Introduced in Patch 1.3.0, Bat Country is the latest Challenge Stage added to Vampire Survivors. It’s a unique Stage both visually and mechanically, packing in some unexpected retro gaming references alongside bespoke enemies, as well as a cruel twist that makes you play the Stage differently than usual. Today we’ll guide you through this bold new Vampire Survivors stage, showing you how to unlock Bat Country, and why the rewards waiting within are worth the woes you’ll endure while trying to clear it.
A field guide to Bat Country in Vampire Survivors
Unlocking Bat Country
Before you can start exploring Bat Country, you’ll first need to unlock it. The condition for doing so sounds simple on the surface: you just need to reach level 80 with any character in the Inverted version of Mad Forest, the game’s first stage. This is easier said than done, however, as Inverted Mode grants all enemies in a stage 200% extra health, making them much harder to take down, especially in large waves.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
Because of this you’ll want to leave unlocking Bat Country until you’ve unlocked the majority of the characters and Arcana cards in the game, to give yourself the best chance of survival. A range of strategies are viable here, but the key is to prioritize damage over everything else, since the key difference present in Inverted Mode is the massive enemy health increase. Once you’ve achieved this feat, end your run and Bat Country will become available on the Stage Select screen.
The mechanics of Bat Country
Bat Country is mechanically unique in a couple of ways. Firstly, and most obviously, due to its sole reliance on bat enemies. You’ll exclusively face Pipeestrello, Giant Bat, Glowing Bat, and Golden Bat enemies here, with the first of those being by far the most common. As you’ll know from other Stages, bat enemies have low health but attack in large waves, so your best bet for dealing with them is through the use of AOE weapons like the Garlic or King Bible.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
You’ll also encounter strangely colored blocks here, sometimes bouncing around, and sometimes in static grid formations. These work like a combination of enemies and light sources, dealing damage to you on contact, but yielding Gold and other items when destroyed. Said destruction takes a few hits, so make sure to factor that in when you encounter these blocks on your run.
Screenshot by PC Invasion
While a stage made up mostly of bats may sound like a walk in the park, Bat Country has a diabolical extra twist in addition to this. In this stage, your experience gain is reduced by 75%, meaning that your capacity for leveling up here is greatly reduced compared to regular stages. This means that your choices when leveling up, regarding weapons and passive items, carry more weight than they usually do, and that Skips, Rerolls, and Banishes are more important here than anywhere else.
That said, there is an odd self-regulating effect present in this Stage, wherein the huge volume of weak bat enemies balances out the low experience gain, allowing you to reach a respectable mid-70’s level by the end. While the blocks add an element of challenge on top of the bats, their relative scarcity makes this a fairly easy Stage to get through.
The Relics of Bat Country
This is important, as two key Relics are found in Bat Country: the Apoplexy and the Chaos Malachite. Unlike most Relics found in Vampire Survivors, these only appear after a certain amount of time has passed in the Stage: nine minutes for the Apoplexy, 18 for the Chaos Malachite. You can check out the guides linked below for full information on how to unlock these Relics, and what effects they have once you collect them:
Vampire Survivors: Apoplexy and Charm guide
Where to find Chaos Malachite to evolve Mortaccio in Vampire Survivors
And that’s that: a full guide to the rolling Green Hills of Vampire Survivors’ Bat Country. While it’s not a Stage that you’re likely to revisit much after grabbing both of its Relics, it’s an interesting experiment in unique restrictions and enemy setups, and one that gives us hope for more interesting Stages to come as Vampire Survivors evolves in the future.
