Sweet Survivors

Genre: Arcade / Roguelike

Players: 1

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Review:

Sweet Survivors, released on Nintendo Switch in 2024, is a mix of Arcade-style gameplay with Roguelike mechanics where players control movement and select upgrades, but don’t manually control their weaponry, a style of gameplay popularized by Vampire Survivors and often dubbed “Bullet Heaven”. Numerous games like this have cropped up in the wake of Vampire Survivors’ success, and most of them have been a pale shadow of the game they’re copying. However, every now and then someone pops up with a unique and interesting take on it. Could this be one of those times? Let’s have a look…

Sweet Survivors manages to avoid the first mistake of many Vampire Survivors clones – it is priced well under $5, priced at $3 instead. This means that even if it accomplishes nothing else, I can’t quite claim “for the same price, you can get a much better game”. Sweet Survivors also goes a completely different direction with its theming – you aren’t a hero fighting off monsters with an arsenal of weaponry gradually increasing in power, you are a coffee barista trying to serve customers while a horde of cats are attempting to dogpile on them, and you are placating said cats with toys empowered by “love”. Extremely saccharine, to be sure, but this game isn’t called “Sweet Survivors” for nothing (though I do note a lack of sugary treats one would expect with such a title).

Because of this theme, there is one mechanic that sets Sweet Survivors apart from other entries in the genre – your primary method of earning the currency needed for permanent progression is through completing orders, meaning that the game encourages you to bounce back and forth between the central coffee station and whichever table currently has an order up. This is a clever mechanic that comes with a built-in risk/reward mechanic, as collecting this currency doesn’t help you in the current run, even if it is your primary way to progress through the overall game.

Having said that, I can’t not compare this game to Vampire Survivors and, yeah, it comes up short. Prior to earning a few permanent upgrades your character is pretty pathetic and easily killed early. The default walking speed is too slow. The weapons generally aren’t as satisfying to use and there is neither a good enough variety of them nor is there enough variety in ways to improve them and your character throughout a run.

In terms of presentation, what’s here is naturally pretty cutesy, with bright, colorful cartoony 2D visuals that are unfortunately not very well animated. This is backed by cheerful but repetitive music.

Overall, I can see some reason for people to get Sweet Survivors in a world where Vampire Survivors also exists, but not much reason. This game does do a few unique things that set it apart, and the core gameplay is good in the same was as Vampire Survivors, but the quantity and quality of content just does not compare. This is an enjoyable game, but for most players I suggest sticking with Vampire Survivors.

tl;dr – Sweet Survivors is a mix of Arcade-style gameplay with Roguelike mechanics in the “Bullet Heaven” style popularized by Vampire Survivors, with the theme this time being baristas delivering coffee while being mobbed by cats. The core gameplay is good, and there are a few interesting ideas here, but overall this still doesn’t measure up to Vampire Survivors.

Grade: C+

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