I Love Being an Among Us in Vampire Survivors

Ah, Vampire Survivors. I spent so much of spring 2022 plugging away at the game. In fact, I distinctly remember bumbling around Inlaid Library while incredibly sick with COVID, trying my best to hit the 30-minute mark. My throat was so sore, drinking water felt like torture, but the coronavirus couldn’t keep me away from my precious Vampire Survivors. In retrospect, I probably should’ve been lying in bed and recovering. But this indie game had its fangs in me. Like Mina Harker at Dracula‘s command, I could not resist.

It’s funny, thinking back to when Poncle’s indie game dropped in 2021. Vampire Survivors practically took the gaming world by storm thanks to its simple yet incredibly addictive gameplay. Wander around a level, killing increasingly more powerful enemies by collecting and leveling up various weapons. Think of Vampire Survivors as a bullet hell game where the bullets are enemies. Instead of dodging hundreds of projectiles like a Touhou Project game, you’re weaving and bobbing around hostile monstrosities stalking you around the map. Oh, also, you can’t control when and how you attack. Good luck!

I put down Vampire Survivors sometime in 2022. I played a decent amount, had my fun, and wanted to move on. But after I got my Steam Deck in late 2024, my interest was piqued once more, as I’d heard through the grapevine that Vampire Survivors was perfect for the portable Linux PC. And so, as I was looking over the DLC for Vampire Survivors, I discovered an addition to the game that would quickly become my favorite part of the entire franchise: Among Us.

You heard me. Vampire Susvivors

I vaguely remember hearing about Vampire Survivors: Emergency Meeting. The DLC launched in December 2023, introducing over a half-dozen playable characters based on Among Us. From that classic memeable red crewmate, to a totally-not-sussy purple impostor who destroys their enemies with their sharp tongue, the Emergency Meeting DLC is a complete and utter love letter to everyone’s favorite quarantine-induced social deduction experience.

There’s so much to love about Emergency Meeting, I swear I don’t know where to start. Want a red trashcan shaped like a crewmate to attack you? You’ve got it. Want to play as an amogus that uses an ID card to kill baddies? Yep, Emergency Meeting has that too. And don’t get me started on some of the weapon additions in the DLC, like the “Report!” item. That’s literally a megaphone that you can use to push away baddies by, well, reporting them.

But no, this Among Us DLC isn’t just a light reskin with a few sussy additions. The addon includes a completely reimagined iteration of Polus, an enormous landscape to explore with all sorts of references and secrets. Among Us-based enemies appear throughout the stage, like ghost crewmates who swarm you. Periodically, you’ll even find sabotage-esque events to go take care of. Reach the indicated spot on the map as soon as possible, and you’ll be rewarded with a treasure chest with several items. This is easier said than done, however, as Polus’ layout means you can easily lose your way to fixing the timed event. Imagine tons of enemies following you as you desperately try to score your treasure chest in time, and yeah, Vampire Survivors: Emergency Meeting ends up feeling like an action-packed reimagining of playing Polus in Among Us. Sans ejecting impostors.

A strange but clever bit of ‘vampire survivors’ DLC

Does Emergency Meeting sound goofy? That’s because it is. And that’s what makes it so fun. It’s a complete and utter love letter to Among Us that transfers the entire game’s aesthetic right over to Vampire Survivors. As a VTuber, I like playing Vampire Survivors now and then while I yap. And every time I stream the Polus Replica map, it befuddles my Twitch chat. “This is real?!” they ask. “Why?” And their confusion and laughter are part of the fun. There’s no reason for Emergency Meeting to exist, and that’s the perfect reason for it to exist.

Oh, and for the record, it’s a blast lying in bed with a Steam Deck and piloting a little crewmate around as they use all sorts of crazy gothic weaponry against Among Us-themed snowmen. Like, seriously, who would have thought those science rocks from MIRA HQ could kill so many monsters? I didn’t.

Vampire Survivors: Emergency Meeting is available as an addon for Vampire Survivors for just $2.49. Even if you aren’t an Among Us fan, this addition is such a clever and unexpected twist on the game, you might as well pick up the DLC for the trip alone. You sussy baka.