Surprise! Cult hit Vampire Survivors is getting a new name, Vampire Survivors - First Survivaton, plus a new free expansion pack

Award-winning Vampire Survivors has announced a new expansion pack and a new name: Vampire Survivors - First Survivaton.

The surprising name change – dropped during Summer Game Fest week – comes as Poncle seeks to disaggregate its new lineup of "Survivors-like projects" separately from the studio's flagship title, hitherto known as Vampire Survivors.

"Survivaton is the name of Poncle's new lineup of Survivors-like projects," the team explained. "Short for 'survive a ton', the label encompasses internally developed games that build on the foundation of the studio's flagship title, Vampire Survivors, in collaboration with selected content partners. Each project will aim to introduce major gameplay changes, content expansions, or genre twists exploring ideas substantial enough to stand as their own games.

"The Survivaton initiative will serve as Poncle's umbrella for future survivors-like releases, and reflecting its place as the foundation of the series, Vampire Survivors will also be renamed to Vampire Survivors - First Survivaton."

To mark the change, Poncle has shadow-dropped its next patch, update 1.15, on Steam, introducing a raft of new content, with the patch coming to other platforms "a bit later, by the end of the month". The studio needs the additional time to manage "platform-specific optimisations and differences in save slots management".

"On the bright side, we will also be releasing a Nintendo Switch 2 version, with better performance and mouse support!"

While we don't yet have a firm release date for the DLC, Vampire Survivors: Legacy of the Bloodmoon Expansion is expected "this summer" and… Well. It's already June. You can expect 10 new characters, 16+ new weapons and evolutions, a new XL stage, eight new music tracks, and more. The studio is also expanding Legacy of the Moonspell with additional content and permanently reducing its price "ensuring both it and Legacy of the Bloodmoon deliver a similarly substantial experience".

"In ancient times, Saint Baal'Thasar had a vision of paradise, lit by a bright, red moon," Poncle explains. "And so he founded the Order of the Red Moon, to lead people to a land of eternal life. The myth says that Baal'Thasar found his paradise during a pilgrimage, and so never returned."

Vampire Survivors: Legacy of the Bloodmoon Expansion is coming this summer to PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and mobile later this year.

Poncle has also expanded in Italy and Japan, with Sawaki Takeyasu overseeing the latter's local development.