Vampire Survivors vs RetroArch
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Vampire Survivors
Survive endless waves of monsters in this roguelike survival RPG. Mow down thousands of enemies, gather gold for upgrades, and become a powerful warrior. Explore diverse stages and choose your weapons to become the last survivor.
- Minimalistic gameplay
- Bullet hell survival
- Gold collection for upgrades
- Hundreds of monsters
- Weapon and skill upgrades
- Couch co-op mode
Read full descriptionHide full description
Vampire Survivors is a roguelite time survival RPG game with minimalistic gameplay. The supernatural indie phenomenon that lets you be the bullet hell has arrived on mobile! The whole game is also playable in 1-4 player couch co-op in landscape. Hell is empty, the devils are here, and there's no place to run or hide. Survive as long as you can until death inevitably puts an end to your struggles. Gather gold in each run to buy upgrades and help the next survivor. Mow down thousands of night creatures and survive until dawn! Vampire Survivors is a gothic horror casual game with roguelite and roguelike elements. Your choices can allow you to quickly snowball against the hundreds of monsters that get thrown at you. Test your mettle against the legions of hell using your touchscreen. This wave survival will bring you the edge! Stand against hordes of enemies, exterminate monsters and finish the game as a lone survivor! There is no way to defeat an enemy army without a collection of great weapons. This roguelike game has it all. Cross, garlic, king bible or magic wand? The choice is yours. Upgrade your skills and become a warrior with unlimited potential. Take the most out of this hero survival - battle evil and dangerous hell creatures without mercy! Starting Tips for the best attack survival: - Take your time to grab gems and items, they won't disappear. - Get two or three offensive weapons at first, but focus on leveling them up one at a time. - Armour and Luck are good starting power-ups to spend money on. - Refund power-ups often, it's free, and try new upgrade paths. Waves of undead legions are all around, have you thought it’s going to be easy? The challenge is what makes this one of the best horde survival games. It’s time to enjoy an exciting rouge survival adventure. Explore different stages and learn how to slay enemies anywhere, whether that is library, dairy plant, or old capella. Roguelite skill experience will help you collect bonuses and find treasure. You don’t want to be the last survivor with an empty pocket, do you? Select your favorite character and begin the best adventure roguelike game of your life. Join the fans of this roguelike RPG game on Twitter and TikTok: https://twitter.com/poncle_vampire https://www.tiktok.com/@poncle_games We’re only just getting started. Expect improvements and enhancements as we continue to refine the mobile experience in Vampire Survivors roguelite role playing game.
RetroArch
This application serves as a versatile frontend for emulators and game engines, supporting a vast array of systems through downloadable cores. It offers advanced features like netplay, save states, and customizable controls for an enhanced gaming experience.
- Supports numerous gaming systems via libretro cores
- Netplay for multiplayer gaming
- Save states and fast forward/rewind
- Controller support and key remapping
- Customizable shaders and overlays
- RetroAchievements integration
- AI translations for games
Read full descriptionHide full description
RetroArch is a free, ad-free, open source, and cross platform frontend/framework for emulators, game engines, video games, media players, and other applications. Supported systems come in the form of libretro cores. The following systems are supported through various cores: * 2048 * Acorn - BBC Micro * Amstrad - CPC/GX4000 * Anarch * Arcade * Arduboy * Atari - 2600 * Atari - 5200 * Atari - 7800 * Atari - Jaguar * Atari - Lynx * Bandai - WonderSwan/Color * Cave Story * Coleco - ColecoVision * Commodore - Amiga * Commodore - C128 * Commodore - C64 * Commodore - C64 SuperCPU * Commodore - CBM-II 5x0 * Commodore - CBM-II 6x0/7x0 * Commodore - PET * Commodore - PLUS/4 * Commodore - VIC-20 * Dinothawr * Doom * DOS * Fairchild ChannelF * Flashback * GCE - Vectrex * Game Music Emu * Handheld Electronic * MSX/SVI/ColecoVision/SG-1000 * Mattel - Intellivision * Mega Duck / Cougar Boy * Mr.Boom * NEC - PC Engine / SuperGrafx / CD * NEC - PC-FX * NEC - PC-98 * Nintendo - DS * Nintendo - Game Boy / Color * Nintendo - Game Boy Advance * Nintendo - NES / Famicom * Nintendo - Nintendo 64 * Nintendo - Pokemon Mini * Nintendo - SNES / SFC * Nintendo - Virtual Boy * Palm OS * PocketCDG * Quake * Quake II * Rick Dangerous * SNK - Neo Geo AES/MVS * SNK - Neo Geo CD * SNK - Neo Geo Pocket / Color * ScummVM * Sega - MS/GG/MD/CD/32X * Sega - MS/GG/SG-1000 * Sega - Saturn * Sharp - X68000 * Sinclair - ZX Spectrum * Sony - PlayStation * Sony - PlayStation Portable * Texas Instruments TI-83 * The 3DO Company - 3DO * Thomson - MO/TO * Vircon32 * VirtualXT * WASM-4 * Watara - Supervision RetroArch supports a broad range of features, including: * Netplay * Soft patching * RetroAchievements * Save states * MFi controller support * Key remapping per core or per game * Gyro * Cheats * Custom overlays * Shaders * Fast forward and rewind * Game artwork * AI translations * Advanced latency management **RetroArch and Libretro are in no way affiliated with Nintendo. The name "Nintendo" and all associated game console names are registered trademarks of Nintendo Co., Ltd.**
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: RetroArch at none against Vampire Survivors's 7. RetroArch also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 3 weeks) and device support (5 vs 3). Vampire Survivors's advantage is rating (4.6 vs 4.3). On price, review sentiment, ratings volume and ads there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Vampire Survivors sells 7 one-off in-app purchases. RetroArch asks for nothing beyond the download.
Vampire Survivors holds the better App Store score, 4.6 against 4.3. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5.2K and 1.9K respectively. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 70% and 69% positive.
Vampire Survivors ships an update every 3 weeks, RetroArch weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 9, 2026 and November 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Vampire Survivors | RetroArch |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (5.2K ratings) — better | 4.3 (1.9K ratings) |
| Positive reviews | 69.7% of reviews — better | 69.1% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 5.2K — better | 1.9K |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Weekly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac, Apple TV — better |
| Requires iOS | 13.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 961 MB | 652 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Poncle | Libretro |
Customer experience
Vampire Survivors
RetroArch
User reviews
Vampire Survivors
From 5.2K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Faithful port of PC version
- 👍 No intrusive ads, only optional ones
- 👍 Great value, tons of content for free
- 🚀 Smooth performance, handles late-game well
- 👍 Retro pixel art style with charm
Room to improve
- 🐛 Crashes and progress loss when switching apps
- 🐛 Occasional freezing and performance issues
- 🔋 No suspend/resume feature, runs reset when app is closed
RetroArch
From 1.9K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🚀 Smooth emulation performance
- 🎮 Wide range of supported systems
- 🕹️ Controller support
- 💯 Comprehensive emulation features
- 🔓 No ads or tracking
Room to improve
- 🤯 Steep learning curve
- 🤖 Unintuitive user interface
- 🐛 Stability issues and crashes
- 🔌 Slow loading times
- 🤷♂️ Inconsistent core support
Bugs and requests
Vampire Survivors
Reported bugs
3 issues- Merchant UI not working properly
- Certain level mechanics (Infernas) causing soft-locks
- Movement and controls sometimes unresponsive
Requested features
3 requests- Add suspend/resume functionality to save progress
- Implement cross-save between devices
- Add controller support for better controls
RetroArch
Reported bugs
5 issues- N64 games not loading textures properly
- Crashes when changing settings or cores
- Bios files not being recognized
- Inconsistent performance across devices
- Saved settings not persisting
Requested features
5 requests- Add support for PS2, GameCube, and 3DS emulation
- Improve iCloud/cloud storage integration
- Implement customizable button layouts
- Add a more user-friendly setup wizard
- Provide better documentation and tutorials
In-app purchases
Vampire Survivors
- Emerald DioramaFree
- Legacy of the Bloodmoon$0.99
- Legacy of the Moonspell$0.99
Show 4 moreShow fewer
- Tides of the Foscari$1.79
- Emergency Meeting$2.49
- Operation Guns$2.49
- Ode to Castlevania$3.99
RetroArch
No in-app purchases









