation (just with better sound and Gfx) ... then they still would be around, and still would be very busy / popular... today. As much as there are certain people that get turned off by difficult games... there are a LOT more, that get turned On by such challenged.. and they spend a Lot more time and money.. playing these challenging games.
Great ideas here, thanks for taking the time! I agree with you on the fact that Vampire Survivors gets a bit stale after a while, I am seeing a huge uptick in new, similar games which has me excited for the future of the genre. I'll have to check out Robotron too!
@@LucidLetsPlay Just a word of Warning... Most people, even myself as a younger kid (when I first saw it)... find Robotron's graphics to be very Bare-Bones / Ugly. That said... If you give it a good 30 minutes worth of play... you will get completely hooked. For many years, I had spoken more highly about its sequel "Smash Tv". Smash has much nicer looking graphics.. more powerups.. and some other interesting features. However, I got into an Argument with a dude... when he surprisingly claimed the Robotron was the superior game. After some back and forth, I held only his arguments within my mind, and I set out to see if what he said was true.. for myself. When I had first seen and experiences Robotron, I was probably a single head higher than the Control Panel. At that time, there were many other video games, that had far superior graphics. But I gave it a few of my quarters anyway... and it Spanked me so hard, that I refused to give it another chance. Fast forwards to my 30s, when I had a friend that owned small shop, with an actual dedicated Robotron within it (and a few other cool classic arcade machines)... I started pumping quarter after quarter into it... and before you know it, about 5 hours had passed by. The game was like a Drug, and I became addicted to it, like no other game before it. Not long afterwards, I talked about the game to my younger friend. He was 5 yrs younger than myself. He was swayed by my passionate descriptions.. and was egar to see and play it for himself... When we arrived, and he saw the games graphics... you could see the instant Let-Down in his face. He started mocking the game... making snide and sarcastic comments about it.. and he didnt even want to play it, initially. I think he tried it once, and failed quickly.. due to the difficulty that it takes in getting used to firing in the opposite directions that you are walking in. Anyways... I told him to give it a few more tries.. and that I would pay for his games. That way, he couldnt really complain, as he wasnt losing his own money... Id say that maybe by the 15th game... he was a convert. He was all smiles, laughing like a school girl. Competing hardcore against me, and doing his best to survive. I think we put in a good 7 hrs that day, playing nothing but non-stop Robotron! When we started out... I think both of us were only able to get to something like level 9... for about the first 2 hours worth of efforts. But by the last games... my buddy actually got up to like level 34. Granted, I believe the owner had set the game difficulty level to an Easier than Default level... and started the player off with 5 men, instead of 3... but even then, the game is Still insanely difficult... especially when you start going past the 7th or so level. Anyway.. after that session.. I was convinced. While Smash TV was nicer looking... it was a snore fest, compared to Robotron. It was also too "Cheap", in that it was designed to eat your "Continue" quarters, with an unrealistic level of game difficulty balance (too many multi-hit enemies and projectiles at once). Robotron is merciless in difficulty.. BUT... its always balanced enough, that you can find a way to survive... IF you have the skills to do so. Its never completely beyond a humans capabilities. And of course, there is no Continues in Robotron... which makes each second of gameplay, that much more Critical, and Adrenalin fueled. Some quick Survival Tips: 1) Attack the "Flying" enemies ASAP... or they will quickly swarm you with projectiles. 2) On the Stage where the Brains are taking control over the Humans.. you have to save as many humans as quickly as possible. Each successive human saved, will multiply the point values... and you can earn several Extra Men, on that Level alone. The brain stages happen like every 6th stage? (been a while) So if you can manage to survive long enough to get to each Brain Stage... AND you can rescue enough humans on that Stage... you can end up surviving for quite a long time. Obviously, this is much easier said, than done. 3) On every stage, there are at least a few humans roaming around. Try to collect them, before the enemies Kill them. Also, make sure that before you shoot the final enemy on the screen... that you collect any remaining surviving humans.. first. Otherwise, you will go to the next level.. while having missed out on those much needed points.. and it will take much longer to get those much needed Extra-Men. 4) Learn each enemy type. How they move. How they react. Best ways of dealing with each. Realize that the Flying enemies.. are a lot smarter than you think. One of them will often hide in a corner of the screen, and start pegging projectiles from that point... where the others are keeping you busy. Also, these enemies will shoot just in front of where you are running... so that you will run into their projectiles. As such, be careful to keep changing your speeds, and directions. 