"Surprise" Vampire Survivors update adds new quick start mode and playable question mark

Vampire Survivors has a "surprise" new patch that adds a new game mode, a playable question mark (yes, really), and some new spells.

The most recent "all-in-one" Vampire Survivors patch from a couple weeks back was supposed to be the final one before the game's 1.0 launch, but the developer says "the vampires aren't going to survive themselves." 

Today's update is surprisingly meaty for something that wasn't even expected in the first place. Included in the patch is a whole new "quick start" game mode that adds some challenge by randomly choosing your character and stage and setting you off to survive. There's also a new character that looks like a question mark on the character select screen and, surprise, is a literal punctuation mark on the field as well. It's unclear how you unlock the question mark, but it's possible it's tied to the new game mode.

Finally, there are a few new Vampire Survivors cheats that let you unlock secret characters. Here are the new spells:

• maybeiamastallion: Unlocks Smith (only works if Toastie is unlocked)
• igottagettotheedgeofsoul: Unlocks Aren Gijus
• allatonce: Unlocks Queen Sigma

There still isn't a concrete release date for Vampire Survivors 1.0, but just two weeks ago the developers said in a press release that it was coming "very soon™." The most recent update added a new playable character, Queen Sigma, two new weapons: Victory Sword and its evolution Sole Solution, a new Arcana, and a bunch of new cheats.

For everything coming to PC and consoles this year, check out our extensive guide to new games of 2022.