Vampire Survivors developer Poncle has revealed its "biggest DLC to date", and it's extraordinarily fitting that it's a Castlevania expansion. The DLC launches, again, very aptly, on Halloween and costs $3.99 / €3.99 / £2.99.

It's hard not to feel happy for Poncle reading the announcement of Vampire Survivors' Castlevania crossover on Steam - the solo developer's passion for Konami's legendary IP is tangible.

"Vampire Survivors would have been a very different game hadn't it been influenced by Castlevania in the first place, so this is straight up the definition of a dream coming true," Poncle says. "This is not a standard DLC pack. This is a celebration of this historical game series, an incredible, full-circle moment in which we have invested all the energy we could muster, and then some!"

Poncle adds that the expansion is so expansive that you'll need to take care not to fall into binge sessions. "As usual a huge thanks to all the fans for making this possible, and please try not to binge it when it releases: it's big. IT'S BIG."

The Vampire Survivors Castlevania crossover DLC includes more than 20 new characters, over 40 new weapons, the game's "biggest" stage yet, and 30-plus new music covers. "We could tell you the exact numbers, but we don't want to scare you," Poncle teases.

The new stage is obviously one of the big highlights of the expansion, and Poncle says it has "a lot of different biomes." Apparently, the stage is so big Poncle felt it necessary to add "new special icons on the map that will help you in navigating the stage."

Weapons-wise, Poncle says the goal was to "reach a balance between referencing, reinterpreting, remixing, and straight up converting weapons of the Castlevania series. The expansion also comes with themed weapon selectors that'll make all available characters "very flexible, so that they won't get stuck using their default weapon if you prefer to use something different."

The Castlevania DLC is a little more expensive than Vampire Survivors' past expansions, and Poncle says that's simple due to the sheer size and scope of content it adds. "This DLC is absolutely massive; I know this might sound as an hyperbole, but I'm sure at some point you'll see why it's not," reads a response from an FAQ in the announcement. "The idea was that for the amount of content and production costs, it feels fair to price it about 1 less money than VS."