Poncle’s next experiment dives headfirst into cards, dungeons, and pure chaos.
Vampire Survivors fans now have another reason to clear their schedules for 2026, as developer Poncle has unveiled its next game Vampire Crawlers. This new spin-off pushes the series into first-person dungeon-crawling chaos, while keeping its familiar 2D pixel style. The announcement was made during Xbox’s Partner Preview showcase, where Poncle debuted a playful trailer pretending to go full next-gen, before hard-pivoting into more retro mayhem.
The trailer leaned into the joke by teasing “next-gen graphics, an endless open world, compelling storytelling…” only to toss it all aside and spotlight what the studio does best: overwhelming hordes, fast decisions, and an unapologetic love for pixel art. This time, though, everything plays out through a first-person perspective layered on top of deckbuilding systems.
Poncle outlines how the new spin-off came to life
According to an interview with Xbox Wire, Poncle founder Luca explained that Vampire Crawlers reimagines the characters, enemies, and weapons from Vampire Survivors into a deck-driven dungeon crawler. Luca also revealed that Vampire Crawlers has been quietly brewing for almost four years.
After Vampire Survivors exploded in popularity, he immediately started exploring potential spin-offs with other indie studios. Several prototypes were created, what Poncle internally called “experiments,” but Crawlers was the one that instantly showed promise. Even in its rough early form, “you could tell the game had legs,” he said.
The team’s approach is to take the core pillars that defined Vampire Survivors: accessibility, immediacy, affordability, replayability, and, as Luca calls it, “sparkly stuff” and apply them to an existing genre. That genre, in this case, is a modernised twist on the old-school “blobber,” a first-person grid-based dungeon crawler that was popular on PC in the ’80s. Combine that structure with rapid-fire card mechanics, deck customisation, evolutions, treasure chests, and the usual dose of terrible humour, and you get a spin-off that’s familiar without playing it safe.
Luca also highlighted a new “mana combo” system inspired by classic Italian card games, Solitaire, and even Baten Kaitos. By stacking cards in increasing mana order: 0, 1, 2, etc., players can trigger more powerful effects, with the screen reacting instantly to big combos.
Exploration also plays a bigger role than in typical roguelike deckbuilders. Poncle wanted to move beyond simple branching-choice maps without drifting into full RPG territory, giving players dungeons that exist primarily to break up fights with meaningful in-between decisions.
While Vampire Crawlers is a spin-off and not a sequel, Luca confirmed that a true Vampire Survivors follow-up is in development. However, the studio is not ready to talk about it just yet.
The game is targeting a 2026 global launch, and Xbox Game Pass Premium and Ultimate subscribers will be able to jump in on day one. For a series known for devouring entire evenings, Vampire Crawlers looks ready to continue that tradition, only now with a deck in your hand and monsters right in your face.
