World of Warcraft is getting a ... Vampire Survivors mode?!

Promotional screenshot of World of Warcraft Shadowlands
(Image credit: Activision Blizzard)

What you need to know

  • Dataminers at wowhead.com have recently uncovered data scripts in World of Warcraft: Dragonflight's upcoming 10.2.5 patch that hint at a new upcoming game mode or mini-game related to Vampire Survivors.
  • Vampire Survivors is a "reserve bullet-hell" roguelike action game where you fight hordes of horror-themed monsters while dodging millions of projectiles.
  • World of Warcraft: Dragonflight is the latest expansion in the long-running MMORPG, World of Warcraft that has players explore a new continent and aid the Dragonflight Aspects reclaim their lost power.

World of Warcraft's upcoming 10.2.5 Dragonflight patch has recently entered the public test realm server (a private server where players can test upcoming patches before they officially go live). This patch promises to bring with it a slew of new content updates including being able to recruit NPC party members to dungeons, implementing Dragonriding outside of the Dragon Isles, class balance changes, and more.

However, the crafty data miners over at the World of Warcraft news and database site, WoWhead have recently discovered a rather surprising secret hidden with the patch's codes — a potential new game inspired by the hit indie game, Vampire Survivors.

According to Wowhead's post on the subject, they went through the patch's data and found the following data entries in the game's Scenescript.db section.

  • 10.2.5 - Vampire Survivors Mode - Game Mode - Client Scene (OJF)
  • 10.2.5 - Vampire Survivor Mode - Data - Creatures

Scenescript.db is the data section where World of Warcraft's minigames and cutscenes are stored. Aside from the data entries, information on the potential new game mode is rather scarce so we don't know where, when, or how it will be implemented into the game.

How will this Vampire Survivors game mode come to be?

At this point, we can only speculate on what this game mode will look like. So let's examine what we know about Vampire Survivors and how it could be implemented into World of Warcraft as a game mode. 

Vampire Survivors is an indie roguelike action game that can best described as a "reverse bullet hell". The goal is to hunt down hordes of monsters like vampires, zombies, werewolves, and much more. You do this by acquiring weapons and power-ups that automatically attack enemies for you, so all the player has to do is avoid getting hit by enemies.

However, this is not as easy as it sounds. With every wave of monsters you defeat, the number of enemies you will face will increase. On top of that, enemies will start throwing projectiles and traps at you to make evasion more difficult. In between each wave, you can acquire a random power-up or weapon that will help you survive the incoming onslaught.

From a gameplay perspective, I can imagine World of Warcraft incorporating a game mode inspired by Vampire Survivor. There are plenty of bosses in the game that feature attacks and mechanics that players must run away from, and some gear and abilities have passive perks that can damage enemies without the player's input.

In addition, World of Warcraft has dabbled in roguelike content before such as the Torghast dungeon from World of Warcraft: Shadowlands, so perhaps this could be Blizzard's second attempt at it.

Speaking of Shadowlands, the story of this game mode could be related to the Venthyr of Revendreth. This is a faction of vampire-like beings that oversaw the rehabilitation of souls that committed atrocious sins in life. They were created by Sire Denathrius, a manipulative godlike being who ruled the realm of the Death and was responsible for the creation of one of Warcraft's most manipulative villains, the Dreadlords. However, Vampire Survivors' auto-battler gameplay could lend itself well to any theme, beyond vampirism. 

At the end of Shadowlands, Sire Denathrius and his Dreadlords escaped our heroes' wrath and haven't been seen since. This Vampire Survivors-style game mode could potentially be themed around Sire Denathrius' Venthyr and Dreadlord minions. What makes this prediction more likely is that WoWhead has also discovered Dreadlord-themed armor sets in its datamining of 10.2.5.

Could these armor sets be the rewards for completing the Vampire Survivors-style game mode? Or perhaps this event isn't related to Sire Denathrius and his Dreadlords at all, and is instead centered around a different Venthyr character? We will have to wait and see if our predictions come true in the coming months.

Whether it eventually ships or not, a Vampire Survivors-style game mode has the possibility of being a really fun mini-game to play with your friends in World of Warcraft. It would certainly be a good way to pass the time as we wait for World of Warcraft's next expansion and one of the most anticipated upcoming PC titles of 2024 — World of Warcraft: The War Within.

World of Warcraft: The War Within

World of Warcraft: The War Within

Travel deep into the heart of Azeroth to follow a foreboding vision in World of Warcraft's next major expansion — World of Warcraft: The War Within. 

Pre-order at: Battle.net

CATEGORIES
Alexander Cope
Contributor — Gaming

Alexander Cope is a gaming veteran of 30-plus years, primarily covering PC and Xbox games here on Windows Central. Gaming since the 8-bit era, Alexander's expertise revolves around gaming guides and news, with a particular focus on Japanese titles from the likes of Elden Ring to Final Fantasy. Alexander is always on deck to help our readers conquer the industry's most difficult games — when he can pry himself away from Monster Hunter that is! 

Read more
Key art for World of Warcraft: The War Within's Undermine(d) update, highlighting goblin cartels.
World of Warcraft: The War Within's next big season, "Undermine(d)," gets a February 25 release date
Vampire Survivors Roadmap
Vampire Survivors will be rolling out cross-save across all platforms, and tease ambitious plans for 2025
Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2 teases "groundbreaking PvP gameplay changes" as Marvel Rivals dominates charts — here's when they're coming
Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2 devs say Stadium is "the biggest game mode we've ever made," and it looks wild enough to make my head spin
Overwatch 2
Overwatch 2 is fighting back against Marvel Rivals with a crazy third-person mode, ability perks, loot boxes, and more
Helldivers 2
Helldivers 2's new Spacetime Fluctuation Indicator is freaking everyone out about the Illuminate — and we know a "larger scheme" looms
Latest in PC Gaming
Alienware Area-51 laptops (2025)
Dell revives Alienware Area-51 with powerful new gaming PCs
Photograph of the Razer DeathAdder V3 Pro Fortnite Edition gaming mouse
The Razer Fortnite gaming mouse (a.k.a. the DeathAdder V3 Pro) is down to its lowest ever price
MSI Claw 8 AI+ on a stand and running a Sonic game.
Where to buy MSI Claw 8 AI+ gaming handheld: Launch date and restock alerts
Installing Minecraft on Steam Deck
SteamOS
Joel aiming a shotgun in The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered
The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered PC requirements and specs — Can your computer run this dark story?
Gameplay screenshot of F.E.A.R. showing a gunfight
GOG adds my beloved shooter F.E.A.R. to its Preservation Program "in honor of Monolith Productions" — Including an 80% discount
Latest in News
Cloud servers
Microsoft has killed "several" data center projects in the U.S. and Europe, according to reports — Microsoft responds (Updated)
Photo of Microsoft's new sign-in page for Xbox.com using the Microsoft Edge browser.
Over one billion users will get a new Microsoft user experience, and it has a dark mode
The Thing: Remastered key art
The Thing comes to Xbox Cloud Gaming's "Stream Your Own Game" library alongside other new arrivals
Promotional screenshot of heroes fighting a giant in Pillars of Eternity
Obsidian's classic Baldur's Gate successor 'Pillars of Eternity' is getting a surprise turn-based mode later this year, alongside other updates
Atomfall
Atomfall reviews and Metacritic scores are in: Here's a roundup of what everyone's saying about this new Game Pass survival game
Screenshot of one of the new flat world presets in Minecraft.
Minecraft testing new flat world presets and a better way to locate your friends in-game