Vampire Survivors developer Poncle has shed light on the challenges of adapting their hit game into a film, a project that was initially announced as an animated series in 2023. In a recent Steam post, Poncle confirmed they are "still working with Story Kitchen on a live action film," despite the shift in format.
The primary difficulty Poncle faces is that "the game has no plot," making it a unique challenge to craft a compelling film narrative from a game centered around mechanically simple action of defeating hordes of enemies. Poncle emphasized the importance of finding the right partners and ideas to bring this vision to life, stating, "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."
Poncle humorously noted the irony of their situation, sarcastically remarking on the adaptation announcement, "the most important thing in Vampire Survivors is the story." This acknowledgment underscores the complexity of turning a plotless game into a film, with no release date announced yet due to these uncertainties.
Vampire Survivors, a fast-paced gothic horror game with rogue-lite elements, became a surprise hit after its humble beginnings on Steam. The game allows players to snowball against waves of monsters with strategic choices. Poncle has since expanded the game significantly, now boasting 50 playable characters and 80 weapons, alongside major expansions and the Ode to Castlevania DLC.
IGN's 8/10 review praised Vampire Survivors as an ideal game to play alongside podcasts, describing it as "outwardly simple but turns out to be an incredibly deep hole to fall down," though it noted some extended dull periods when players get ahead of the game's curve.
