One of Xbox Game Pass' most promising new indie games finally has a release date, and it's not far off — I hope it's as addicting as the dev's first game

Creative and engaging indie games are some of the best gems you can find in the Xbox Game Pass library, and several months after its announcement last year, we finally have a concrete release date for one of the most exciting and highly anticipated indie titles coming to Microsoft's gaming service on Xbox, PC, and Xbox Ally handhelds.

The game in question is Vampire Crawlers, an upcoming deckbuilder and dungeon crawler spinoff of the acclaimed and extremely popular 2022 roguelike battler Vampire Survivors. That game ended up being a huge hit on Game Pass, with widespread availability on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, Xbox Ally, Windows PC and Mac, PS5, PS4, Nintendo Switch, Meta Quest, iOS, and Android as well.

Vampire Crawlers will launch onto Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, PS5, and Nintendo Switch, with iOS and Android availability planned for "a later date in 2026."

First revealed in November last year during the Xbox Partner Preview, developer Poncle — AKA, the solo dev Luca Galante that created Vampire Survivors — has now revealed that Vampire Crawlers is coming out next month on April 21, 2026. That's only about a month away, so we won't have to wait long to play it.

The release date was announced in a new trailer that you can watch below that shows off some of Crawlers' gameplay, and also reveals that the game will cost $9.99 if not playing through Game Pass. On top of that, it will also fully support Xbox Play Anywhere, enabling cross ownership and progression between Xbox, PC, and Xbox Ally.

Vampire Crawlers comes to Xbox on April 21st, 2026. Day One with Xbox Game Pass - YouTube

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Vampire Survivors is famously addicting as a result of its roguelike progression system — it sold 7 million copies in the first month it was out, and millions more after — and the crazy amount of different powers and upgrades you can unlock as you cut down hundreds upon hundreds of monsters until you either die or reach the 30-minute mark of your runs and win (unless you're on Endless Mode).

Vampire Crawlers will likely aim to capture that "one more run" feeling once again, except in a different format, as players will utilize cards in their deck to defeat the abominations and anomalies of the night. Based on what the trailer shows, it looks like players will travel from point to point, battling groups of baddies and upgrading their cards as they go.

I'd like to see some more gameplay before the release date comes around, but if Vampire Crawlers is anywhere near as good as Survivors, I'll definitely pick it up. Seriously, Vampire Survivors rules — and it only got better over time with the addition of local and online co-op, DLC, and a collab with Balatro, another top-tier indie darling. It's even inspired a "Warhammer Survivors" built in the same engine.

To be honest, I've never even been that into deckbuilders and card-based games, but I'll happily veer outside of my comfort zone to dive into a new game from Poncle. Here's hoping it hits the same highs as Vampire Survivors did (and still does, whenever I've got some time to kill or responsibilities to put off).

🗨️ Will you play Vampire Crawlers?

With how addicting and popular Vampire Survivors was, I have no doubt in my mind that Vampire Crawlers has the potential to reach similar heights. It's likely to be one of this year's biggest indie releases, especially on Xbox Game Pass.

I'm interested in hearing from you: will you play Vampire Crawlers? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments, and make sure to vote in our poll as well.

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