SaGa: Emerald Beyond crossover. Glimmer tech, Showstopper, party characters.
Emerald Diorama is the only free Vampire Survivors expansion. The wiki specifies it as the sixth DLC released on 10 April 2025, themed around Square Enix's SaGa: Emerald Beyond, and explicitly notes it as the first free expansion to the game. Every other DLC (Legacy of the Moonspell, Tides of the Foscari, Emergency Meeting, Operation Guns, Ode to Castlevania, Ante Chamber) is a paid add-on.
The buried mechanic that defines the DLC is Glimmer. According to the wiki, every Emerald Diorama weapon carries a chance to spontaneously learn a new technique while attacking. Glimmered techs become a permanent extra evolution path for that weapon and unlock cross-character access. Operation Guns players will recognize the framework from Falconfire, but Emerald Diorama makes it the centerpiece rather than an exception.
Build context matters here. Emerald Diorama also introduces character parties, the Showstopper critical-HP mechanic, and a single sideways-scrolling stage shaped like interconnected dioramas. Tsunanori Mido summons up to 4 Kugutsu puppets. Bonnie Blair and Formina Franklyn play as a paired duo. The Showstopper triggers a burst of Might, Cooldown reduction, and Luck when any SaGa character drops to critical HP.
This guide covers the DLC unlock path, the 12+ new characters, the 16+ new base weapons plus 24 evolutions and Glimmer techs, the new stage and its Emerald Disk gate, the Showstopper mechanic, and the way Emerald Diorama sits alongside the previous five DLCs in patch v1.14.
Emerald Diorama stage opens by buying the Emerald Disk from the Moongolow merchant (requires Moongolow unlocked).
Tsunanori Mido summons up to 4 Kugutsu puppets that fight independently in a defensive cross formation.Emerald Diorama is free on every platform the wiki lists (Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Epic Game Store, iOS, Android). Install the DLC from the store page, launch Vampire Survivors, and the SaGa roster appears in the character pool. The stage itself is a separate unlock that gates on the Emerald Disk relic from the Moongolow merchant.
| Step | Requirement |
|---|---|
| 1. Install DLC | Free download on Steam, Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, Epic, iOS, Android |
| 2. Unlock Moongolow | Activate Hyper mode on 4 normal stages |
| 3. Buy the Emerald Disk | Visit the Merchant during a Moongolow run, purchase the Emerald Disk relic |
| 4. Open the Emerald Diorama stage | Stage appears in Stage Selection once the Emerald Disk is owned |
Per the wiki, the unlock chain follows the same Moongolow-disk pattern used for the Ante Chamber stage, which gates on a Joker Disk from the same merchant. Both are post-Moongolow DLC stages and both ask the player to clear the Moongolow unlock chain (4 hyper-mode normal stages) first.
According to the wiki, Emerald Diorama adds 12+ characters from SaGa: Emerald Beyond. The roster covers a master of puppets, a detective duo, an undercover witch, a songstress mech, a thawed-out Emperor, and a Dismal King with bloodthirsty tendencies. Coffins and post-evolution unlock chests gate the secret picks.
| Character | Role | Notable mechanic |
|---|---|---|
| Tsunanori Mido | Coffin (Emerald Diorama stage) | Summons up to 4 Kugutsu puppets in defensive cross formation |
 Ameya Aisling | Witch / cat hunter | Spirit Rings starter, magic-focused kit |
 Bonnie Blair | Detective duo half | Punch starter, swaps with Formina on level-up trigger |
 Formina Franklyn | Detective duo half | Eagle Gun starter, paired with Bonnie for combo plays |
 Diva No. 5 | Songstress mech | Body-swap unlocks across multiple evolution chains |
 Siugnas | Coffin (Emerald Diorama stage) | Dismal King, enthralls defeated foes as allies |
The wiki notes additional secret characters that gate on stage-specific unlock paths: Kina, Cat Squad, Imakoo, and Malevolent Door Spirit are all hidden-character unlocks tied to specific Emerald Diorama achievements. The eclectic roster of 12+ named picks plus the secret roster pushes the total character count past 16.
