Vampire Survivors Drops Yet Another Free Update Today, Includes “Secret” New Stage

Vampire Survivors is the bargain-priced video game that Poncle just keeps delivering on. Alongside a few paid updates, the developer has continuously been giving us several free updates too. And today, another one has landed on all platforms.

This “super secret” update, called Darkasso, includes a brand new stage, a new relic, five new arcana (called Darkana), new skins for a couple of characters, and plenty of bug fixes.

Over on Steam, Poncle has detailed how to unlock some of the new content — which isn’t actually available from the get-go. You need to enter a password to get the stage and then beat that stage to unlock the arcana.

If you want a rundown of everything that’s been added in this new update, here are all of the details:

New Arcana cards
There are currently 5 unlockable Darkanas in the game.
You can access Darkanas by pressing the new button on the usual Randomazzo screen. The only difference between Arcanas and Darkanas is their theme, functionally they are exactly the same.
Due to the increased amount of arcana cards, once you have 23 or more cards, every draft will come with a free Reroll and will allow you to pick between 6 cards instead of 4.

New special skins
This is a new game mechanic that allow characters to have special skins that alter them not only visually, but also in terms of stats and weapons. There are currently 2 special skins and they are both rewards for completing the current 2 base game Adventures once.
If you have already completed the 2 base game Adventures, just open the Adventure menu to receive the unlocks.
These two unlocks requries quite a bit of effort, so if that’s not your thing please remember that the Secrets-Cast Spell menu (and some googling) are there to help you

New special skin for Imelda Belpaese: Unblinded Imelda
She starts with a level 5 Empty Tome and gets the following bonuses: +40% projectile Speed, +40% MoveSpeed, -10% Cooldown. Complete “World of Light and Dark” Adventure once to unlock.

New special skin for Poe Ratcho: Retired Poe Ratcho
He starts with a level 5 Pummarola and gets the following bonuses: +30 MaxHealth, 5hp/s Recovery. Complete “A Garlic Paradise” Adventure once to unlock.

New stage: Room 1665
Unlocked by casting the spells “forbiddenbox” in the Secrets menu.
A serious challenge stage that strips you of the power of most relics. Enemies grow stronger as you do. You need to defeat around 100 enemies to clear a room and proceed to the next one. Standard light sources are rare, but they are also rewarded after clearing every room.

Relic: Darkasso
Allows to activate Darkanas. It comes with Darkana VI – Moonlight Bolero.
Unlocked by reaching the bottom of Room 1665.

Darkana: VI – Moonlight Bolero
Unlocked by default when obtaining the Darkasso.
It spawns an additional stage boss every minute. These bosses might carry special treasure chests, including Arcana Treasure chests that will let you get extra arcanas even if you have reached the standard limit. There are also Black Treasure chests, that have a chance to hold a new passive weapon that you aren’t already carrying.

Darkana: I – Sapphire Mist
Unlocked by finishing a run when Space Dude has a cooldown bonus of -85%.
Every time any equipped weapon fires, it has a Luck-based chance to activate again. This affects is augmented on certain weapons, that will activate 2-3 times instead of just once.

Darkana: X – Hail From The Future
Unlocked by triggering a Weird Souls Purifier with Santa Ladonna.
Every time you level up, a Luck-and-Level-based amount of pickups appears on the stage. The possible pickups include Gold Fingers, Gilded Clovers, Candyboxes, and Arma Dios among others.

Darkana: XII – Crystal Cries
Unlocked by triggering a Starry Heavens with She-Moon Eeta.
When the character’s health drops below 20%, an Orologion is triggered. This ability recharges when reaching full Health.
Defeating frozen enemies generates Crystallized Souls, that when picked up restore a bit of Health and provide little bonuses to Growth, MaxHealth, and Recovery.

Darkana: XXI – Wandering the Jet Black
Unlocked by reaching 665 MaxHealth with Bat Robbert.
Losing Health generates exploding projectiles. The amount of Health recovered during the run contributes to the damage inflicted by the explosions. Magnet affects the area and damage of the explosions too

If you haven’t played Vampire Survivors yet…well, it’s under $5! What are you waiting for? We keep coming back for more with all of these free updates, and we expect many others do too.

Will you be checking out Darkasso for Vampire Survivors? Bite in the comments.