5) Make sure to learn to be able to shoot backwards at the Enemies, while running forwards away from them. This will take some getting used to... but eventually you will get it.. and it will become easy / thoughtless. If you dont do this, you wont last long at all. 6) Try to get to the edges of the screen quickly... and tend to walk in larger circular patterns (single clockwise or counterclockwise movements). If you often double back on your movement paths, you tend to run into enemy projectiles far more easily. 7) Try to see the entire screen at the same time, with a bit of a Soft-Focus. If you are too centered on a single area of the screen... you are going to miss some critical things that are about to take you down. 8) Certain Enemies need to be ended asap... like the Bouncing ball throwing enemies... otherwise the screen will be over-ran.. and almost impossible to survive. Learn to Prioritize each different Enemy Threat. 9) The indestructible enemies are slow... but.. be aware of them... because they can end up boxing you in, and blocking your shots to other enemies. 10) Be careful of the Side Walls. Enemy Projectiles can rapidly SLIDE along them... and smash into you, when you least expect it. Also, bouncing projectiles can ricochet off of a wall behind you, and then tag you on the rebounds. Also, glowing obstacles are electrified, and will End you if you touch them. You can shoot them away, however. 11) Use two digital controls, rather than mini analogs. Those analog controls are too long of a throw, to do you any good. If I could only have a single game to play, for the rest my life (Desert Island game)... this would probably be the One.. maybe only really challenged by a sit-down Spy Hunter. Hope you give it a fair shot. Have fun!
You're arguing semantics, I merely said that games are copying Dark Souls! You are right, the origin of Rogue-like games came from the original Rogue. If you want to get technical about it, Vampire Survivors isn't a roguelike at all, it's a roguelite. :)
I just discovered this channel and it's glorious, it obvious you have a lot of effort on these videos, I wonder why you aren't more popular lmao Definitely recommending this channel to my friends
What do you call this new genre? Bullet-heaven? Survivor-likes? Let me know in the comments and subscribe for more content like this! :)
Isometric run'n gun
Crimson-like
Rogue-lite
@@x149te Where did Crimson-like come from?
I prefer the term Auto-Shooter. I understand Bullet Heaven as it's the opposite of Bullet Hell, but I prefer Auto-Shooter as the character automatically using their attacks is one of the core mechanics all these games share. Plus Auto-Shooter rolls off the tongue better than Bullet Heaven or Survivors-Like. Everyone has heard of Dark Souls, but not everyone knows Vampire Surviviors and there are alot of games with the word Survivor in its name or genre so it's just confusing. I'm going to keep using the term Auto-Shooter I think.
Vampire Survivors is my favourite Auto-Shooter so far. Truely genre defining & sets the standard for all others. I also quite like 'Army of Ruin' and also 'Spirit Hunters'.
I like the term Auto-Shooters, I might steal that one myself! :)
@@LucidLetsPlay From Crimson Land (2003)
one of my favorite games in the genre is 20 minutes til daytime. it has manual aiming yes, but you can switch to auto aim if you want to go one handed mode
I'll check it out! I quite liked the manual aiming, just had to put down the beer!
this is the perfect game for pulling an all-nighter
Oh yes! Especially accidental all nighters because you can't stop!
just experienced this lastnight.
@@pettipasb Can be dangerous!
Vampire survivors is fun and I finally have all the achievements and the secrets it was fun to figure them out and unlock them, and then doing things late game with a disgusting amounmt of golden eggs
Thanks for watching! Nice work getting everything, that's a hell of an achievement!
Was just thinking of Vampire Survivor, your video popped up. informative, fast naration yet enough to catch up clearly. ❤
Thank you for watching, appreciate the feedback!
@LucidLetsPlay The honor is mine man. 👌 VP reminds me of the old 90s vibe somehow that hardcore grinding and hair pulling challenging stages. 😆🎊
@@GameLinerSaikou Yeah agreed! It definitely has some levels which are harder than others!
@@LucidLetsPlay I second that again 😆 Keep up the quality work because it is.
