Vampire Survivors dev just unveiled Vampire Crawlers—and how they picked it surprised me

Why Vampire Crawlers actually matters for players

Poncle isn’t doing the obvious “Vampire Survivors 2.” Instead, the studio’s next game is Vampire Crawlers, a deckbuilder that apparently won a bake-off against multiple prototypes. For players, that choice signals two things: Poncle still trusts fast iteration over safe sequels, and they think the Survivors formula has legs beyond auto-hordes. It’s coming in 2026 to Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Switch, PC, and mobile, and it’ll hit Xbox Game Pass day one-which instantly puts it in front of millions of curious card-shufflers.

Key takeaways

• Poncle picked Vampire Crawlers after prototyping five different projects with indie teams-this wasn’t a top-down franchise plan.
• It’s a deckbuilder follow-up to Vampire Survivors, aiming to bottle that “stack synergies until everything explodes” feeling in card form.
• Launches in 2026 on console, PC, and mobile, with day-one Xbox Game Pass access.
• Studio head Luca Galante is openly eyeing other genres (even metroidvania), hinting that Poncle’s universe could keep branching.

Breaking down the announcement (and why the process matters)

In a chat with GameSpot, studio head Luca Galante said they started with “a set of five different projects,” collaborating with indie teams. Vampire Crawlers “immediately jumped out,” not because of a grand strategy, but because the prototype “was great immediately.” That matters. If you’ve followed Poncle since Vampire Survivors’ explosive early access days, you know their superpower is spotting a simple idea that feels amazing in minutes, then iterating like mad. Picking the project that “naturally, organically went faster than any other” is absolutely on brand.

Galante also teased that he’s a big RPG fan and even floated metroidvania as a “perfect fit” for the studio, joking he’d go ask Konami for Castlevania if they went that route-or build one around Vampire Survivors’ DLC settings like Legacy of the Moonspell or Tides of the Foscari. Translation: Poncle isn’t locking itself into one genre. Vampire Crawlers might be the first big branch of a wider Poncle-verse.

Why a deckbuilder, and why now?

Deckbuilders are having a moment again because they’re perfect “one-more-run” machines. Slay the Spire proved how deep card synergies can go without bloated systems, Monster Train doubled down on multipath strategy, and Balatro reminded everyone that simple rules plus compounding chaos equals instant obsession. If any team can convert Vampire Survivors’ dopamine geyser into cards, it’s Poncle—the studio that made a stick figure with garlic feel like a power fantasy.

The other smart angle is platform fit. Vampire Crawlers is targeting mobile alongside consoles and PC. Deckbuilders thrive on touch screens, short sessions, and asynchronous thinking. Survivors was the epitome of “pick up, pop off, put down.” If Crawlers nails snappy turns, clear upgrades, and escalating stupidity, it could become a default commute game and a streaming staple—especially with Game Pass removing the “should I buy this?” friction on console and PC.

The real questions that decide if this hits

• Identity: What makes Vampire Crawlers more than “Slay the Spire with bats”? Survivors had auto-combat minimalism; Crawlers needs its own hook—maybe real-time elements, lane management, or Poncle’s signature build snowball.
• Pacing: Survivors never wasted your time. Will Crawlers keep turns lightning-fast and victories ridiculously loud? Players expect broken builds fast, not after 20 hours.
• Meta-progression: Survivors’ meta drip-fed chaos without killing run variety. How will Crawlers handle unlocks, relics, and card pools without power-creep ruining the thrill?
• Monetization on mobile: Poncle hasn’t detailed it yet. Here’s hoping they stick to their player-friendly ethos instead of stuffing card packs behind timers.
• Accessibility and UX: Survivors succeeded partly because anyone could read the screen amid absurd VFX. Deckbuilders live or die on clarity—tooltips, synergies, and rarity cues must be instantly legible on Switch and phones.
• Cross-save: With day-one Game Pass and mobile in the mix, cross-progression would be a clutch quality-of-life feature.

What this means for the Survivors-verse

This announcement tells me Poncle wants to expand a vibe, not just a franchise. Survivors’ secret sauce wasn’t the vampire shtick; it was the way tiny decisions snowballed into screen-filling fireworks. Deckbuilding is a natural way to let players engineer that same crescendo with cards instead of passives. And if Galante is openly musing about metroidvania next, we might be looking at a studio ready to explore genres through the lens of “how fast can we make you feel broken?”

Also, day-one Game Pass matters. It’s how a lot of people found Survivors in the first place, and it could give Crawlers a massive runway for feedback and iteration. I’ll be watching to see if Poncle does a public demo or early test—player data is basically their native language.

Looking ahead

We’ve got time—2026 isn’t around the corner—but the pitch is promising: a deckbuilder born from a prototyping gauntlet, built by a team that understands pacing, payoff, and the power of making players feel absurdly strong. Keep expectations measured until we see real gameplay, but don’t be shocked if Crawlers becomes the next “I’ll just do one more run” problem in your life.

TL;DR

Poncle’s next game, Vampire Crawlers, is a deckbuilder that beat out multiple prototypes and lands in 2026 on console, PC, and mobile with day-one Game Pass. If it captures Survivors’ instant-gratification chaos in card form—and keeps the UX and monetization clean—it could be dangerously good.