Fans adore and despise Vampire Survivors’ Darkasso update like some sort of cursed monkey paw

Developer Poncle released the Darkasso update for Vampire Survivors in the dead of night on August 15, 2024. As players slowly realized that new content had been added to the game, they delved through the new Darkanas and quickly realized they were completely broken in the best way possible. Provided they don’t crash your system.

Vampire Survivors’ Darkasso update is a meaty one with a new challenge stage, relic, the aforementioned Darkanas, new character skins, and, of course, some additional surprises. It’s the Darkanas that have been causing havoc for players, though, and they haven’t been shy about sharing their experiences in the update on the game’s subreddit.

While some builds crafted with the items the update adds have crashed the game, everybody welcomes it because the builds that don’t crash your system are invincible, making them somewhat of a cursed monkey paw to play with.

More power, but at what cost?

The first few posts from players about the Darkasso update showed how it broke Vampire Survivors so hard that it caused the game to crash outright. User Bonzi77 posted a great example in good spirits, saying, “I gained so much movement speed that I had to grapple with the reality of my existence.”

However, there are now more posts demonstrating the sheer power of Darkanas than there are of any game-breaking issues. This one from user RevolutionaryDraw662 shows how you can make a build that’s so powerful you can’t even tell what’s going on.

My favorite is this post from user Dex_Belle that shows their mad run in which they’ve become trapped with a build so strong it can’t be beaten. “I am too powerful… I need help. As of writing this, I am on the Tiny Bridge sitting at over 80 minutes. By my count I should have over 30 Reapers on the screen. I can’t be killed. The round won’t end. These new arcanas are no joke.”

While it might seem like Poncle didn’t let this update cook long enough, I think it’s likely working mostly as intended. The new area, Room 1665, seems like a real challenge even for experienced players, and it’s possibly only completable using the Darkanas added with the update.

Vampire Survivors will launch on PS4 and PS5 on August 29, 2024, with the Darkasso update included. Many of us have been waiting to play this version of the game for so long because it means we can finally add its platinum trophy to our collections.

However, the most exciting part of the release is that so many new players get to experience the entire game and these crazy new items for the first time ever. Poncole will undoubtedly fix the update’s system-crashing issues before the PlayStation release date, meaning the next month or so will be a very exciting time for the community as they discover new and old content together.