My Ranking of Reverse-Bullet-Hells/Auto-Shooters/Vampire Survivor-likes.

I posted this elsewhere, but I think it go algorithm'd to the void, so I'm posting it here, cause I spent some time writing it up, and I'm curious what others think, or what their favorites are!

Reverse-Bullet-Hells/Auto-Shooters

I'm in a holding pattern waiting for Armored Core 6, Starfield, and Baldur's Gate 3 on PlayStation, so I'm fixated on Vampire Survivor-likes ("Auto-shooters" is I think what they're getting labeled).

Here's my current ranking of auto-shooters that I've played this weekend (Soulstone Survivors was gifted to me by a GB Chat Stream buddy and it started a shopping spree). 1 through 3 could be tied, they each rock, in their own way. I indicated what I am/was playing them on.

1. Army of Ruin (PS5) Trailer: https://youtu.be/3sIroXzaDBc
2. Soulstone Survivors (PC) has a Demo titled Soustone Survivors: Prelude - Trailer: https://youtu.be/3sIroXzaDBc
3. Spirit Hunters: Infinite Horde (PS5) Trailer: https://youtu.be/kXrGlKTCpXo
4. Vampire Survivors (Game Pass for me, with DLC) - even though that hasn't been played this weekend, I think I unlocked everything so...yeah.
5. Halls of Torment (PC) Has a Diablo 1 aesthetic and has a demo Halls of Torment Prelude - Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCVIaeK504g
6. Remedium Sentinels (PC) - This game needs some love. It's good, dark, grim, blood, mechs, and abominations, but needs polish. Trailer: https://youtu.be/hUUypQ7ITXQ
7. Star Survivor (PC) - Has a Demo - Has potential, but has a learning curve given you're mounting weapons and equipment to ship slots. Has some FTL map stuff going for it as well. Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmgVdQkL_Dg
8. Whispike Survivors: Sword of the Necromancer (PS5) - I think I actively hate this one. I don't like the loop, at all, even if the aesthetic and music are great. Trailer: https://youtu.be/NQx5zbmNl7w

Wishlist, PC Only since I think that's all the ones on Console above, or at least worth playing:

• Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor - Early Trailer: https://youtu.be/h6koRh1v3nU
• Spellbook Demonslayers - Trailer: https://youtu.be/2DrVEWzEzcU
• Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok - Trailer: https://youtu.be/OsJyHm1-CIE
• Soul Stalker - Trailer: https://youtu.be/se-mtGESJMs
• Brotato - Trailer: https://youtu.be/nfceZHR7Yq0
• 20 Minutes Till Dawn - Trailer: https://youtu.be/d_tTjnIpL5c
• The Slormancer - Trailer: https://youtu.be/V1fXE74cVDY
• Yet Another Zombie Survivors - Trailer: https://youtu.be/zDTwCWBLwOk

Honorable Mention for the one I'm most curious about, given its aesthetic: GOOBIES. HAS A DEMO JUST INSTALLED - Trailer: https://youtu.be/n8eAfw67l1A

I've played a few of these, so I'll chip in.

Soulstone Survivors: I think it's great until you get way up in the difficulty and it devolves into a bunch of dashing around attacking offscreen bosses.

Halls of Torment: Absolute garbage. Slow, repetitive, nothing in the way of interesting build choices.

Spellbook Demonslayers: Fantastic, if visually uninteresting. Lots of fun builds

One thing none of these games have: that amazing brain tingle you get in Vampire Survivors when you pick up a bunch of XP gems and get that rapid-fire bling sound.

You need to try Boneraiser Minions. Amazing personality from that game, way more than it has any right to have.

The lack of Holocure on here is disappointing. I have no idea what Hololive even is, but Holocure is free, fun and has a pretty banging soundtrack. It also plays like a twin-stick shooter, which might be good or bad depending on how "auto" you want your ASS games to be

Yeah Holocure just updated and is now on Steam and is just incredibly well made regardless of how much you know or care about Hololive.

I've been playing Army of Ruin and Spirit Hunters: Infinite Horde thanks to this list. They're both very good though in different ways. Spirit Hunters is simpler in almost every way but also more skill-based in terms of moment to moment gameplay, where it really relies on good positioning and careful aiming of your skills to survive. Obviously build matters, but I've found that almost every build is workable as long as you have the basic balance of crowd control, range, and some kind of big damage attack fo the bruisers. The skill web is huge and a little intimidating and there are some cool twists on some of the weapons, but it's mostly manageable. I don't love how the game looks but it's not like it's notably ugly. It's just sort of average and pretty flat looking.

Army of Ruin on the other hand is just a massive broken mess...in a good way. First of all it is the only one of these games that looks like a "modern game" (or a game that could only be done on modern hardware) with some really nice mid-poly models and a lot of more advanced graphical effects. Secondly it has just a massive amount of content, with 24 characters and over a hundred weapons to unlock, and though some of the characters are palette swaps the weapons are all unique. Thirdly because it has weapon evolutions and "trinkets" (non-weapon passives that modify stats or give you some ability like freezing all enemies on screen every 30 seconds) you can get some massively broken builds. Builds where you can just walk around the map destroying anything you can see, like you can in Vampire Survivors if your build breaks, but without the end of the stage intensity ramp up that makes that game still tense at the end even with a broken build. This isn't a bad thing but it gives the game a very different feel. Additionally I've found that while fancy footwork and careful maneuvering can keep you alive in Spirit Hunters if your build isn't strong enough you will die in Army of Ruin. You can keep yourself alive for awhile and maybe weather a particularly tough wave of monsters that abates, but without sufficient damage output you will eventually die. It makes it a game much more about your build (which is somewhat RNG dependent) than your positioning skill. Again, not a bad thing, just a difference.

Both games are really really good and show that this genre has some legs. Interestingly they both have a "super move" tied to a button press, so they're not strict autoshooters. In some ways these iterations of the genre feel like a combination of Gauntlet and clicker games, which I guess is what Vampire Surviors really is. But they provide the "numbers go up" dopamine hit of clickers along with the frantic feeling of being overwhelmed in Gauntlet. And they both have a TON of challenges and things to unlock (Army of Ruin has a frankly overwhelming amount.) They're also insane values, especially Army of Ruin, which has a graphical fidelity I would expect from a $20 or $30 game, not an $8 game. Especially given the sheer amount of stuff in it.

As others have mentioned, Holocure is absolutely worth checking out. For a free thing, it's incredibly well made and enjoyable regardless of your interest in the associated HoloLive v-tubers.

I'll also second that Boneraiser Minions deserves consideration. In spite of some cringe "boner" humor, it's one of the better Survivor-like games that I've played.

Of the entries in this genre that I've played, Halls of Torment and 20 Minutes Till Dawn are probably my favorites alongside the OG Vampire Survivors.