We've been expecting Vampire Survivors' online co-op update since it entered beta branch testing in August, but Poncle's weekly feature teases have been hinting at some extra surprises since the start of October. Today, update 1.14 has finally landed—and it brought a bonus Balatro-themed expansion with it.
Considering that Vampire Survivors was one of the first games featured in Balatro's first Friends of Jimbo update—a collaboration that both games have followed with more crossovers than I'm willing to count—it's only fitting that Jimbo would return the favor for the update that makes Vampire Survivors more of a communal experience than ever before.
Alongside the online co-op mode in which up to four players can roam freely around the map while leveling up together, the Ante Chamber expansion adds Balatro's Jimbo and a trio of rare jokers as playable characters, four similarly Balatro-themed weapons including a burning score counter and a banana barrage, and the titular Ante Chamber stage.
To start unlocking Ante Chamber content, you'll need to purchase the Joker Disk relic in the Moongolow stage for 50,000 gold. If you play a lot of Vampire Survivors, you might already have that much cash sitting around. Me, I've got some grinding to do. Unfortunate.
And that's only a piece of what's been added in the 1.14 update. It also brings two new stages for the base game—Westwoods and Mazerella—which themselves offer two new characters, two new weapons and evolutions, and a new power creep mechanic. And owners of the Ode to Castlevania expansion will also be getting even more secret characters, weapons, weapon unions, and more.
It's an embarrassment of Vampire Survivors riches that would put any Dracula to shame. That said, I still haven't actually seen a vampire in here. One of these days, surely.
