Title: Flora & Fang: Guardians of the Vampire Garden

Developer: Magnus Fredriksson

Publisher: Flynn’s Arcade

Available On: June 10th, 2025

Platforms: PC, Nintendo Switch 1 & 2

Reviewed On: Nintendo Switch 2

Introduction

Flora & Fang: Guardians of the Vampire Garden is a Pixel 2D platformer that takes place in the pumpkin patches owned by vampires.  

Synopsis

Take on the role of vampires Flora and/or Fang as they are given the duty, by their father while he is away, to protect the pumpkin gardens.

Analysis

You can control siblings Flora and Fang in this single or two-player game. The goal is to keep the pests away from your dad’s pumpkin gardens. You will have the opportunity to upgrade your arsenal to get the job done.

The gameplay

Flora & Fang: Guardians of the Vampire Garden stars off with Dracula leaving for a spell, entrusting his kids Flora and Fang to ward off pests from his prized pumpkin gardens. Armed with a sprayer you must fight off the random swarms of insects and creatures from making off with the many pumpkins in the patch. Can you save them all and make your father proud?

The game has over sixty levels and 6 boss fights. Each level feels interesting and keeps you changing how you tackle it. You start with 3 hearts and can purchase more with coins you obtain as you advance. At anytime you can have a second player join in the fight to protect the pumpkins. Each level has a graded rating giving you points and stars. How many can you ace?  

In each level you must spray the insects’ multiple times until they are rendered to a non-threatening state in which you can hit them and stop their assault. Many varieties of insects inhabit the garden, such as gnats, spiders, and mosquitoes all with sub-genres like having invisibility or fire powers. They move in many ways, and you must discover the patterns to effectively eradicate them.

To complete each level, you must defeat or ward off the bugs and wait until some internal time has been completed or you will see floating balloons in five different colors. If you collect all 5 colors, which spells out bonus, you will then get to complete a bonus level that will earn you coins and points and it also bypasses the level you were just trying to complete.

Also, within each level you will randomly have ghosts carry coins or temporary enhancements that will help you get rid of the pests. You can also place a frog that will sometimes eat bugs, a snowman that will slow or freeze enemies, and a placebo pumpkin that is an incognito bomb. Between levels you can visit shops to upgrade these items as well as purchase health upgrades, spray enhancements, speed improvements, and a variety of other useful tools and stat boosters.

The boss fights at the end of each area were enjoyable. They have a set number of hearts, and you must learn the pattern to effectively win. Sometimes you may need to go back to some levels to earn more coins to upgrade your character or gear to have a better chance of winning. I enjoyed the variety of the bosses the game offers, such as the centipede and spider fights. The game does a great job of making each fight different despite always using the sprayer as your method of combatants.

Final Score

Flora & Fang: Guardians of the Vampire Garden was a great platformer that has amazing pixel graphics, fun gameplay, great upgrades, and enjoyable boss fights. Each area focused on unique locales that made each level and area feel fresh and challenging. Use of different tactics to complete levels also kept me changing my strategy and rarely allow me to feel the repetitiveness that some games can accrue. It made you stay alert to all the pumpkins on screen because the insects could take them away in a few seconds if you weren’t staying vigilant.

Some of the underlying issues I had with this game were minor but many. I had a lot of trouble with the sensitive nature of the joystick. I consistently would be walking and would drop down to a lower portion of the level; many times, I died because of this. I don’t know if this could be adjusted but it was sometimes frustrating. I also felt that it took a lot of time to gather coins to purchase upgrades, and it took some grinding to get me some of the extras that were offered.

This fun platformer provides hours of entertainment that will satisfy speed runners, high score enthusiasts, and completionists alike. The game offers quite a bit and their are so many ways to go about beating a level or fighting a boss. Try 2-player as well and have a fun time defending the pumpkins from those nasty insects,

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Shane Kelley is a Senior writer for Boss Rush Network, as well as a writer for Another Zelda Podcast. His favorite game is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. You can find him on X or Bluesky to talk video games, Marvel, cribbage, and axe throwing.

Images: taken by author