Just One More Go Before Bed

When I close my eyes I see gems.

Blue, green and red, burnt into my retinas like a Pac-Man maze on an old CRT.

I played far too much Vampire Survivors over the last few weeks. As have you, most likely.

From my very first session, underpowered and overwhelmed, I understood the concept of Vampire Survivors. I immediately got how it would develop; what would be expected of me was made abundantly clear from how that first run unfolded, without the need for tutorials. It teased the potential of boosts and bonuses, and threw waves of enemies at me that I couldn't yet endure. Over time, and dozens of runs, the struggle for pure survival would be replaced by more nuanced concerns like builds, and how quickly I can stack bibles, garlic, and wonderfully destructive doves. It transforms from a desperate, often doomed attempt to last the full thirty minutes, to an exercise in how you choose to outlast it. Struggle gives way to style, and VS evolves into a different type of game.

I never tired of treasure-chest boosts, of the satisfaction of hoovering up hundreds of gems in one gulp, nor seeing my enemy kill-count ticking into the tens of thousands. Having dozens and dozens of 5-score Achievements ensures that you always feel like you're accomplishing something, even on your umpteenth session. I'm past caring about trophies and gamer scores, but there's something undeniably satisfying about being hit by a wave of achievement pops at the end of a round, a chorus of chimes that might continue long after you've left the wrap-up screen.

At its core, VS is surprisingly simple, something which may suprise anyone who has only experienced it through screenshots overflowing with enemies and bullet-hell nonsense. The truth is that it's rather hands-off - when you get it just right, you can literally put your controller down and watch the mayhem unfold. The surest measure of how well I've built my slayer is whether they can survive my inevitable nodding off around the 20-minute mark of my fourth run of an evening, an hour after I was supposed to go to bed. If I'm still alive and kicking 3 minutes later, when I'm jolted awake by a controller vibration, I've done well. 

Much like Vampire Survivors, Shatter Remastered has been cheating me out of shut-eye the last few weeks.

I'd all but given up on the remaster of my fifth favourite game of the seventh gen making its way to consoles. I'd been beyond disappointed earlier this year when the rumoured remaster had indeed been released, but exclusively to Netflix. Since when did games come to Netflix? I'm so out of the loop! Its sudden release on console was a much needed highlight in a miserable week when I finally caught the dreaded 'rona. It inspired me to to pick a controller up after several days of feeling far too rough to do so.

I've gushed about Shatter countless times over the years, so I'll keep this brief: Shatter is fucking excellent and features one of my all-time favourite soundtracks. I left my mark across most of the high-score rankings on almost every mode, including having a top-3 overall score, and a no. 1 worldwide ranking on a couple of the single stages. The result of a small-ish player base or a true reflection of my savant-like abilities? Yes.

I can't play just one session of Vampire Survivors, nor can I limit myself to just a single run of Shatter. They both beg for one more go, and boast qualities that I find irresistible. With Shatter, it's the draw of besting my score, whereas VS is about the satisfaction of progressing from underpowered to near-invincible within a single sitting. That and hoovering up loadsa gems.

Much like Pac-Man Championship DX and Resogun before them, Shatter Remastered and Vampire Survivors are all-timers in the just-one-more-go category. One run is never ever enough, regardless of how knackered I am.