Emerald Diorama ships 16+ base weapons and the wiki specifies 40 total attack methods once base weapons, evolutions, and Glimmer techs are counted. The roster mixes melee swords, martial arts strikes, magic spells, and sci-fi missiles to mirror the SaGa series' weapon variety. Several weapons unlock cross-character access via the Glimmer mechanic.
| Weapon | Type | Glimmer tech |
|---|---|---|
 Fleuret | Stabbing rapier | Crystalline Carve (freeze + cut) |
 Pressure Point | Martial arts close-range | Shenlong Firefist (far-reaching fire jab) |
 Hecaton Machine Gun | Spread-fire bullets | Bombarding Fire (earth upheaval AoE) |
 Hyperion Bazooka | Piercing missile launcher | Cosmic Rave (firepower multiplier) |
 Kugutsu | Puppet summons (Tsunanori Mido) | Up to 4 puppets in cross formation |
 Emerald Wave | Wave attack | Evolves into  Emerald Rapture |
 Punch | Melee strike (Bonnie Blair) | Pairs with Kick for combo evolution chain |
 Kick | Melee strike | Saber Machine Gun chain unlock |
 Eagle Gun | Lock-on pistol (Formina Franklyn) | Falconfire glimmered tech evolves into Pendragon |
 Splashers | Water-spray starter (Bonnie alt) | Bonnie alt-form gates on Splashers evolution |
Per the wiki, the Showstopper trigger on critical HP applies a temporary Might boost, Cooldown reduction, and Luck increase. Builds that lean into low-HP play see the most value from the Showstopper system, while standard high-HP builds benefit less because the trigger rarely fires.
Glimmer techs work like permanent build options that survive past the run that learned them. In actual play, take an Emerald Diorama starting character, fire the relevant Glimmer-eligible weapon repeatedly, and the tech unlocks for future runs on any character. The roll happens passively while attacking, not on a separate trigger.
Glimmer is the SaGa series staple ported into Vampire Survivors. According to the wiki, attacking with a Glimmer-eligible weapon carries a chance to spontaneously learn a special tech that becomes a permanent unlock. The roll happens passively while attacking, with no manual trigger. Once learned, the tech is available across runs and characters.
The wiki explicitly lists Fleuret's Crystalline Carve, Pressure Point's Shenlong Firefist, Hecaton Machine Gun's Bombarding Fire, and Hyperion Bazooka's Cosmic Rave as four named Glimmer techs. Each one adds a layered effect on top of the base weapon's damage profile rather than replacing it. Crystalline Carve freezes while cutting. Cosmic Rave multiplies firepower.
In real runs, the Glimmer chance favors weapons that fire frequently. Per the wiki, the trigger is a per-attack roll, so high-Amount or low-Cooldown weapons accumulate Glimmer techs faster than slow-cycling weapons. Plan evolution-farming runs around weapons with high attack rate when chasing the Glimmer roster.
Showstopper triggers when an Emerald Diorama character reaches critical HP. The wiki specifies a burst of bonus Might, decreased Cooldown, and increased Luck during the trigger window, accompanied by a tempest of powered-up projectiles. The mechanic is exclusive to SaGa characters and does not fire on base game or other DLC rosters.
Character parties extend the kit further. Tsunanori Mido summons up to 4 Kugutsu puppets that fight independently with their own weapons in a cross formation, which the wiki frames as a defensive setup since the puppets screen incoming enemies. Bonnie Blair and Formina Franklyn run as a paired duo, combining Punch melee with Eagle Gun ranged fire on the same kit. Siugnas can enthrall defeated foes as allies for a small follower army.
According to the wiki, the party mechanic stacks with the Showstopper trigger when any party member crits HP. In practice, this means low-HP Tsunanori Mido runs benefit twice: the puppets keep fighting through the crit window while the Showstopper buff applies to every active attack.
The DLC adds one new playable stage called Emerald Diorama. The wiki specifies a 30-minute time limit, +25% Move Speed and +25% Gold base modifiers, and the Cursed Monarch as the 25-minute hyper boss. The map is themed as a diorama of interconnected worlds and the wiki notes it is designed for sideways movement, which inverts the usual top-down kiting patterns.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Unlock | Buy the Emerald Disk from the Moongolow merchant |
| Time limit | 30:00 |
| Base modifiers | +25% Move Speed, +25% Gold |
| Hyper boss | Cursed Monarch (25:00) |
| Hyper modifiers | +100% Move Speed, +75% Gold, +10% Luck |
| Stage items | Spellbinder, Spinach,  Crown,  Stone Mask,  Parm Aegis, Karoma's Mana |
| Coffins | Tsunanori Mido, Siugnas |
Per the wiki, the stage drops Karoma's Mana as a notable new passive that pairs with the Magi-Stone weapon for the Kyra-Stones evolution. Crown and Stone Mask spawning on the ground also makes Emerald Diorama a strong farming map for evolution-gate passives, similar to Cappella Magna's passive density.
Pair the Emerald Diorama roster with passive items that spawn on the stage, plus the evolution and tier list context for SaGa-themed picks.
Game data and screenshots adapted from vampire.survivors.wiki, used under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. Original content remains the property of the wiki contributors and Poncle.