There’s a new Vampire Survivors update in town, and it’s a rather chaotic one. The Chaotic One, in fact, as that’s the title for Vampire Survivors patch 1.3.0, which brings a bat-filled new challenge stage to one of the best roguelike games on PC along with additional relics, achievements, and some suspiciously Sonic the Hedgehog-themed secrets.
The new Vampire Survivors Bat Country challenge stage does pretty much exactly what you’d expect, with a focus on huge numbers of the airborne annoyances swarming you from all directions. Clearing out huge numbers of bats is one of the most satisfying experiences in Vampire Survivors, but given that this is a challenge stage we’re sure that glee will turn to despair as the waves ramp up, especially given the harsh experience penalty.
The trailer also gives a glimpse at two new relics. The first, Apoplexy, can be found in Bat Country and unlocks the Charm power up, which increases enemy spawn quantity by 20 per rank up to a maximum of 100. You’ll also be able to find the Chaos Malachite there – a glimmering green gem that, once collected, permanently allows everyone’s beloved bone boy Mortaccio to transform into a giant Goshadokuro skeleton when he reaches level 80.
There’s also another handy feature – instead of buying your Golden Eggs one by one to unlock those delicious, permanent stat upgrades in the endgame, you can instead spend all your currently held gold to buy as many Golden Eggs as possible. Rather ominously, however, the trailer lingers on this upgrade process for almost a full minute, two-thirds of the video’s total length, so perhaps there’s something more sinister at play…
Elsewhere, the update takes on a rather Sonic-like flavour. Adding to the colourful diamond-like barriers found in Bat Country, we get a glimpse at a sequence where the perspective is tilted slightly to the side, giving a fisheye effect of running around a large sphere with a yellow and brown checkerboard pattern that’s very reminiscent of Sonic’s bonus stages. Throw in the Chaos Malachite (a probable nod to Chaos Emeralds) and the focus on Eggs (a sly wink to Doctor Eggman, perhaps), and it certainly carries a consistent vibe!
In addition to the update, some handy Vampire Survivors cheats will let you get a leg up on the 1.3.0 update if you don’t want to grind things out the hard way. Firstly, ‘recycletheforest’ unlocks both the Bat Country stage and its hyper mode. Next, ‘tingillesbalm’ unlocks the Apoplexy relic. Finally – as if any more Sonic affirmations were needed – you can unlock the Chaos Malachite relic with the code ‘gottagofast.’
Make sure you know how to unlock all Vampire Survivors secret characters and uncover all the Vampire Survivors weapon evolutions with our helpful guides. We’ve also ranked the best Vampire Survivors power ups, and compiled a list of the best vampire games on PC if you’ve got that insatiable lust for blood.