Video Games
Expression Is Your Key to Survival in Psychological Horror Game ‘DON’T STOP SMILING’ [Trailer]
If you thought facial recognition was a horror story in the making, indie Japanese developer/publisher Smiley Dog Studio is making it a reality with DON’T STOP SMILING. Coming to Steam Q2 2026, this first-person psychological horror game makes the player’s own face and their expression the core mechanic for survival.
The premise is deceptively simple: using your PC’s web camera, DON’T STOP SMILING tracks your smile. If your smile fades—even for a moment—you die. While this might seem easy, the game takes inspiration from looping corridor horror mechanic from titles such as P.T., requiring players to navigate an ever-changing dimly lit Japanese high school while you’re showing off your pearly whites.
Along the way, you’ll be solving puzzles and confronting some disturbing situations. Luckily, there’s no combat or chase sequences to make it totally unfair, but it’s not so easy to maintain a smile when you’re scared, is it?
The developer’s goal with this simple rule is to create “a uniquely disturbing experience built on tension, guilt, and forced emotion.” The more the situation makes smiling impossible, the more your body and emotions become directly tied to the horror unfolding on screen.
Those puzzles you’ll be solving aren’t meant to make you feel clever or have a feeling of satisfaction when solved, either. Instead, the actions required to progress—such as being complicit in harmful acts involving others or making morally troubling choices—are intentionally crafted to evoke guilt, disgust, and psychological discomfort.
Luckily for fans, even after the release of Vampire Crawlers earlier this year, Poncle is still not done with Vampire Survivors. The developer recently announced a new chapter for Vampire Survivors, as well as a new expansion entitled “Legacy of the Bloodmoon”, which is expected later this summer. That “new chapter” coincides with Poncle having released a free content update for Vampire Survivors, as well as launching Survivaton, a new label for its growing lineup of Survivors-inspired projects.
Survivaton is the name of poncle’s new lineup of Survivors-like projects. Short for “survive a ton,” the label encompasses internally developed games that build on the foundation of Vampire Survivors, in collaboration with selected content partners. Each project will aim to introduce major gameplay changes, content expansions, or genre twists exploring ideas substantial enough to stand as their own games.
The Survivaton initiative will serve as Poncle’s umbrella for future Survivors-like releases, and reflecting its place as the foundation of the series, Vampire Survivors will also be renamed to Vampire Survivors – First Survivaton.
To celebrate this new chapter, the game has releasing its free Patch 1.15 update on Steam, featuring a new stage, new characters, new weapons, and new Darkanas. Patch 1.15 will be released on all other platforms a bit later by the end of the month, due to platform-specific optimizations and differences in save slots management. And for Switch 2 fans, there will be a version of Vampire Survivors coming soon, with better performance and mouse support.
Meanwhile, described as the “evil twin” to the game’s first-ever expansion pack Legacy of the Moonspell, Legacy of the Bloodmoon is expected this summer across PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and mobile platforms. The expansion will include a substantial 10 new characters, more than 16 weapons and evolutions, a new XL stage, and 8 new music tracks. As part of this release, poncle will expand Legacy of the Moonspell with additional content and permanently reduce its price, ensuring both it and Legacy of the Bloodmoon deliver a similarly substantial experience.
In addition to Steam, Vampire Survivors is available on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and the Epic Games Store.