Midnight Horde Demo Preview | An Upwards Survivors-like
Since Vampire Survivors launched four years ago, in its wake we’ve seen hundreds of games take up the formula. At one point, I figured that we had maybe seen it all. But never doubt the creativity of indies. Midnight Horde proves the point. Featuring base-building and constant climbing, playing through the game made me realize just how impactful something like directional movement is.
Without any real introduction, you’ll start Midnight Horde on the rooftops of Gothic cathedrals, evading ever-increasing numbers of creatures clawing their way toward you. Featuring a grainy pixel art style reminiscent of 90s computer games, it’s you against a twenty-minute timer. You plan your route circling around enemies, collecting experience bits from those that you kill. This all sounds familiar. However, the first major change is vertical in the level design and gravity. If you aren’t climbing, you’re falling. Fortunately, there’s no fall damage. This means that you have an extra angle at your disposal when it comes to dodging enemies.
In the default configuration of the level, you can scale a tower and then make your way across a bridge. Halfway across, you can drop and free-fall to the lower rooftop. Enemies are much faster than you at the onset, so being able to maneuver like this will confuse enemies and re-route them in a way I haven’t seen before. In a twist, rather than the map being full of environmental hazards to avoid, you have environmental shortcuts to exploit. This makes corralling enemies much easier and strategic.
Upon completion of a run, either through failure or success, you’ll grab several metacurrencies. They’re best understood in two categories: stat upgrades and building expansions. The first you’re familiar with. The second, well, that’s where it gets interesting. Adding buildings to the level will net you some stat upgrades as well as more opportunities to circumvent enemies and plan out new routes for your next run. I adored this mechanic. I loved being able to see the same level in new ways, and that twenty-minute timer felt much less like a threat each time I would boot up a new attempt.
Midnight Horde didn’t just copy the homework. Instead, it looked at one of the most underutilized aspects of games like Vampire Survivors, the level design, and questioned how the player could more meaningfully interact with it as they queue up, run after run. Be on the lookout for it coming to Steam this year!
Big thank you to Jake for writing this preview for the Six One Indie Showcase on May 21st, 2026. Follow Jake on Bluesky and So Many Games.
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