Poncle Discusses Film Adaptation Hurdles: 'No Plot in Game'

Vampire Survivors developer Poncle has shed light on the challenges of adapting their hit game into a film, a project that was initially announced as an animated series in 2023 but has since shifted focus to a live-action movie. In a recent Steam post, Poncle reiterated their ongoing collaboration with Story Kitchen on this ambitious project, emphasizing the unique difficulties posed by the game's lack of a traditional plot.

Poncle candidly admitted the complexity of turning Vampire Survivors into a non-video game format, given its nature as a mechanically straightforward action game centered around defeating waves of enemies. "As mentioned last year, rather than jumping the gun and make stuff for the sake of making it, we have preferred to wait to find partners that felt right, especially because to make anything that isn't a video game out of Vampire Survivors requires good ideas, creativity, and that quirky knowledge of the game," Poncle explained. They highlighted the challenge of achieving the perfect balance of these elements, humorously noting, "That is a very difficult triplet to get 100% right. Please remember the game has no plot — it doesn't? — so nobody can really anticipate how a film about it is going to be. That is part of what makes it exciting."

The irony of adapting a game with no plot into a film was not lost on Poncle, who sarcastically remarked, "the most important thing in Vampire Survivors is the story." The exact nature of the adaptation remains unclear, even to Poncle themselves, and consequently, no release date has been set.

Vampire Survivors itself is a fast-paced gothic horror game with rogue-lite elements, allowing players to strategically snowball against hordes of monsters. Initially released as a modest indie title on Steam, it quickly escalated in popularity, becoming one of the most unexpected successes of recent years. Poncle has continuously enriched the game with new content, now boasting 50 playable characters and 80 weapons, alongside major expansions and the acclaimed Ode to Castlevania DLC.

IGN's review praised Vampire Survivors, awarding it an 8/10 and describing it as "outwardly simple but turns out to be an incredibly deep hole to fall down — though it's not without extended dull periods when you get ahead of its curve." This reflects the game's engaging yet potentially repetitive nature, making the challenge of its adaptation into a compelling film even more intriguing.