A YouTube comment on the Night Swarm official announcement trailer summed things up concisely: “It’s an indie game in 2025, check inside, it’s a roguelite with survivor elements.” Be that as it may, I still find myself addicted and wanting to review the majority that I find on Steam, chiefly if they have something new to add to the mix. In Night Swarm‘s case, that unique element might be that it actually hearkens back to Vampire Survivors with its involvement of vampires, amongst a tinge of a Hades feel in the mix. Is this one worth checking out amongst the crop?

You start Night Swarm with some exposition, but it’s immediately apparent that the voices you’re hearing are AI. According to the AI disclaimer on the Steam page, “We used AI-generated voiceovers in parts of the game to help bring more life to characters.” As if AI isn’t a mimicry of life itself, it’s egregiously rough, ruins the immersion, and taints the game within the first few moments. Whether you care about games using AI or not, if the end result is lackluster, it’s a bad choice across the board, and even amateur voice actors could have done a better job.

Getting that issue out of the way, the gameplay in Night Swarm is actually quite sound. Your standard fare of constant upgrades, tons of equipment, and modifiers all translate to a steady challenge for even seasoned survivor-like players, making you rely on your dash and your builds to ensure your success. Each subsequent biome includes a stage modifier to keep you on your toes, as well. While the wooden figurine presentation takes some getting used to, the character designs are quite impressive and capture the eldritch/vampiric biology well.

The run structure of Night Swarm is similar to Rogue Genesia, where you’ll navigate brief encounters on your way to a boss, with branching paths on your way there. I’m a fan of this when it works, but it doesn’t here when each encounter feels the same as the last. This results in the later stages feeling like a chore, and since resource-collecting is emphasized, the game actually opts to extend stage timers as a supposed benefit, where, in reality, this elongates the experience. If the chaos were more collected, this would work in the game’s favor, but at present, it’s a slog, and each run ends up pushing an hour when a 30-minute timeframe would suffice.

With this being Fubu Games’ first attempt at a survivors-like game, it has room for improvement. Adding in real voiceovers, fine-tuning the level timers, and making some of the upgrades not rely on gambling your resources would all result in a higher score, but with 1.0, it’s hard to recommend Night Swarm. Here’s hoping Fubu can lick its wounds and make this into a better game, because the potential is there in the gameplay. For now, I’d hold off, but keep an eye on this title if it strikes your fancy.

A PC Review Copy of Night Swarm was provided by Fubu Games for this Review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Night Swarm

$9.99

5

Score

5.0/10

Pros

• Solid Gameplay
• Compelling Character Design

Cons

• Atrocious AI Voicework
• Poor Run Flow
• Too Many Resources