If you like Vampire Survivors, try new shoot ’em up 20 Minutes Till Dawn

If you enjoy cutting through hordes of monsters in games like Vampire Survivors or Crimsonland, do check out 20 Minutes Till Dawn. The arena survival shoot ’em up today launched into early access yesterday, and it’s a good’un. I already enjoyed the demo, and now it’s bigger, fancier, and full of even more ridiculous combos. Today I had a run so overpowered I was afraid to even shoot, and fled explosions I hadn’t even intended to cause until I finally exploded myself. That’s the good stuff. And it’s only £2.

The goal is simple: survive 20 minutes in the woods. Not to boast, but I’ve done that myself, often. This is admittedly complicated here by the endless hordes of faceless horrors emerging from the darkness. So gun ’em down, grab the XP gems spilling out their guts, level up, choose perks, and explore paths of daft combos while you explore the woods.

Similar to Vampire Survivors, upgrading perks can unlock perks connected to other trees, synergizing into new levels of daftness. Maybe you focus so hard on guns that you trade all your spare hit points and ammo capacity to receive for daft damage. Maybe you’re popping wild elemental effects all over. Maybe you’re surrounded by a summoned army of ghosts, magical blades, and a dragon to do the fighting for you, and you’re basically just playing Vampire Survivors. Maybe you’re running in fear from an unstoppable cascade of your own cluster grenades, and desperately take a big health upgrade that comes with a movement speed penalty because even though you know this will kill you eventually, it will save you right now. I’m having a grand old time seeing what foolishness I can build.

I’m referring to Vampire Survivors a lot because it’s a huge known game right now and structurally they’re pretty similar, down to the persistent progression of unlocking characters and passive boosts. Though here you can pick different weapons, which work better with some characters than others. And, y’know, it’s a shoot ’em up and you have to actively aim and shoot (well, with most builds). That’s a pretty big difference, but it still scratches a similar itch for me. Seasoned shooter ’em uppers might be better served by comparisons to games like Crimsonland, Nation Red, and Nova Drift.

Here’s how much I like it: I resent you, reader dear, for making me write this for you when I could instead be playing more. I dig the look too, a good use of a small color pallete, especially with the pops of color for our murderwizards. Great music and all.

20 Minutes Till Dawn is available now on Steam Early Access for a pallet £2.09/€2.39/$2.99. The plan is to launch in full after a month or two, following the addition of new perks, enemies, bosses, and such.

You can still play the older, shorter demo, 10 Minutes Till Dawn, for free in your browser on Itch.