# Vampire Survivors

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Vampire Survivors and 4 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for its fun, vibe and genre-shaping influence, with many survivors-likes. Critics call it a mechanically simple dopamine shortcut that feels pointless.

## Why people recommend it

- Fun for many players (3 comments): "Balatro and Vampire Survivor are plenty of fun for some people" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46409101)) "I really like the Vampire Survivors vibe though" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49545988)) "Vampire survivor is an amazing game" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49393345))

## What people warn about

- Mechanically simple, shallow dopamine loop (3 comments): "games that are mechanically simple and exist just to give you dopamine hits" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48443606)) "if Vampire Survivors is a dopamine shortcut" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49393168)) "But these don't make the game good, they make the gameplay feel pointless." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49407462))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [NetHack](https://hackerapproved.com/p/nethack.md): 60 recommend
- [Chess-Inspired Roguelike](https://hackerapproved.com/p/chess-inspired-roguelike.md): 33 recommend
- [Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dungeon-crawl-stone-soup.md): 16 recommend
- [Xs of Y](https://hackerapproved.com/p/xs-of-y.md): 14 recommend
- [Noita](https://hackerapproved.com/p/noita.md): 13 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.vampiresurvivors.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Vampire Survivors", https://hackerapproved.com/p/vampire-survivors/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).