I've never been shy about my love of Vampire Survivors and the myriad of games like it, and the developer of one such game is thankfully spearheading an effort to officially title the new genre that has been born.
While most are dubbed as an "action roguelike" when it comes to tags on Steam, which helps identify games and categorize them so players can find others like it, Yet Another Zombie Survivors dev Awesome Games Studio is one of 450 devs pushing to create an official name for the genre that Steam would recognize.
While Vampire Survivors may have started the trend, which some call Bullet Heaven, Survivors-like, or Auto-Shooter, countless games have since released with their own spin on the formula. Megabonk, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, Brotato, and Death Must Die are just some examples. But they do not have a specific genre to call home.
"Steam has a huge influence on how game genres are defined — and this fast-growing genre still doesn’t have a proper tag," Awesome Games Studio said in a press release about the effort. "A Steam tag isn’t just for looks; it’s one of the most powerful tools for discoverability and helping players find exactly what they love."
I love games in this genre, and I have wished for this centralized tag to become a thing before. Thankfully, Awesome Games Studio is making the push with a survey to help choose and define the genre so those who love Megabonk, for example, could find more games similar to it.
The studio has a Google form where you can vote for a number of options to help submit a final decision to Steam, and the choices include Bullet Heaven, Survivors-like, Reverse Bullet Hell, Wave Fighter, Horde Survival, Auto-Shooter, and Multi-Directional Shooter. Yeah, some are a mouthful.
Personally, I like Bullet Heaven. It flips the script on Bullet Hell, which are games where you're constantly dodging a barrage of enemy fire. Bullet Heaven explains it well, since you're the one firing the barrage over time instead.
Make sure to vote on the Google form and help spread the word so indie devs like Awesome Games Studio and many others can help get their games seen. Steam's Bullet Heaven 3.0 Festival kicks off on Dec. 4, so now's as good a time as any to help out.
The post ‘Bullet Heaven’ devs want Steam to officially recognize the Vampire Survivors, Megabonk genre as its own new category appeared first on Destructoid.
