Game Groups > Genre: Horde Survival

Action games where the main goal is to survive as long as possible against all odds. Many games have survival modes, but titles that belong in this group generally need to have several of the elements listed below:

• It has run-based gameplay where you survive as a single character against hordes of enemies. Movement is important to avoid enemies and survive.

• There is a dramatic increase in player power and/or enemy numbers/difficulty during the run.

• Often builds can be created during a run by choosing from randomized abilities and power-ups.

• Many games have roguelike elements with permanent meta-progression through unlockable characters, stages, and power-ups in exchange for a currency earned during runs.

• Runs usually play out on a single, large map, with permadeath and no checkpoints or save/load abilities.

• The genre is not restricted to a specific perspective, but most titles are 2D-scrolling and played from a diagonal-down view.

Not all characteristics need to be met to apply. Some variation is allowed. Some titles include shooting or attacking as an active game element while others have auto-attacking with a focus on movement / avoiding, where it shares some DNA with the Bullet hell / Danmaku genre.

Important foundations for the genre were provided by Crimsonland (2003) and Magic Survival (2019), but it was Vampire Survivors (2021) that became the breakout hit and put the genre in the spotlight..

Genre definition inspired by anewson's post A genre is born: Horde games on GamingOnLinux.