Vampire Survivors: Legacy of the Bloodmoon
Poncle · Indie, Action Roguelike, Bullet Hell
Overview
A cautionary tale, or a story better left untold? Legacy of the Bloodmoon is the darkest expansion to date for Vampire Survivors. Discover the path to ruin that this pack of villains is headed down. Unlock new weapons and characters to find new ways to snowball against relentless hordes of enemies.
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In ancient times, Saint Baal'Thasar had a vision of paradise, lit by a bright, red moon. And so he founded the Order of the Red Moon, to lead people to a land of eternal life. The myth says that Baal'Thasar found his paradise during a pilgrimage, and so never returned.
Having lost its leader, the Order shattered and many fringe sects were born from its remnants. Today, members of one of the most unscrupulous cults, Clan Bloodmoon, embarks on a journey to follow in Baal'Thasar's footsteps...
Including:
- Malice Bloodmoon - Malice is leading a pack of disciples in the search for the ancient lair of the Order of the Red Moon. Little do they know, they are there just to be used as cannon fodder and meat shields by the ruthless matron.
- Calogero Bloodmoon - A heinous beast of a man with an unquenchable bloodlust. Any obstacle in his path ends up shattered by his massive axe.
- Baal'Thasar - The founder of what was once known as the Order of the Red Moon, or what's left of him. What did he truly find on his pilgrimage?
- Ashtart - One of the first followers of Baal, now turned into a malevolent presence that inhabits any old bones it touches.
- Sargon - A king from ancient times that followed Baal, driven by ambition and fear of death, only to end up forever trapped in a hellish dimension.
16+ new weapons across base forms and evolutions, including:
- Scarlet Needle - Malice's favourite attack. Enemies are impaled by needles that inflict paralyzing pain.
- Incineration - Why deal damage when you can erase a whole bunch of enemies from existence with a single flick of the hand?
- Blacken Firmament - An ominous celestial body darkens the heavens and starts tearing reality apart.
- FireBall - Yep, peak originality: a weapon called fire ball will now be in Vampire Survivors. To not be confused with FireFall, FireWall, or their union: FireStall.
♫ Lying Fairy Tales
Red Moon Manor - The ancient lair of the Order of the Red Moon. The myth says that Baal'Thasar had built it as a fortress to conceal the secret of immortality. But Malice and Calogero discovered that the manor does indeed exists. What is it truly hiding?
Platform achievements
We're trying once again to find a way to add achievements without affecting the completion rate for the main game, but we don't know if it will be possible. Regardless, new Steam achievements for the base game, Moonspell, and Bloodmoon will be added in patch 1.17, scheduled to release before the end of the year.
Once the achievements are published, they'll unlock automatically if you have already obtained them in game, so nothing is lost.
From the game's Steam store page.
THE GAMEQ VERDICT178 reviews analyzed
What players are actually saying
1. Summary
97% of the English reviews recommend Legacy of the Bloodmoon, which reviewers describe as an original pack rather than a crossover (one calls it the first original expansion since Tides of the Foscari). Price drives the conversation. More than half of the reviews bring up a cost of roughly one dollar, and for many that is the whole review. Players who describe the content praise the new characters, with Nameless Fool named as a favourite more than once, weapons and unions that open new ways to break runs, music that no review criticizes, and a darker, horror-tinged tone with more lore than earlier packs.
Complaints are rare, and the detailed ones come from long-time players. A few call it more of the same, and one veteran says it takes an evening, two at most, to uncover everything. The new stage, Red Moon Manor, divides the people who discuss it: some find it packed with secrets, while one detailed negative review says its maze of thin hallways makes it a poor stage to play. A few reviews each raise missing Steam achievements on PC, effects that cover the screen, and power creep that removes what challenge is left. No review makes a serious case that the DLC is poor value.
2. What keeps coming up
What players praise
About one dollar for a full DLCHigh
For many reviewers the price is the entire review: "literally costs 1 money", "I'd buy that for a dollar". Players report paying 76p, 81p, 87 cents or $1.40 AUD depending on region, and less when they already owned the other DLC: "Just 87 cents if you already have all the previous DLC !" Reviews that weigh the content against the price reach the same conclusion. One player listed it as "99 cents for 10 characters, 16 weapons, a whole new stage and of course some banger music? this might just be the best-valued DLC of all time." A negative review also counts the loss as small: "Thankfully the DLC is only a buck."
New characters and weapons that break runsHigh
Reviews that discuss the content mostly praise the cast and the arsenal. Nameless Fool gets named as a favourite in a few reviews ("especially Nameless Fool who is up there as one of the best in the game in my opinion"), including one negative review, and Malice Bloodmoon and Sargon also come up. Players single out 108 Responsive Prayers and its union Road to Heaven, a new axe, and Scarlet Needle: "Scarlet Needle is a killer with how it holds bosses in place." One player wrote: "I thought that it wasn't possible for there to be more broken weapon combos than the castlevania dlc and somehow, somehow I was wrong?" Another liked that the weapon power-up and Among Us passives became obtainable through Arma Dio. On the other side, one negative review says: "Characters are just not that fun imo."
