Should You Try Steam Free-to-Play: Kagura Survivors

Recently, I have taken it upon myself to go through the free-to-play category on Steam in hopes of finding some cool gems to share with you all! It seems that, for the first entry, we have gotten a bit lucky.

What is Kagura Survivors: Endless Nights about?

Vampire Survivors — a title you've surely heard of after the craze for it — has spawned another title similar to it, and considering that poncle (the developer) took heavy inspiration from the mobile game Magic Survival, I think it's safe to say it's a new genre, and we're all for it.

Just like its two predecessors, Kagura Survivors is all about surviving as enemies swarm around you whilst your character throws spells at random, and at the end of it all, you get to go use the gold you collected to get further next round.

That being said, whilst the general baseline for the gameplay doesn't change much, the developer — Kagura Games — has added some interesting new additions to it that spice up the "genre". Whilst in Vampire Survivors you're at the mercy of your character's wild attacks, in Kagura Survivors, you get some abilities you can use, such as a dash.

Additionally, I really loved the fact that you get bonuses by not getting hit. Whilst it might sound a bit frustrating, the movement is really smooth and dodging enemies isn't really that difficult, especially when you unlock the dash. That being said, though, there are some items in the world (like boulders and houses) that make it clunky to navigate near them.

Was it fun?

To be honest, whilst I do enjoy this new “genre”, I'm not the biggest of fans. Despite that, I quite enjoyed my time in Kagura Survivors — especially thanks to the abilities! It's a great way to innovate the games without changing the core components. 

Should You Download It?

If you liked Vampire Survivors (or, heck, even Magic Survival), then Kagura Survivors: Endless Night will definitely be up your alley. That being said, I do want to mention that the game is currently in Early Access, so there are some bugs and a lot of things to be worked out. If you want to help with the game's development by giving some feedback and playing it, go ahead and download it here!