Karate Survivor is Vampire Survivors with karate, obviously—and you can try it for free now

I’ve been keeping a close eye on the growing genre of Vampire Survivors-alikes. (Auto shooters? Bullet heavens? Let me know when we settle on a name for these.) Games like Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, Death Must Die, Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, and many more have stretched the core formula in all sorts of interesting and strange directions, and it’s been fascinating to see. But I think I may have found the weirdest take yet.

Karate Survivor combines the Vampire Survivors format with the feel of an ’80s martial arts B movie. Instead of weapons or spells, you unlock new martial arts moves during the run, slotting them into your queue at the bottom of the screen—every few seconds your character unleashes them all in sequence, perhaps throwing out a gut punch into a crescent kick into a low trip into an uppercut. With an endless horde of punks and street toughs descending on you, the trick is to find the most effective string you can, and make the most out of every strike.