@@GameLinerSaikou Watch this space for more! :)
I used to play a lot of Magic Survival in the past, it's a pretty fun game and I've always liked indie games, and I didn't know that it pretty much created a new incredible genre.
And it surprised me a lot that you have this low of a quantity of subscribers, this video was really well made and I hope that you continue on this path.
Thanks for watching! Yeah I agree it's an interesting history of a genre! Thanks for the feedback too, watch out for some new videos in the future. :)
Holocure new update is being released on Steam in 2 days, still free
Oh nice, considering how good it is I bet they could have charged at least something for it!
All these games, somehow reminded me of an older pc game (later on android) named Crimsonland
Thanks for watching! A few people have mentioned Crimsonland but I haven't checked it out yet, it's on my list!
Sick video. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for watching!
It's more 16 bit graphics though. Think the castlevania games on the SNES, which this game pays heavy homages to.
Yeah you're right! I really love this art style when it's done properly.
This genre is literally crack cocaine in a game
It's dangerous that's for sure!
You should have mention "Death Must Die". It has an item system inspired by Diablo 2 and is more dark and gloomy while also having that pixelated art style.
That one looks interesting, I'll check it out!
Epic video, you will get big! ^^
Thanks for watching! :)
Pretty damn good video bro keep it up!!!
Thanks very much!
Yet no mention of Crimsonland. "Birth of a genre" my ass.
Crimsonland was a top down dual stick shooter, but sure :)
there's a game called 20 minutes till dawn maybe check that out too and also there's a deep rock galactic spin-off coming out
Thanks for watching. Interesting, I enjoyed Deep Rock Galactic!
I like Holocure the most. More unique mechanics, balance, meta progression don't ruin intensity. I still being new "survival" games, but always return to HoloCure.
Game soon will be released in Steam. Doing game only 2 people excluding drawing artists and composer. Kay Yu doing game in free time between commissions (doing games like River City Girls and anime OniMai).
Thanks for watching! Yeah I was surprised, Holocure was actually really good, I still can't get the soundtrack out of my head. :)
Procrastination : The Game
It's a time sink for sure.
I hope more quality games from this genre come up with different art style and even a 3D or 4D
A 4D game would be unique to say the least!
Holocure mentioned
Love the soundtrack to Holocure!
@@LucidLetsPlay glad to see you like it, I love this game and rare moment when vtuber stuff broke into mainstream
I was wondering if you'd like to check out Captain Claw (1997) as well at some point, it's a challenging 2D platformer with a pirate cat. It's abandonware but it has a fansite called The Claw Recluse.
Interesting! I'll definitely check it out.
@@LucidLetsPlay Nice! :)
This isnt a New concept. This design goes back to games like Robotron 2084, and Berzerk. And as fun as Vampire Survivors is... Robotron is FAR superior in its execution. The main issue I have with VS, is that its just too easy. Even if you get defeated... you can eventually collect enough power ups... to overcome everything with ease. And once you get powerful enough in game levels.. you spend like +10 minutes, of walking around.. without much, if any.. challenge...
Meanwhile... with Robotron, you can get your BUTT totally handed to you, from the very first few levels. It could take a several hours worth of practice, before you ever see anything past level 9. You actually get an extreme Adrenalin Rush... and work up an actual Sweat... as you barely escape death by a few mere (or single) pixel(s)... every few seconds. There are no "Relaxation" moments in Robotron. You get dropped into the middle of like 100 enemies... and then have the near impossible task of trying to dodge and carve your way to survival of the level + saving the Humans. Its those amazing near death moments... where you somehow just barely are able to manage to escape the impossible... that you feel like a total badass Super Star / Super Hero.
The game is so Precise in its split-second timings.. that you really need a short-throw / short-activation joystick, like the original Wico Leafswitch joysticks. Analog sticks wont cut it. And even most typical microswitch sticks, are still too long of a throw-distance... and could easily cause you to lose too many lives, due to Directional travel-delay.
Of course, that crazy difficulty, and Adrenalin pumping Near-Death moments that happen so often.. are what makes it a Timeless Masterpiece.
Where as Vampire Survivors, while fun... its gets a bit too boring / old hat. Eventually you will reach a point where you just wont feel the need / desire to play it anymore. And you certainly are not getting an Adrenalin rush from playing it... IMO.
