Vampire Survivors
The same game costs three different things depending on where you play it: €4.99 once on Steam, or free with adverts and in-app purchases on a phone. Nothing you buy makes you stronger than anyone else, because there is nobody else.
- Is Vampire Survivors pay to win?
- No, in the sense the term means: there is nobody to be stronger than. But money does buy things inside this game — extra quests, items and modes, sold through a store that opens from the game's own menu, with credits bought separately. It scores 10 out of 100 for pressure, which measures how often you are asked, not whether paying makes you win.
- How long to beat Vampire Survivors?
- About 15 hours to reach the ending, based on aggregated player-submitted completion times.
The cost, in short
Pressure
010
To ending
015hrs
Scripted ending exists
Hours, depending on what “finish” means
- Mandatory content only
- 15 h
- To the ending
- 15 h
- Everything, all achievements
- 54 h
How this rating was reached
Score of 10 rather than 0: money buys expansion content, and the mobile version carries advertising. Both are real asks, neither touches competitive power — there is no competition in the game to touch. The mobile monetization was verified directly on the Google Play listing on 29.08.2026, which displays the labels for adverts and in-app purchases. An earlier draft of this entry relied on a 2022 review stating the mobile version had no in-app purchases; that is contradicted by the listing and was not published. monetizationModel is recorded as premium because that is the canonical paid form of the game, and the field takes one value. The platform difference is not hidden by that choice: it is the first section of the page. Hours are medians from the HowLongToBeat polled table, taken 29.08.2026. hasEnding is true in the sense this site uses it — a run reaches a real conclusion — though as with any roguelike the content continues past it.
The platform decides what this game costs you
This is the clearest example on the site of why the question "how much does it cost" needs a second question attached to it.
| Where you play | What you pay | What else is going on |
|---|---|---|
| Steam | €4.99, once | Optional expansion packs sold separately |
| Phone (Android listing) | Nothing to install | The listing declares adverts and in-app purchases |
Both are the same game. The phone version is not a cut-down demo, and the Steam version is not missing anything. What differs is who pays and how: on desktop you pay five euros and are left alone; on a phone you pay with attention, or with purchases if you would rather not.
Neither model is dishonest here, and the point of putting them side by side is not to pick a winner. It is that a page telling you this game is "a cheap premium roguelike" and a page telling you it is "free with ads" are both right, and both incomplete.
Nothing for sale makes you stronger, and the reason is structural
There is no competitive mode. No leaderboard that money touches, no other players to be outpaced by. Whatever anyone spends, it cannot make your run harder or their run better relative to yours, because the two runs never meet.
That is why the score here is low but not zero. Money buys additional content — expansion packs with new characters and stages — which is real content behind a paywall, and pretending otherwise would be as wrong as calling it pay-to-win. The advertising on the mobile version is the other half of the score: it is a recurring ask for your attention, even though it never asks for power.
How long it actually is
Player-submitted medians, taken on 29 August 2026:
- Main story: 15 hours across 400 reported playthroughs.
- Everything: 54 hours 56 minutes across 737.
- On phones specifically, the reported main-story median is 15 hours 46 minutes across 78 playthroughs — near enough identical to the desktop figure, which is worth knowing if you were expecting a trimmed mobile version.
Who this is genuinely for
Someone who wants a complete game for the price of a coffee, or nothing at all, and who does not want to be asked for money again afterwards. On desktop that promise holds absolutely. On a phone it holds for power and not for attention, which is the honest version of the same sentence.
Related games
- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Sells extra content, not power · pressure 20
- Balatro
Nothing sold inside · pressure 0
- Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Nothing sold inside · pressure 0
Sources
- 01How long is Vampire Survivors? — polled completion timesHowLongToBeat ·
Full method behind these ratings: see our methodology.
Ratings are editorial judgments based on the sources cited above. They are not a guarantee of current pricing or mechanics, which can change after publication — check the source directly before making a purchase decision.