Vampires remain instantly recognisable icons of fiction and can easily be deployed across all forms of media. There are many different takes on the creatures of the night, ranging from evil overlords to brooding love interests. Whether they can transform into bats or not, vampires are very versatile and invariably popular, allowing game developers to utilize them in all manner of ways.
Last year, a highly-anticipated vampire game and a relatively unassuming indie game made the headlines. Redfall arrived in May but very quickly faded into the background as yet another underwhelming Xbox exclusive, currently holding 56/100 and 3.5/5.0 Metacritic scores at the time of writing. Vampire Survivors, on the other hand, really picked up steam in 2023, following an October 2022 release, earning praise for its low price and addictive gameplay.
Now, we have a whole host of new vampire games on the way, each of which shows distinct promise in different genres. Importantly, they all look to put the power back into the hands of these dark beasts.
Vampires swarming the 2024 gaming scene
Following up on one of the best games – let alone vampire games, ever made – Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 has a lot to live up to. It has been in the works since at least 2019, endured development hell, and moved to different developers, but in fall 2024, it’ll finally arrive. You’ll get to play as an elder vampire, feed on humans from the shadows, and work your way up one of the clans vying for control over Seattle.
What might prove to be a superb unofficial follow-up to another Vampire: The Masquerade game – this time, Bloodhunt – EvilVEvil is listed as arriving in Q2 2024. The Toadman Interactive game is billed as the “ultimate vampire power fantasy,” in which, you seek to uncover a conspiracy within a legion of cultists, and all in the form of a first-person shooter.
V Rising, which is in early access on Steam and arrives on PlayStation as a fully-fledged game later this year, has already earned over 69,000 reviews that average Very Positive on the PC launcher. The survival-based open world with an action RPG twist lets you earn your way to ultimate vampiric power. Also coming to Steam’s Early Access this year, though, is Vampire Dynasty, which is already a hyped co-op sandbox survival RPG.
Time for the mighty vampires to rise again
In the vast majority of the vampire games rising to prominence this year, vampires are all-powerful creatures that can go toe-to-toe with the greatest beasts of folklore, dominate humans, and pull the strings from the shadows. This makes quite the change from many of the most recent popular depictions of vampires that we’ve seen.
While we’re out of the Twilight and True Blood era, there’s still a strong following for one game that’s more of a dark take on those kinds of vampires. Immortal Romance was once one of the most popular online slots going. Now, it’s been revived and regularly ranks among the best progressive jackpot slots by players.
Of course, the romance-inclined vampires of Immortal Romance get the benefit of being tied to an ever-growing multi-million top prize. Elsewhere, Nicolas Cage’s hammy crack at the famed Dracula in Renfield barely made back half of its budget at the box office, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter wasn’t terrible but not overly well-received. Perhaps Robert Eggers’ presumed dark take in the Nosferatu remake will appease audiences.
While other forms of media haven’t yet fully come around to the ghastly, horrifying nature of an all-powerful vampire again just yet, that very much looks to be the case with some very promising games landing in 2024.