With some modifications... it could become a much better "Gem" of a game. Especially with Dual controls, and the ability to actually switch weapon types, on the fly... based on the Enemies that appear.
Of course, todays games being way too easy... is a common problem. A problem that started way back in the 90s arcades... in which you could just insert another quarter to "Continue". It cheapened the entire experience. You no longer had to develop skills to progress. You no longer cared much if you died... and so there was no more adrenalin rush. And once you saw the games end... then you often never / rarely played it again. Meanwhile, I remember playing Congo Bongo in the arcade, countess times... and maybe a year of random off and on playing, was I ever able to get to see level 3. I was jumping for joy, that I finally made it that far... and while I wasnt able to get past that level... I felt quite proud, that I developed the skills needed, to get to that level. That game had No continues. After 3 lives... it was back to level 1. Either you had the skills, or you were sent packin. And that just fueled your Obsession of "Just One more Try!".
The failure of the Arcades is way too often blamed on the Home Console competition. However, that wasnt really the case. And in fact, if the Arcade developers kept making ultra challenging games.. similar to the 80s generation (just with better sound and Gfx) ... then they still would be around, and still would be very busy / popular... today. As much as there are certain people that get turned off by difficult games... there are a LOT more, that get turned On by such challenged.. and they spend a Lot more time and money.. playing these challenging games.
Great ideas here, thanks for taking the time! I agree with you on the fact that Vampire Survivors gets a bit stale after a while, I am seeing a huge uptick in new, similar games which has me excited for the future of the genre. I'll have to check out Robotron too!
@@LucidLetsPlay Just a word of Warning... Most people, even myself as a younger kid (when I first saw it)... find Robotron's graphics to be very Bare-Bones / Ugly. That said... If you give it a good 30 minutes worth of play... you will get completely hooked.
For many years, I had spoken more highly about its sequel "Smash Tv". Smash has much nicer looking graphics.. more powerups.. and some other interesting features. However, I got into an Argument with a dude... when he surprisingly claimed the Robotron was the superior game.
After some back and forth, I held only his arguments within my mind, and I set out to see if what he said was true.. for myself.
When I had first seen and experiences Robotron, I was probably a single head higher than the Control Panel. At that time, there were many other video games, that had far superior graphics. But I gave it a few of my quarters anyway... and it Spanked me so hard, that I refused to give it another chance.
Fast forwards to my 30s, when I had a friend that owned small shop, with an actual dedicated Robotron within it (and a few other cool classic arcade machines)...
I started pumping quarter after quarter into it... and before you know it, about 5 hours had passed by. The game was like a Drug, and I became addicted to it, like no other game before it.
Not long afterwards, I talked about the game to my younger friend. He was 5 yrs younger than myself. He was swayed by my passionate descriptions.. and was egar to see and play it for himself...
When we arrived, and he saw the games graphics... you could see the instant Let-Down in his face. He started mocking the game... making snide and sarcastic comments about it.. and he didnt even want to play it, initially.
I think he tried it once, and failed quickly.. due to the difficulty that it takes in getting used to firing in the opposite directions that you are walking in. Anyways... I told him to give it a few more tries.. and that I would pay for his games. That way, he couldnt really complain, as he wasnt losing his own money...
Id say that maybe by the 15th game... he was a convert. He was all smiles, laughing like a school girl. Competing hardcore against me, and doing his best to survive.
I think we put in a good 7 hrs that day, playing nothing but non-stop Robotron!
When we started out... I think both of us were only able to get to something like level 9... for about the first 2 hours worth of efforts. But by the last games... my buddy actually got up to like level 34. Granted, I believe the owner had set the game difficulty level to an Easier than Default level... and started the player off with 5 men, instead of 3... but even then, the game is Still insanely difficult... especially when you start going past the 7th or so level.
Anyway.. after that session.. I was convinced. While Smash TV was nicer looking... it was a snore fest, compared to Robotron. It was also too "Cheap", in that it was designed to eat your "Continue" quarters, with an unrealistic level of game difficulty balance (too many multi-hit enemies and projectiles at once). Robotron is merciless in difficulty.. BUT... its always balanced enough, that you can find a way to survive... IF you have the skills to do so. Its never completely beyond a humans capabilities.
