[I wasn't expecting much from Megacat Studios' "Renfield" (opens in new tab) tie-in game. I've been inundated with Instagram ads for a while now, and my mind is craving to see something else - a Trager Grill, meal prep service, CBD topical ointment, please God, whatever.

But you know what, Renfield: renfield: bring your own blood" is a bit whippy. This game passed perhaps the most important test of all for me. I sat down to play it for a quick "yes or no," but kept playing it much longer than I had planned, promising myself no less than four times, "Okay, this is my last run."

Renfield has swarming hordes and auto-attacks like Vampire Survivors, but instead of surviving for a certain amount of time on one playfield, Renfield is set up room by room like a traditional roguelike. You wipe out the bad guys while picking up new attacks and leveling up, then do it all over again.

Renfield's basic gameplay benefits from great pixel-art animation, a strong variety of enemies, and weapons that, while not exactly balanced, feel great to use. In particular, the weapons, the equivalent of the whip and bible in Vampire Survivors, are excellent, and Renfield's "Shadow Claw" and "Black Bat" turn hordes of enemies into chunky pixel-art salsa.

At some point, a "level escape" like mechanism is added to the last few rooms. Each stage is set up as a search for helpless victims to take back to Dracula, and when you reach them, a BioShock-esque "press X to harvest innocent creatures, press Y to save them" message appears. The goofiness is much lessened in this arcade-like pixel-art game, and once selected, a Wario Land/Pizza Tower-style time-lapse escape is triggered.

Rescuing the target instead of taking him to Dracula triggers a more difficult escape sequence with a tighter time limit but greater reward. I like this risk/reward element, and the last few rooms are very impressive because of the pressure they put on you. [There are only three stages and, as far as I know, only one playable character. But like "Vampire Survivors" and "Boneraiser Minions," "Renfield" is only $5 on Steam (opens in new tab).

What a strange road the movie tie-in games that everyone criticizes so harshly have taken: the Xbox 360 version of "Eragon (opens in new tab)" was the most 3/10 console game territory I've ever played, and now it's all ironic indie games It's. Well, "Renfield" is head and shoulders above the rest, and it's definitely better than a self-aware joke dating sim.