What you need to know
- Dataminers at wowhead.com have recently uncovered data scripts in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight's upcoming 10.2.5 patch that hint at a new upcoming game mode or mini-game related to Vampire Survivors.
- Vampire Survivors is a "reserve bullet-hell" roguelike action game where you fight hordes of horror-themed monsters while dodging millions of projectiles.
- World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is the latest expansion in the long-running MMORPG, World of Warcraft that has players explore a new continent and aid the Dragonflight Aspects reclaim their lost power.
World of Warcraft's upcoming 10.2.5 Dragonflight patch has recently entered the public test realm server (a private server where players can test upcoming patches before they officially go live). This patch promises to bring with it a slew of new content updates including being able to recruit NPC party members to dungeons, implementing Dragonriding outside of the Dragon Isles, class balance changes, and more.
However, the crafty data miners over at the World of Warcraft news and database site, WoWhead have recently discovered a rather surprising secret hidden with the patch's codes — a potential new game inspired by the hit indie game, Vampire Survivors.
According to Wowhead's post on the subject, they went through the patch's data and found the following data entries in the game's Scenescript.db section.
- 10.2.5 - Vampire Survivors Mode - Game Mode - Client Scene (OJF)
- 10.2.5 - Vampire Survivor Mode - Data - Creatures
Scenescript.db is the data section where World of Warcraft's minigames and cutscenes are stored. Aside from the data entries, information on the potential new game mode is rather scarce so we don't know where, when, or how it will be implemented into the game.
How will this Vampire Survivors game mode come to be?
At this point, we can only speculate on what this game mode will look like. So let's examine what we know about Vampire Survivors and how it could be implemented into World of Warcraft as a game mode.
Vampire Survivors is an indie roguelike action game that can best described as a "reverse bullet hell". The goal is to hunt down hordes of monsters like vampires, zombies, werewolves, and much more. You do this by acquiring weapons and power-ups that automatically attack enemies for you, so all the player has to do is avoid getting hit by enemies.
However, this is not as easy as it sounds. With every wave of monsters you defeat, the number of enemies you will face will increase. On top of that, enemies will start throwing projectiles and traps at you to make evasion more difficult. In between each wave, you can acquire a random power-up or weapon that will help you survive the incoming onslaught.
From a gameplay perspective, I can imagine World of Warcraft incorporating a game mode inspired by Vampire Survivor. There are plenty of bosses in the game that feature attacks and mechanics that players must run away from, and some gear and abilities have passive perks that can damage enemies without the player's input.
In addition, World of Warcraft has dabbled in roguelike content before such as the Torghast dungeon from World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, so perhaps this could be Blizzard's second attempt at it.
Speaking of Shadowlands, the story of this game mode could be related to the Venthyr of Revendreth. This is a faction of vampire-like beings that oversaw the rehabilitation of souls that committed atrocious sins in life. They were created by Sire Denathrius, a manipulative godlike being who ruled the realm of the Death and was responsible for the creation of one of Warcraft's most manipulative villains, the Dreadlords. However, Vampire Survivors' auto-battler gameplay could lend itself well to any theme, beyond vampirism.
At the end of Shadowlands, Sire Denathrius and his Dreadlords escaped our heroes' wrath and haven't been seen since. This Vampire Survivors-style game mode could potentially be themed around Sire Denathrius' Venthyr and Dreadlord minions. What makes this prediction more likely is that WoWhead has also discovered Dreadlord-themed armor sets in its datamining of 10.2.5.
Could these armor sets be the rewards for completing the Vampire Survivors-style game mode? Or perhaps this event isn't related to Sire Denathrius and his Dreadlords at all, and is instead centered around a different Venthyr character? We will have to wait and see if our predictions come true in the coming months.
Whether it eventually ships or not, a Vampire Survivors-style game mode has the possibility of being a really fun mini-game to play with your friends in World of Warcraft. It would certainly be a good way to pass the time as we wait for World of Warcraft's next expansion and one of the most anticipated upcoming PC titles of 2024 — World of Warcraft: The War Within.
