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cover-Vampire Survivors: Legacy of the Moonspell

Sunday, July 30, 2023 4:46:24 AM

Vampire Survivors: Legacy of the Moonspell Review (Hex: Maidenless)

This is one of those situations where I wish Steam gave a side-thumb option. Legacy of the Moonspell is a perfectly serviceable... and also largely unextraordinary experience. What's wrong with it? Putting it simply, the things on offer within are by and large quite mediocre compared to what was already on offer in the base game.
Of the Eight new characters, only one of them really stands out. Not for being notably powerful, but just for having a really fun and interesting gimmick. The rest of them are also very gimmicky... but are underwhelming gimmicks, at that. Further, of the seven new weapons and six new evolutions, only TWO are noteworthy such to likely find a place in most builds, and only one actually stands out in a way no other weapon currently in the game does. The new map is cool... the first, second, maybe even third time. But the novelty wears off. It can be rather annoying to navigate, particularly if you're like me and always go for Reaper kills and by proxy always need to find both rings and both Metaglio in every run. The Metaglio are easy, but one of the rings is stuck behind a long winding path that starts almost at the halfway point of the map and is surrounded on all sides by cliffs that you can't cross otherwise. Its annoying. Especially after the first time.
Especially once you realize there isn't really much reason to go back to the map for successive clears. Grab the "relic", grab the coffin, and kill 6000 of one enemy type that won't take very long since it spawns in waves every run (Especially if you've already cleared or progressed heavily into the base game and have access to things like full Charm upgrades), and you're done. Everything else is unlocked via evolving the weapons or surviving as the DLC characters.
I could go into detail about each of the weapons and why they are/aren't very good, but if you're going to buy this, you'll find out for yourself fairly quickly. So I'll just mention the two that stand out: Silver Wind and its evolution Festive Winds are fantastic. Not only are they great at clearing in the early game and don't fall off over the course of run, but they also finally add an early game base-weapon healing option, as things hit by both will periodically spawn small hearts that you can pick up to restore 2 health per. Not as effective as the consistent healing of Bloody Tear or especially Fuwalafuwaloo, but also doesn't require the annoyance of fusing multiple weapons together and taking up slots for part of your run. And more than enough to sustain you both in the early game, and during the late game when you'll have Crimson Shroud + Armor.
So why am I recommending it after spending most of this review putting it down? Because at the end of the day, It's 2 bloody dollars. I didn't dislike my time with it at all, and genuinely, Silver Wind is quite useful and a welcome addition to any run. In the end, $2 for more good of an already great game is still bargain in my book, even if its overall somewhat disappointing compared to the base game. If given the choice again, I'd still buy it just to support the developer.
But if you're in some bizarre situation where you are somehow financially only able to handle buying ONE dirt-cheap Vampire Survivors DLC, go for Tides of the Foscari instead.