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Core Devourer is a more visually polished sci-fi take on Vampire Survivors, and it rules

3K View2023-12-16

Core Devourer

8.2

Sci-fiAction RoguelikeActionBullet HellProcedural GenerationRoguelikeRPGTop-Down

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SHOULD I PLAY CORE DEVOURER?

You need to play this. Core Devourer offers all the chaotic fun and action of Vampire Survivors but with a modern sci-fi touch. Despite still being in development, the demo version looks extremely well-made and crisp. While a few small balance issues might be a nuisance, everything else in Core Devourer feels incredible. If you’ve played and enjoyed Vampire Survivors or any of its many clones, you seriously don’t want to miss trying this one out.

PLAY IT FOR YOURSELF

From December 23, 2023, through January 7, 2024, TapTap is running our Pocket Playfest Winter Edition. That means you don't need to take our review as the final word; you can try playing this game yourself! If you live in the United States or Canada, you can test out any of the ten games featured in the Pocket Playfest using our cloud gaming technology. And even if you're not in the US or Canada, you can still vote on your favorite games and get entered in a giveaway for some incredible prizes. Get all the details here.

TIME PLAYED

I played Core Devourer for two hours. I’ve completed the demo and slayed over five thousand robots. It took me around eleven tries to finally beat the third boss in the game, after experimenting with roughly seventy percent of the talent upgrades. I’ve acquired four of the six weapons and obtained fifteen augments with farmed resources.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT CORE DEVOURER?

• It’s Vampire Survivors, but sci-fi. Core Devourer is a Vampire Survivors clone, but it’s a lot more polished than most games inspired by that hit. Core Devourer may not feel fully its own thing, but it executes its various components perfectly to create a thrilling sci-fi shoot ’em up.

• Powering up. I could choose different power-ups across every run to help me scale my damage, movement, or defense. I enjoyed experimenting with all the different combinations and I particularly loved using the Plasma Shotgun with the turret and falling debris upgrades.

• Destroying robots. There’s really nothing like the exhilaration that comes from shooting a gazillion bullets at enemies and watching them explode right before me. The chaos felt especially incredible later in runs as my character became increasingly overpowered.

• Upgrading augments. After each run, I could upgrade permanent augments that helped me amplify my damage, fire rate, and other cool stuff to make progressing easier. I appreciated having these augments, as they gave me a better chance at defeating all three bosses.

• Futuristic look. Core Devourer’s sci-fi world looks absolutely stunning even though it’s still in development. The game uses a mix of vibrant colors and highlights for its characters and attack effects to help contrast against the dark, futuristic structures placed across the battlefield. The buttons and interface make traversing this battlefield and fighting robots all the more easier because of their visual polish too. It’s all very well put-together.

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT IN CORE DEVOURER?

• Unbalanced weapons. It’s pretty hard to balance everything in a roguelite shoot ’em up, so I don’t blame this demo for being imperfect. But it was a little annoying sometimes when I’d die because I used a weaker weapon like the Thunderchain or Seeker Launcher. I’d love for every weapon to feel as good as the Plasma Shotgun and Energy Rifle.

PLATFORM TESTED

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO PLAY ON THE CLOUD?

Compared to the PC version, playing Core Devourer on the cloud offers a less intense experience because of a few technical issues. Lag and rubber-banding were present throughout most of my testing. Of course, that may be less of an issue for players more centrally located to the cloud servers. I was testing from Australia, which definitely put me at a disadvantage. Even with those issues, though, I still had fun playing the cloud version of Core Devourer and felt that it provided the core experience that I loved so much from the PC version.