Vampire Survivors: How to unlock Peppino

Vampire Survivors is full of bizarre playable characters, but the title of ‘Most Bizarre’ among them probably goes to Peppino, a literal tree. This character has a unique playstyle befitting their arboreal nature, but figuring how to unlock Peppino in Vampire Survivors can be tricky, considering the method of doing so is quite unusual and even counterintuitive.

If you’re feeling the call of the wild, read on for our full guide on how to unlock Peppino in Vampire Survivors.

Vampire Survivors: How to unlock Peppino

Step 1: Choose to play as O’Sole Meeo

Screenshot by PC Invasion

In order to unlock Peppino you must, as the Forbidden Scrolls of Morbane say, “Be a good boy in Il Molise.” The first part of this hint refers, naturally, to O’Sole Meeo, Vampire Survivors’ resident playable dog. You can unlock him by killing a total of 3,000 Dragon Shrimp enemies, which you’ll easily be able to achieve by clearing a few runs in Gallo Tower. Once he’s unlocked, choose him on the character select screen to begin Peppino’s unlock process.

Step 2: Head to Il Molise

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Next, you’ll need to head to the Il Molise Bonus stage, which is unlocked by unlocking Hyper Mode for one normal stage in the game. Check out our guide for full instructions on how to unlock Hyper Mode. This is an odd stage, populated entirely by stationary plant enemies that regrow over time.

Step 3: Frolic through the flowers

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Now that you’re in Il Molise with O’Sole Meeo, your quest to unlock Peppino in Vampire Survivors can really begin. Your goal here, in complete defiance of the rest of the game, is to heal the plant enemies in the stage for a total of 100,000 health points. This can be done with O’Sole’s starting weapon, the Celestial Dusting, which sends out floral blooms behind him as he moves around.

This process will take a while, but the best way to do it is to run in circles in a particularly dense patch of plants, and just let the healing rack up over time. It should take around eight minutes for you to heal the 100,000 health required. Once you do, you’ll hear Vampire Survivors’ ‘secret unlocked’ jingle, and you’ll know the unlock process for Peppino is complete.

Step 4: Purchase Peppino and enjoy!

Once your Il Molise run is over, you’ll now be able to purchase Peppino on the character select screen. Without any Power Ups, it will have -100% MoveSpeed, which will prevent it from moving at all. This is balanced out with a heavily boosted Magnet stat, and a powerful starting weapon in Soul Eater, making Peppino a unique choice for your next Vampire Survivors run.