{"id":1146178,"date":"2026-02-06T23:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rhgQC8zucjeoxhPV7gfdu"},"modified":"2026-02-06T23:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T23:14:12","slug":"we-need-to-decide-on-a-genre-name-for-vampire-survivors-like-games-before-a-really-terrible-one-sticks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/we-need-to-decide-on-a-genre-name-for-vampire-survivors-like-games-before-a-really-terrible-one-sticks\/","title":{"rendered":"We need to decide on a genre name for Vampire Survivors-like games before a really terrible one sticks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The genre that has spiraled out from the surprise success of Vampire Survivors is one of my favourites to cover\u2014whether I’m mining for gold<\/a>, hitting people with swordfish<\/a>, or building weapons out of brains and chimpanzee spines<\/a>. The genre keeps growing and mutating, becoming ever more diverse and bursting with creative new ideas. It’s been a joy to watch it grow.<\/p>\n

Just one question: what the hell is the genre called?<\/p>\n

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\"Vampire<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Vampire Survivors’ explosive success may have gotten the ball rolling, but the genre can’t just live under its name forever. <\/span>(Image credit: Poncle)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Whenever I write up my impressions of one of these games I end up having to name-drop Vampire Survivors in the opening paragraph just to explain what I’m talking about, because somehow over two years on from that game’s release and the explosion of mimics that followed, we still haven’t figured out a widely accepted name for this genre.<\/p>\n

There are some strong candidates, for sure, but none so widely recognised that I can just drop them without explanation. Even Steam’s user-defined tags don’t reflect any kind of consensus yet, with these games just having “bullet hell” and “action roguelike” slapped on them for now as a particularly misleading temporary solution.<\/p>\n

That worries me\u2014not just because I’m sick of not knowing what to call it in headlines, but also because we’re rapidly approaching a point of no return.<\/p>\n

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\"Hordes<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Great new games like Death Must Die deserve an equally great genre name. <\/span>(Image credit: Realm Archive)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Something<\/em> has got to stick, and in my experience if fans of a genre don’t rally around a good option, you end up with a terrible one by default. How did we ever let “MOBA” take its place in the canon? And don’t even get me started on the perverse Frankenstein word that is “metroidvania”.<\/p>\n

So let’s get this sorted out now, once and for all. I’ll run down the choices, work out their pros and cons, and then pick the best one\u2014and then we all just have to agree to use that one from now on. Simple.<\/p>\n

The options<\/span><\/h2>\n

Vampire Survivors-like \/ Survivors-like<\/h2>\n

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\"renfield<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood delivers on both the surviving and the vampires. <\/span>(Image credit: Mega Cat Studios)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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This is the one we seem most in danger of getting lumped with, primarily because it’s the most straightforwardly descriptive\u2014anyone who knows what Vampire Survivors is will understand what genre you’re referring to.<\/p>\n

But it hardly trips off the tongue, does it? And there are few things less pleasant than a genre name with capital letters in it.<\/p>\n

Once upon a time there was an entire genre called “Doom clones”. It was a very clear title back then\u2014but we soon outgrew it in favour of the much cleaner and more timeless “first-person shooters”. We need to do the same here.<\/p>\n

Rating: <\/strong>2 \/ 5<\/p>\n

Bullet heaven \/ reverse bullet hell<\/h2>\n

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\"A<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Now that’s bullet heaven, courtesy of Bio Prototype. <\/span>(Image credit: Emprom Game)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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This seems to be the next most popular term flying around right now\u2014enough that these games regularly get tagged as “bullet hell” on Steam, despite really having very little to do with that genre.<\/p>\n

That’s the crux of the issue with this one, really. The idea is that bullet heaven is the opposite of bullet hell\u2014i.e. that you’re the one launching screen-filling bursts of projectiles, rather than dodging ones from enemies. Really though, the two genres have very little in common mechanically, and fans of one are not especially likely to be fans of the other.<\/p>\n

It’s naming a genre based on how its games look <\/em>rather than how they feel or how they work mechanically, which seems like a mistake\u2014especially given that we’re increasingly seeing examples of this genre that don’t <\/em>look like that, for example replacing projectile spam with action-RPG-style attacks and spells in Halls of Torment<\/a>, or martial arts swipes in Karate Survivor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> 1 \/ 5<\/p>\n

Survivor<\/h2>\n

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\"The<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

My test of every genre name is: does it seem weird when I slap it on Karate Survivor? <\/span>(Image credit: Alawar)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Indulge me in a suggestion of my own\u2014what about just calling them “survivors” or “survivor games”?<\/p>\n

Though this isn’t a term in current use by players (that I’ve seen, at least), it is being used as a signifier by devs. From Karate Survivor to Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor to Soulstone Survivors, that word in a title is used to tell potential players what genre to expect.<\/p>\n

It’s less of a mouthful than Vampire Survivors-like, while still acknowledging the connection in a way that any fans of that game should recognise at a glance.<\/p>\n

Any drawbacks? Well\u2026 it might be a little close to “survival”. Where two very different genres have very similar names, confusion is definitely possible. Or worse, it could lead to cross-contamination\u2014you don’t want to end up auto-punching trees, do you?<\/p>\n

Rating: <\/strong>4 \/ 5<\/p>\n

Auto-shooter<\/h2>\n

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\"A<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

God bless the developers of Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor for trying to put some momentum behind “auto-shooter”. <\/span>(Image credit: Funday Games, Ghost Ship Publishing)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I’m pretty sure Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor<\/a> is the one that tried to coin this term, though not I suspect very successfully. Still, it seems like a good option to me. It clearly describes what you do in the genre: you shoot automatically. It also evokes top-down shooters, which is a much more appropriate reference point than the more specific bullet hell.<\/p>\n

It does sound a bit close to auto-battler, a genre that does have some conceptual overlap but is ultimately very different. There’s also a bit of a vibes issue, similar to bullet heaven\u2014while it feels like a perfect term for a game like Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor where you’re literally shooting guns automatically, it feels a little off for the various examples more inspired by fantasy action-RPGs.<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> 3 \/ 5<\/p>\n

AWSR<\/h2>\n

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\"A<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Jotunnslayer: Hordes of Hel is pretty AWSR, in my opinion. <\/span>(Image credit: Games Farm, ARTillery, Grindstone)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Pronounced “awe-sir”, this stands for “Auto-attacking Wave-based Survival RPG”. Look, we had to at least have a go at some kind of snappy acronym, even if we all knew it wasn’t going to work. Forget this one. Though at least it’s still better than MOBA<\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> 0 \/ 5<\/p>\n

The winner<\/span><\/h2>\n

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\"Halls<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Diablo-inspired examples like Halls of Torment don’t fit neatly into existing genre names. <\/span>(Image credit: Chasing Carrots)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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It’s got to be survivor<\/strong>, right guys? Give it a try.<\/p>\n