So is Vampire Survivors the best game of its kind?
It was the first, so all others are compared to it. Might there be a better one? Might there be one that will end up better than VS? That remains to be seen, but it's possible.
The first was actually Magic Survival, but it's mobile-only atm (they do have plans to bring it on PC, but they probably preferred getting it to 1.0 first), so it's kinda moot point I guess.
Speaking of Magic Survival, the update before the last one brought highly desired change: the unique skills formerly removed during the earlier v0.8 patches, was back as Mastery. Not just that, they've confirmed that the fusion mechanic is making a comeback in the next v0.86 patch!....and then they killed the game (again) by removing Mastery, because they think the Mastery overlapped with the artifacts, as well as altering the Class system to be able to leveled up to level 4, but you need to spend some resources to buy the "XP" needed to level up those classes, but it is randomized in that you don't know which class are going to get those "XP" meaning the game is now FUCKING GACHA, and the resources can either be acquired by either spending real money, in large quantity by clearing an area/zone for the first time, or in small quantity by clearing or playing in endless mode any zone. And since the devs are galaxy-brained genius, it seems they've removed any kinds of rewards bonuses from playing the later stages.... Oh yeah, this is it, probably the last time I mentioned Magic Survival until the devs get their fucking shit together.
Now, thankfully, Vampire Survivors has released their mobile version, so the void is kinda filled. But it's just not the same, and out of severe desperation since I'm too attached to that game I mentioned above, I stumbled upon
Pixel Mage Survival
Oh yeah, now this is the fucking shit I'm talking about, baby. Multiple, different layers of character progression, many many different classes with their own immediate quirks and weak spots, so many rooms for experimentation just from the classes and leveling system alone. The thing about this game is how "lethal" it is, in that you can easily die from not paying attention to a projectile flying your way; the game also emphasizes the most on "scaling", the enemy's stats will, naturally, increases exponentially as time goes on, and so you need to match the game's pace and scale your stats appropriately if you want to survive. Some people might not like it that way, but personally I think it's what sets the game apart. I often turns off the numbers showing on-screen because I'm used to that other certain game I've mentioned, but here even though there's no option to turn off the numbers, I'll be keeping the numbers up because it's just that important to know the overall progression. Also, there are no limit on how many artifacts you can carry at a time; the exact same artifacts can drop again and again, thus adding to its effect. This might seem like it made the choice of artifacts meaningless since you can just pick them all, but in practice this is crucial due to the aforementioned "lethal" and "scaling" nature of the game.
The game is still on 'early access' (and so there are no reviews atm), and that might be the reason for the current state of the game's monetization; there are no microtransaction for now (even though there are a LOT of stuff to buy from the main menu, and the costs gets progressively higher and higher), the only time mandatory ads would play is when you die, and sometimes the game will generate an opportunity for some free rewards, either in form of resources (that you can use to buy upgrades from main menu or the ones needed to upgrade your character in-game), artifacts, or free skill point, at the cost of watching ads, but these are entirely optional if you think you don't need the free rewards.
And, most importantly, the devs just keeps on adding things with each and new update, instead of deciding that no fun is allowed and remove stuff, like certain other devs.
