If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Vampire Survivors creator poncle should consider themselves so. Keeper’s Toll is brazenly influenced by the highly praised auto-shooter, right down to looking and sounding similar. But while clearly trying to ride the coattails of that game’s success, it not only shows a great understanding of the genre but also attempts to expand it by adding more variety and tact. More crucially, it doesn’t share the same structure either, making for an experience that isn’t as uncanny as it may initially seem.
The biggest surprise here is that you’re left to work how to progress and unlock new areas, with little in the way of guidance. Luckily the simple premise of ‘surviving until a boss appears’ is easy enough to grasp. When said boss will appear is kept a mystery, however, allowing you to learn and adapt to the challenges that appear in each of the four stages – which vary from a dying forest to a castle. Later, an orb hunt commences as part of the storyline, seeing you return to past areas.
Like Vampire Survivors the premise of avoiding large groups of enemies, collecting XP tokens, and shrewdly investing in power-ups/upgrades remains the same, only now your chosen character has a dash ability governed by a stamina gauge, along with a health flask that can be refilled by finding a merchant and spending gold found inside breakables.
Merchants are just one of a few things appearing periodically, with various alters and shrines spawning a short distance from your current location. There’s a good variety of things to interact with, in fact, making it crucial to investigate areas marked on screen. It’s possible to perform a blood sacrifice and lose a portion of health in return for an upgrade, or you can become cursed for a few minutes and receive a stat-boosting item for your toil – with curses including deliberating frost, and floating stabbing swords. There are challenges too, such as following a spotlight without ever stepping out, even when a gaggle of nasties are ahead, and a quest to remain in a marked area while unique waves of enemies appear. Best of all, it’s possible to diversify your attacks with a single skill from a different class, albeit at a cost.
On top of all this, named ‘Invaders’ can randomly appear, along with seldom seen mini-bosses. Main bosses arrive at set times and automatically warp you to new areas of varying sizes. This timed approach gives plenty of scope to see what you’re up against and plan your upgrade path accordingly. The first boss, for instance, is a huge skeleton that drags themselves along a horizontal corridor – meaning left facing attacks will give a huge advantage. Another boss has shoot’em up style bullet waves to memorise and overcome.
Oh, and unlike Vampire Survivors, there are actually vampires here. Awaken them from their slumber and you’ll feel their wrath while they transform from human to bat form.
While this may all sound overly chaotic, the beauty of Keeper’s Toll is that it never feels unfair. Waves are balanced, bosses can be easily defeated after investing in a few permanent upgrades, temporary power-ups are common, and there’s usually enough gold laying around to purchase an additional health flasks. After every failed run, you’re also given enough XP to make a few improvements to your character – with XP linked to a single class. That’s to say, you can’t complete a run with one character and spend accumulated XP on another.
Every character class is unlocked from the outset, each with several skills to invest in. Permendant upgrades meanwhile require tomes, of which there’s a set amount available. Some are gained for beating challenges, while others are hidden in the stages. Luckily, a clue is given to their whereabouts. The classes are fun to explore, although there are some slight similarities to their attacks and upgrades, with most having an attack that’ll rain down on foes – be it arrows or fire balls – and a front facing attack.
The Necromancer can raise the dead to fight on their side and summon a skeletal fist to pummel foes, while the Shadow Monk has beat’em up style combos with button prompts to enter. Filling out the roster are a Ranger with a wolf familiar, a Blood Maiden who can steal health, a mighty Bogatyr, and a Pyromaniac causing slow burning damage. Later upgrades for each are unique, such as the Necromancer’s ability to revive themselves once per run, and the Shadow Monk’s hundred hit combo.
The presentation here is slicker than other games in the £5-£6 price point. The pixel art is tidy and there’s a huge variety of enemies with waves changing every couple of minutes, and while uninspired – sounding similar to Castlevania games of yore – the music is decent too. Initially the fact that there are only four stages gives the impression that there isn’t much to get stuck into, but this isn’t the case – they’re intended to be replayed with boss hunting in mind, and the game’s second half is noticeably more difficult than the first. This isn’t something you’ll beat in an afternoon or two, but rather over dozens of hours, as you’re looking at around 7-8 hours playtime to max out each character. As titles from ‘eastasiasoft’ go, this is a far lengthier and deeper experience than their typical output.
The Roguelike auto-shooter genre may be saturated, yet Keeper’s Toll still feels worthy of your time, offering a refined and well-balanced package at an appealingly low price point. The only downside, other than the similarities between character classes, is that it lacks the content and future of Vampire Survivors. Whereas that game has seen years of updates, Keeper’s Toll is (for now, at least) a self-contained, finished, product. The developers have announced that new content isn’t happening for a while, with their next title taking priority.
While this isn’t something with a future, it’s nevertheless a polished experience. It definitely feels like the developers made it the best they could before moving on. You’ll certainly get your monies worth several times over. Indeed, it’s a small toll to pay for such a long journey.
Stingbot Games’ Keeper’s Toll is out 11th June on consoles. Published by eastasiasoft. A PC version launched in 2024.