The Hidden Ground (also called the Holy Forbidden) is a long winding passage that forces the player to travel to the right. The goal is to make it to the treasure at the end of the passage — the Yellow Sign relic.

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Unlocking The Hidden Ground

Unlocking this stage is done by playing the Moonglow stage with a non-secret character; options includes Exdash, Toastie, Boon Marrabbio, Leda, and Red Death. If the player makes it to minute 14 with one of the standard characters (excluding Gallo and Divano) the screen will begin going into a tunnel vision view. The edges of the screen will begin to warp.

Instead of Death appearing at the end of the stage to kill the player, their character is warped to the Hidden Ground. This is done without warning, and after appearing the player-character is stripped of all their weapons and accessories except for their starting weapon. This only happens the first time the player makes it to the end of the Moonglow stage. After this, The Hidden Ground is accessible in the Stage Select screen until the player retrieves the Yellow Sign. After obtaining the Yellow Sign, the Hidden Ground is no longer accessible.

The Hidden Ground

This stage has a time limit of five minutes, and as stated above, the character only has their starting weapon. The character does not even benefit from any global Power-ups the player has purchased, or Arcanas. Also, the character cannot gain levels in the Hidden Ground. That’s not the end of it either; the game cannot be paused while playing the Hidden Ground.

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As the player navigates the passage, they are constantly under attack from bats and angels. There is also a boss that will follow the player and periodically attack. The lack of weapons ensures the character will take damage while traveling through the Hidden Ground. Fortunately, the passage has light sources that can drop Floor Chicken. For this reason, it’s best to use a character with a direct-fire weapon; Gennaro, Antonio, Pugnala, Poppea, and Ramba are all good picks for the Hidden Ground. Pugnala and Poppea are probably the best picks due to their boosted movement speed.

When the player nears the end of the stage there will be a Rosary on the ground; picking this item up will reveal the boss’ true form and send it running. At this point the player needs to continue moving to the right and collect the waiting Yellow Sign in the column of stained-glass windows.

The Yellow Sign

The Yellow Sign unlocks four new accessories: Gold Ring, Silver Ring, Metaglio Right, and Metaglio Left. These are needed to evolve the Clock Lancet and Laurel (respectively). Evolving these two weapons for the first time unlocks the two new characters, Gallo and Divano.

Vampire Survivors was released on Dec. 17th, 2021, for the PC and macOS.

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