The soundtrackMedium
Music gets steady praise, and no negative review mentions it. Some say it alone justifies the price: "the OST alone is worth the one whole money." One player heard a Nightwish influence in the first track, another gave Malice Bloodmoon credit for being "so powerful she gets her own theme song!", and a third wrote "BEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD! Instantly drawn back in after a year of hiatus!" One reviewer hopes the new songs reach the official soundtrack release.
A darker tone and more loreLow
A few reviews point to the horror theme and the storytelling as what sets this pack apart. "Legacy of the Bloodmoon absolutely delivers on its presentation of a more occultish, macabre style for the new characters, weapons, and sountrack." Another player noticed "the bestiary entries for the stage's major bosses hauntingly describing their life before becoming what they are now", and others like how it ties into Legacy of the Moonspell as a sister expansion.
Where players are split
Red Moon Manor, the new stageMedium
Players disagree about the stage. Fans call it "jam-packed with interesting geography, nooks, and crannies to find", with a hidden corridor, a light labyrinth and a final boss fight one player compared to Ode to Castlevania's finale. Others found less to do than the map suggested: "there's only really the 4 bosses and the final bossfight, which I discovered in my first run on the map." One negative review describes "a few outdoor areas that lead into a manor with a lot of winding paths and thin hallways", a layout that makes dodging early hordes hard, and a hidden boss whose attacks can take a weapon away. That player ended up using flight or wall-clipping characters to ignore the maze. Opinions on its size differ too: one calls it "one of the most expansive yet", another "smallish and not particularly complicated".
How much there is to doMedium
One veteran put a number on it: "this is exactly how long it will take you to uncover everything: an evening, two tops." A few reviews call it "more of the same", one of them as a compliment. Another says "It's just more of the same, just with another coat of paint" and then adds "That said, for 1 whole moneys that's fine." A third puts it plainly: "However, you will find nothing innovative or refreshing here." Other long-time players found more in it. One wrote that it managed to "entertain, challenge and surprise me", and another found the DLC "a bit more complicated than that" once they dug into its secrets and unions.
Power creep and balanceLow
Players like how strong the new cast is, and a few warn about what that does to the game. One recommends waiting "until you beat all the 1.0 content before jumping into this one, this cast of characters and weapons HIGHLY power creep what you're supposed to have in the early game lol". Another, still alive at the 56-minute mark, concluded that "any semblance of challenge or balancing is still off the window." A negative review describes both extremes at once: builds so strong the challenge evaporates, and deaths to fart clouds the player could barely see.
What frustrates players
No new Steam achievements on PCLow
A few completionists wanted new achievements and found none. "The only thing really missing is new achievements." One player who had all base-game achievements left a negative review over it and said the platforms were treated differently: "Playstation got new achievements but no PC?"
Effects that cover the screenLow
A few reviews describe effects that hide the character or the enemies. One player calls a new weapon "annoying" because it "covers entire screen including the characters every few seconds", another asks for "an option to make opacity of explosions and other vfx lower", and a negative review asks for one effect to go: "negative review until you remove the flashing screen from Shimmering Sands. unplayable and dangerous".
A softlock and missed unlock creditLow
Two players hit problems in the unlock path. One describes a run where neither the character nor regular enemies could move while a miniboss kept attacking, "something I can only hope is bug causing a softlock", which needed a restart. Another says taking the stage's secret ending does not count toward unlocks such as evolving an item, which they call "a pretty big oversight".
3. The player conversation
Most reviews are short and grateful, and most were written in launch week. Many are a line about the price or a thank-you to the developer, poncle, and a few reviewers say outright that they had not played it yet and recommended it on price alone. The detailed reviews come from long-time players who compare it with the other DLC, usually Ode to Castlevania, and a few are glad to see an original pack again after the crossovers.
Each negative review about the game gives a different reason: characters that weren't fun, the stage design, missing achievements, a flashing effect, and balance plus a softlock. No single complaint gathered a following. Reviews after launch week were as positive as the first ones.
4. What the developers could do
- Add the DLC's achievements on Steam. Completionists noticed the missing achievements, and one review says PlayStation players got new ones while PC players did not.
- Add an effect-opacity setting and tone down the Shimmering Sands flash. Reviews describe a weapon that covers the whole screen and a flashing effect one player called "unplayable and dangerous".
- Fix the miniboss softlock and count unlocks during the secret ending. One player had to reset a run when nothing could move, and another lost unlock credit for taking the secret ending.
- Give Red Moon Manor more to discover and easier routes through the maze. One player found everything the stage holds on their first run, and another skipped the maze with flight and wall-clipping characters.
- Flag the DLC's power level for players still working through the base game. One reviewer advises finishing the 1.0 content first because the new characters and weapons outclass early-game gear.
- Add the new tracks to the official soundtrack release. The music gets steady praise, and one reviewer hopes the songs reach the proper OST.
