Vampire Survivors is getting a surprise free update with gameshow flair

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Poncle announced the latest addition to the game at the PC Gaming Show.

At the 2023 PC Gaming Show, Vampire Survivors developer Poncle announced the hit bullet heaven's 1.5 update, complete with a fresh map, character variation, and chaotic new pickup. Patch 1.5 of Vampire Survivors is set to go live tomorrow, June 12.

The latest map, "Astral Stair," will feature "seemingly endless corridors, flying paintings, and a gameshow-like spinning wheel that triggers random events." I'm curious to see how that gameshow wheel shakes up Vampire Survivors' already chaotic pace of play, and what's more, the new feature's not limited to Astral Stair⁠—it can be activated on any map thanks to the new "Trisection" relic, opening up new frontiers in pixel-popping on screen chaos reminiscent of Vampire Survivors' chaotic viewer voting Twitch streaming mode.

Patch 1.5 will also bring in a funky change for pre-existing character Yatta Cavallo, a cheeky, bomb-throwing bear. "Morph character Yatta Cavallo into their new form! This will also evolve their ability Cherry Bomb into a new attack." God only knows what unspeakable evolution poncle has in store for Yatta and their little cherry bomb courtesy of the new relic, "Chaos Rosalia."

The last major change 1.5 has in store is the GoldFinger, a new pickup that makes you invincible and supercharged for a short amount of time. The more enemies you kill, the higher the uh, I guess "finger rank" you earn. Do you have what it takes to achieve the coveted "CosmicFinger?" Do I?

Whatever the case, the $5 game that took our hobby by storm in late 2022 shows no signs of slowing down between free updates like this and paid DLC like the recent Tides of the Foscari add-on. Be sure to check out Vampire Survivors' 1.5 update and its various fingers, cosmic or otherwise, when it goes live tomorrow.

Ted Litchfield
Associate Editor

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.