And of course, there is no Continues in Robotron... which makes each second of gameplay, that much more Critical, and Adrenalin fueled.
Some quick Survival Tips:
1) Attack the "Flying" enemies ASAP... or they will quickly swarm you with projectiles.
2) On the Stage where the Brains are taking control over the Humans.. you have to save as many humans as quickly as possible. Each successive human saved, will multiply the point values... and you can earn several Extra Men, on that Level alone. The brain stages happen like every 6th stage? (been a while) So if you can manage to survive long enough to get to each Brain Stage... AND you can rescue enough humans on that Stage... you can end up surviving for quite a long time. Obviously, this is much easier said, than done.
3) On every stage, there are at least a few humans roaming around. Try to collect them, before the enemies Kill them. Also, make sure that before you shoot the final enemy on the screen... that you collect any remaining surviving humans.. first. Otherwise, you will go to the next level.. while having missed out on those much needed points.. and it will take much longer to get those much needed Extra-Men.
4) Learn each enemy type. How they move. How they react. Best ways of dealing with each. Realize that the Flying enemies.. are a lot smarter than you think. One of them will often hide in a corner of the screen, and start pegging projectiles from that point... where the others are keeping you busy. Also, these enemies will shoot just in front of where you are running... so that you will run into their projectiles. As such, be careful to keep changing your speeds, and directions.
5) Make sure to learn to be able to shoot backwards at the Enemies, while running forwards away from them. This will take some getting used to... but eventually you will get it.. and it will become easy / thoughtless. If you dont do this, you wont last long at all.
6) Try to get to the edges of the screen quickly... and tend to walk in larger circular patterns (single clockwise or counterclockwise movements). If you often double back on your movement paths, you tend to run into enemy projectiles far more easily.
7) Try to see the entire screen at the same time, with a bit of a Soft-Focus. If you are too centered on a single area of the screen... you are going to miss some critical things that are about to take you down.
8) Certain Enemies need to be ended asap... like the Bouncing ball throwing enemies... otherwise the screen will be over-ran.. and almost impossible to survive. Learn to Prioritize each different Enemy Threat.
9) The indestructible enemies are slow... but.. be aware of them... because they can end up boxing you in, and blocking your shots to other enemies.
10) Be careful of the Side Walls. Enemy Projectiles can rapidly SLIDE along them... and smash into you, when you least expect it. Also, bouncing projectiles can ricochet off of a wall behind you, and then tag you on the rebounds. Also, glowing obstacles are electrified, and will End you if you touch them. You can shoot them away, however.
11) Use two digital controls, rather than mini analogs. Those analog controls are too long of a throw, to do you any good.
If I could only have a single game to play, for the rest my life (Desert Island game)... this would probably be the One.. maybe only really challenged by a sit-down Spy Hunter.
Hope you give it a fair shot. Have fun!
Wow, thank you for the tips! Graphics don't really bother me too much, my desert island game would be Old School Runescape ;)
Soul Stalker by Conradical Games is coming out soon
Interesting, I'll have to check that one out!
How do you make this video, and not talk about Crimsonland from 10tons? It was the original, and is easily 20 years old now.
A few people have mentioned this one, I'll have to give it a go!
“Based on the Souls-like genre”
Wtf, son? Rouge-likes. Probably older than you are.
I said the Dark Souls games created the Souls-Like genre, which it did! :)
"Souls-like" isn't the origin of the terminology "-like." That goes all the way back to Rouge-likes. "Survivor-like" isn't playing off "Souls-like."
You're arguing semantics, I merely said that games are copying Dark Souls! You are right, the origin of Rogue-like games came from the original Rogue. If you want to get technical about it, Vampire Survivors isn't a roguelike at all, it's a roguelite. :)
I call it Survivors-Like
Nice and easy to remember!
Laras
Pin me when you get famous
I just discovered this channel and it's glorious, it obvious you have a lot of effort on these videos, I wonder why you aren't more popular lmao
Definitely recommending this channel to my friends
@@cross.x.2305 Thank you friend! You have no idea how much that would help me out. We will get there one day, together! :)
Crack
Indeed!
mid game, sad
What do you mean?