Geometry Survivor is clearly inspired by the roguelite elements of the fan favorite Vampire Survivors but with the overall presentation of Geometry Wars, the original XBLA breakout hit. If you enjoyed these games that inspired it, there is no reason you wouldn’t like this one-handed action game.
Outfitted with a neon 80s glow, the goal is to survive a never-ending onslaught of geometric shapes. Starting with a simple peashooter, defeated enemies drop tiny collectables that act as currency. Once enough has been collected, the player levels up and a new ability can be unlocked or enhanced. This cycle repeats until you inevitably get overwhelmed.
While these new abilities and enhancements are imperative to the player’s survival, permanent unlocks are possible for patient players. In fact, this is my biggest annoyance; the threshold to unlock anything worthwhile takes a long time. Like, a really long time. Hours, actually. So each ability that gets unlocked is a big decision. And the game likes to tease the player too. Do you save up all that hard earned cash to be rewarded with slightly bigger payouts at the end of a run, which is helpful long term? Or do you use that money to power up your fighter which might give you a slight edge to deal more damage in the short term?
Gameplay-wise, the game controls well but the same background and enemy sprites get repetitive quickly. In comparison, Vampire Survivors has multiple stages, different objectives, a large playable character roster, and new enemies will match your character’s level. Here, playing in the same confiding area, fighting against the same enemies, playing as a similar shape can be exhausting, especially since the game requires long play sessions to unlock anything. Therefore, even with a game that is randomly generated, the gameplay is rather grindy and doesn’t fully respect the player’s time.
Geometry Survivor isn’t a bad game and fans of the genre should enjoy it, but there are better Vampire Survivors-like games out there, like Vampire Survivors. It is sold for the same price as the original vampire-based original, only that game has more polish, replay value, and optional DLC. If given the choice, I’d rather survive my vampires than against generic shapes but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a look.
Not As Good As: Vampire Survivors
Better Than: Stickman’s Arena
Don’t Forget About: Hell Well
By: Zachary Gasiorowski, Editor in Chief myGamer.com
Twitter: @ZackGaz
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RATING
OUR RATING - 6.5
6.5
SCORE
Mixing Vampire Survivors gameplay with the look of Geometry Wars, Geometry Survivor is fine if you don’t mind grinding several runs to unlock one measly upgrade.