Karate Survivor is a fun twist on the Vampire Survivors format… once you’ve unlocked the core mechanics

The overwhelming success of Luca Galante Vampire survivors has inspired many imitators: new games such as HoloCure – Save the fans! And Halls of tormentas well as spin-offs of existing popular titles such as Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor And League of Legends‘ temporary Swarm game mode.

A new contender has arrived on the scene, and it’s quite a bit of fun – if you’re willing to put in a few hours. Karate survivorreleased by developer and publisher Alawar on October 30 for PC, is a Vampire survivors-as inspired by 80s action films, and specifically Hong Kong action films of that era. The game fits the bill aesthetically: the models for the player characters, enemies, and environments (supermarket, bar, rooftop, construction site, and subway) look straight out of the movies the game hopes to evoke. There’s a lot of denim, cardigans and a general 80s vibe to the animation style. Furthermore, the movement of the action is smooth and fluid, which is a must for any game that plays the legacy of 80s Hong Kong action cinema.

Like Vampire survivorsin Karate survivorYou control a character who is, well, trying to survive a swarm of advancing enemies. You start with one martial arts move that is automatically deployed during a cooldown, and as you defeat enemies with it, you gain experience. When you gain enough experience, you level up and unlock another martial arts move as an attack (you can have up to six active) or stat bonuses (such as increases to dodging, blocking, attack damage, environmental object damage, etc. ). Beating up your enemies also earns you a currency, Teeth, which you can use to upgrade your character with buffs you can save during playthroughs.

Your unlocked martial arts moves aren’t the only weapon at your disposal. One of the most fun parts of the game is picking up random objects to use as weapons: bottles, rocks, baseball bats, crowbars. It feels like you have to use everything around you to get through the fight in a way that’s very appropriate for a game inspired by Jackie Chan films.

I’m having a great time with Karate survivor about eight hours in, but it took a while for me to start enjoying it. After about an hour of playing, I almost gave up on the game because I found the few actions available to be boring and far too limited. But I tried it again (because of how much I love the aesthetics and this era of action movies), and I was surprised to discover how many crucial mechanics were progress-dependent.

Now, after several hours, I can roll over obstacles, kick people on the other side of them, or kick objects on the ground at enemies. But it took me about six hours to unlock one of the game’s core features. Each martial arts move has a color that, when combined with other moves of the same color, synergizes for extra damage. That element is unlocked quite early. But each move also has a number associated with it, and if you put the moves in the correct order (for example, red 6, then red 7, red 8, 9, 10, and 11), you get a powerful improvement with each move. in the order.

That entire system only unlocks after you beat the first level boss. It wasn’t clear to me how crucial beating the first level’s boss was to unlocking one of the game’s core mechanics, and I unlocked each of the next two levels (and played them a few times) before playing the first boss defeated. If I had focused all my energy on beating the first boss, I certainly would have unlocked that mechanic sooner, but I still had to get used to playing the game with the limited tools available to me, and trying out the different levels I had unlocked.

I understand the motivation to capture certain elements behind the game’s progression; it feels good to unlock new skills and features. But these feel like core mechanisms that are integral to a good experience with Karate survivorand when you shut them down, the game initially feels quite lifeless. Luckily, once you get past that part, it’s a worthwhile addition to the burgeoning survival genre.

Karate survivor was released on October 30 on Windows PC. The game was reviewed on PC using a pre-release download code from Alawar. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, although Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased through affiliate links. Additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.