Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns DLC review

DLC for video games comes in all shapes and sizes, but compared to that first wave of DLC we got back in the noughties it feels like we don’t get a whole lot of must play additional content any more. There are exceptions to this of course, like the massive amount of tracks that Mario Kart 8 added or the additional district and dose of Idris Elba that was Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty. Above all the others though it’s probably Vampire Survivors that has added the most consistently great (and incredibly cheap) content to its already sensational game, and Operation Guns is no exception.

After the awesome Among Us crossover content we recently got for the game, I wasn’t really sure what poncle could do next to excite survivor fans. It turns out the answer was another crossover in the form of Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns, this time with the Konami classic Contra. As an aging gamer who loves those tough old school titles this was much more appealing to me, and honestly feels like a much more natural addition to the game.

Much like in Emergency Meeting, Operation Guns adds a standalone adventure to the game, where you’ll play as all your muscular faves from Contra in stages inspired by those run and gun levels of old. There are seven of these stages to survive in and a whole load of new characters to experiment with while you do so. The gameplay loop of gathering gems and making your weapons stronger is as wonderful as ever, and with plenty of new weapons to experiment with you’re sure to find a few new favourites.

As you might have gathered from the title, most of the weapons you’ll have access to in Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns are, well, guns. Some of the most iconic weapons of all time are included in this new content, like the blue piercing laser and the gloriously powerful spread shot. All of these can be evolved to create some truly devastating weapons, with some even adding an extra layer of strategy to your surviving like a gun that only charges and fires when you’re completely stationary.

The way each of the new weapons in Operation Guns evolve is similar to how all Vampire Survivors weapons do, but with one key difference. To evolve a new weapon you need to have a specific item as well as a briefcase, which is consumed when the upgrade happens. This obviously makes evolving them a little harder, and especially when playing the adventure where the majority of weapons are new it can be tough to find enough briefcases to evolve them all in a single run. It’s maybe my one frustration with the DLC, but especially when you’re playing outside of the adventure it’s not a huge issue.

Once you’ve unlocked everything in the adventure (which will probably take you around 4-5 hours) you’ll have loads of new things to do in the main game. All the characters and weapons can be unlocked for your selection, and there are two new stages to play too. With extra achievements and all the ridiculous variety you’d expect from the series, it’s another reason I’ll never put Vampire Survivors down.

Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns is another fantastic addition to a sensational game, that costs such a tiny amount of money that you’d be daft to skip it. The new guns are great fun, and especially if you’re a Contra fan you’ll get a real kick out of them. It may be slightly less wacky and creative than Emergency Meeting, but Operation Guns is still a no brainer for those who want even more Vampire Survivors.