Zombies may rule the world of media monsters nowadays, but Vampires have been a mainstay ever since Dracula — the person, not the book. They’ve been the inspiration for great movies, some great guilty pleasure literature, and some of the best video games ever made.
Let’s take a look at the best vampire-themed video games of all time.
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
While competition sure is fierce, I believe Symphony of the Night to be not just one of the best vampire games ever made, but also the greatest Metroidvania in existence.
Symphony of the Night has the glorious idea of beginning with a small gameplay segment from Rondo Of Blood, the previous game in the series, before showing you all the improvements brought about by the new game. I think that’s how all great sequels should begin, as the transition makes it impossible for you to ignore all the work put into the game.
The scenery, the moves, the animations themselves, the enemies, the soundtrack. Even though it’s a 2D title, Sotn looks so good that it always has me feeling like it’s pushing the original PlayStation to its limits — not to worry, though, as it ran ultra smooth at all times even way back then.
El Paso, Elsewhere
Do you miss the Max Payne video games and the Blade movies? Then El Paso, Elsewhere is the game you want to play right now. You can expect pretty much the same gameplay from the classic Max Payne games — and even the trippiness of those wild dream levels. Everything gets even better when you throw vampires and werewolves into the mix, and El Paso, Elsewhere is no different. Above all, El Paso’s greatest triumph is its ability to prove that you can bring the flavor of classic games to newer times without having everything be a remaster or remake.
You should really give El Paso a try, or at least wait with great anticipation for its upcoming film adaptation.
Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow
Forcing an extra dimension into a game that works so well in 2d can be a mistake — as proven by the not-so-great Castlevania 64, but Lords Of Shadow more than pulled it off.
Drawing more inspiration from titles such as the God Of War trilogy and Devil May Cry was an ace choice as Castlevania was reborn as yet another excellent 3d action-adventure title capable of rivaling the best of them all.
Blood Omen: Legacy Of Kain
Please don’t let the great power of the cover art’s dated art throw you off. Blood Omen likely surprised many upon its release as it completely changed everyone’s perceptions of what you could do with vampires. Instead of a total bloodbath, you get a partial bloodbath where most of the gameplay involves using your wits to understand what powers you need to make use of to advance in your campaign.
Also, If you grew up playing Blood Omen, then you probably got filled with a sense of bewilderment when you first heard someone complaining that video games had bad writing. Amy Hennig’s first of many great works in the video game scene told a beautifully original tale of death, and also introduced one of the coolest vampires of all media, the titular Kain.
Vampire Survivors
Fans of vampire media usually want bloody, edgy, sexy stuff, but sometimes they just want to relax. Vampire Survivors provides lovers of vampire stuff the exact type of relaxation that they want, which is naturally by giving them the chance to obliterate countless hordes of vampiric beasts.
It’s pretty simple in nature, but it’s way more challenging than someone unacquainted with the genre would expect — but also way more fun. This is the one that all modern vampires play in their coffin when taking a break from all the vampire drama in their unlives.
V Rising
Down to its very title, V Rising seems like a game made for people who wanted Valheim but with vampires. The good news is that the vampire-themed survival horror provides just as much fun as Valheim does, but it’s its very own beast. Whereas Valheim allows players to build their own Viking village, V Rising invites them to build their own vampire castle. How can you beat that?
Consider giving this one a chance if you happen to belong to a coterie of vampires who want to test their survival skills in a hostile but very fun environment.
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
As far as getting to experience the life of a vampire in a world that a vampire would enjoy, we’re yet to see a game that beats Bloodlines.
Please ignore all the reviews from the time of its release because, yeah, it did come out in a very rough shape, but that doesn’t tell its whole story. Though it came out pretty much unfinished, the plot and the heart were always there, so fans spent years pumping blood into this true undead gem to bring it back to life and turn it into the very playable masterpiece that it is today (if you get the GOG version).
Here’s hoping that the long-in-development Bloodlines 2 comes out — even if not in a great shape — because the community is both ready and very thirsty for its arrival.
Bloodrayne
In all honesty, whatever game you pick in the Bloodrayne series will likely pale in comparison to every other game on this list in terms of story and character depth, but it does feature some fun gameplay and is not without its secret weapons.
It was far from a groundbreaking game when it came out, but it featured some incredibly bloody action, and the whole thing is naturally very elevated by inviting players to kill as many Nazis as they can.
The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine
Ok, this might be cheating because it’s a DLC but a) anyone who’s played it knows that it’s long and sweet enough to earn its place here and b) you’re now too deep into this list to close the tab without checking out the last entry.
Both the Hearts of Stone and the Blood and Wine DLCs could be full games in their own right because of the depth of the story that they tell. Still, unlike Hearts of Stone, Blood and Wine also has the scope of an entire game.
It takes players on a massive detour from Wild Hunt’s main quest by having them stay on a gorgeous land inspired by southern France. Then, the party is either crashed or made even more fun when Geralt has to dive deep into a vampire conspiracy. It’s as fun, magical, and sexy as you can imagine.
Legacy Of Kain: Soul Reaver
If you want a really original take on the vampire mythos, you can do no better than the game that introduced Raziel. Soul Reaver takes place after Crystal Dynamics decided to make the bad ending of Blood Omen the canon one — just so you know the amount of courage that went into making this one.
The gameplay leap made from the original Blood Omen to Soul Reaver is comparable to what happened with the GTA series with the jump to 3d with GTA 3, and the leap in story presentation went even beyond that.
Soul Reaver was both the closest you could get to a Zelda game on the original PlayStation, as well as a better in-console alternative to the Tomb Raider series. Even though it features a few too many box-based puzzles, it’s still one of the best and most engrossing action-adventure titles ever made.
