The Vagabond Emperor

This game somewhat reminds me of Battle Brothers with a blend of kingdom management from M&B. It's fun and unique, I like it. The devs are very responsive on feature suggestions and quick on bug fixing.

Not ready for release, even early access feels much more beta than a playable game. Great premiss which is why i purchased it, but not ironed out and with some really odd mechanics. Hold Off till its more refined.

Been playing for about 4 hours, and it feels like there's still so much content to this game I haven't touched yet. That said, the game is a bit overwhelming at first (tons of UI, different screens, options..), and certain parts aren't well balanced yet (turn based combat is way too slow), but that's expected in such a wide game in Early Access. For me, it also has an overall amazing visual style and each part seems custom made. There's also so many little details & humor in the story which makes it easier to follow through. Overall if you enjoy discovering various options and complex gameplay, I highly suggest trying it out. It's already great to play, but once there's a bit more polish done to balancing & onboarding this has a lot of potential to be really amazing.

The character creation and combat are kinda big stinky smell bad character creation heaven forbid you want to create a diverse character that isn't ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crippled to ♥♥♥♥ has both its knee caps still intact and isn't a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ vegetable. Oh you want one extra strength then you better fuse eight of your chromosomes and have no mobility in your legs. The bad stats far out class the good ones because for most of the good you have to take the bad stats that negate what you are trying to gain and even if you take the horrific stats like minus 4 to everything you don't have enough points to get anything worthwhile combat is somehow even worse especially if you are trying for a melee build. I swear to god the developer that decided it melee combat was in a good state has a fetish for circles cause you only run around in circles, poke and run around in circles oh you want to dodge you better pray to RNGesus that the game decides to let you but it doesn't matter because the entire team has muskets and you just walked into the firing squad get ♥♥♥♥♥♥ ♥♥♥♥♥ Edit: So you can start with extra points when creating a character but it still doesn't change the fact that there is no reason to take negatives to get good perks because they far outstrip any benefits that you would get edit: combat stills sucks eggs i'd rather beat my wife with her aborted fetus than use either of the combat systems. why not instead of adding more combat systems you decide on one and make it engaging instead of inputting your circle fetish holy gee damn pay somebody to make your combat for you because you have such an amazing framework for a world sim that you just ♥♥♥♥ all over with a less than lackluster combat system

[h2]The Vagabond Emperor[/h2] [h1]Strategy Games….[/h1] This game is part of a genre that I’ve always been trying to avoid. Fate forced me to play this game. The thing is, I don’t find Strategy & RTS games fun. It’s probably because I am stupid. Anyways, I was surprised when I played this game as it gave me an experience that was far from what I expected. I actually had a bit of fun while playing it. By the way, the game is still in Early Access which means that it will still get a lot of updates & changes as time passes by. [h1]About This Game [/h1] [h2]Storyline [/h2] The game actually has a well-laid-out plotline. But the progression is completely in your hands. [code]As the name suggests, this game is about a vagabond. A reject of society who tries to make ends meet by either begging or through other questionable means. Although the vagabond’s wallet might be small, their ambition is big. Follow the journey of this vagabond as they fight their way up social ranks & finally become an Emperor! [/code] Well, that’s the base story of the game. But it’s not entirely necessary to start the game as a vagabond. You have 5 more options to choose from. You can start the game as one of the following: [olist] [*] The Vagabond [*] The Rich Citizen [*] The Poor Chevalier [*] The Respected Baron [*] The King’s Forth Son (I think they meant Fourth son, this might’ve been a typo on their end) [*] The Enemy Of Kings [/olist] Depending on what you choose, your starting stats might vary. I recommend playing as The Vagabond for the original experience. [h2]Gameplay Mechanics[/h2] As I’ve mentioned before, this is the first RPG Strategy game I played. I entered this game with zero knowledge of what to expect. Before I knew it, a ♥♥♥♥ tonne of content was thrown at me. It was so hard to comprehend at first. But then, the tutorial really helped me grasp the abundant information. As I said before, the game has a ♥♥♥♥ load of content. I will not cover everything that it offers since this is a review, not a wiki. So, let’s start with the creation of a new game. World creation has a lot of options that you can choose from. It reminded me of Minecraft. Here are the options you can choose: [list] [*] You can first choose whether to skip the tutorial or not. [*] A scenario from the ones I listed in the storyline segment. [*] World Seed [*] World Height [*] Scale of Regions [*] Land Level [*] Map Width [*] Map Height [*] Kingdoms [*] Domains [*] Lords at Start [*] Lords Appear [*] Option to enable or disable “unlimited rank increase per character’s life” [/list] Yes, that’s a lot of settings to choose from. I recommend not touching the ones you don’t know. I used the default settings during my playthrough. Apart from those settings, the game has another difficulty mode called “Iron Will” which will make it so that you can’t save the game while playing. If you want to save your progress, it’s only possible when you exit the game. This is an interesting addition since it adds a challenging factor to the game! The main gameplay is focused on you trying to rise up in social ranks to become an emperor. You can also start your own family by having intercourse with random women you find. This was quite odd due to the fact that there isn’t any really actual relationship-building involved. Well, I can’t expect that here since this isn’t a dating simulator. The result of the sex gifts you with children. For some reason, your children don’t last long. They die or something quick. I hope they improve the survival chances of your offspring. The funniest thing in this is that the game actually has STDs. Apart from family building & building relations with other leaders, you have to also indulge in combat. There are two ways to combat. One of them is manual combat where you have complete control over your character & you have to go & fight enemies with your “army”. The other mode is Turn-Based combat. I am sure you know what it is. I don’t like this mode since it feels slow-paced. The latter is more up my alley! Upgrading your social ranks gives you access to more items & perks like access to buy buildings, increasing inventory size, increasing equipment slots, increasing your max luck, etc. Here are the ranks in decreasing order of importance (which means I will be starting with the highest rank you can unlock): [olist] [*] King [*] Duke [*] Earl [*] Baron [*] Chevalier [*] Citizen [*] Farmer [*] Vagabond [/olist] Resource management & strategizing are two of the most important characteristics you, as a player, must possess. Resources are of the utmost importance as they help in progression. So, use them wisely. [h2]Visuals & Audio[/h2] The game is purely 2d. The art style is simple. Since the game was developed & published by Wiggling Eyebrows, they used a lot of wiggling eyebrows for some reason. It was funny. During combat, they used circular icons for the characters & players. I feel it is a bit too unattractive. I hope they replace it with something that’s more visually pleasing. The soundtracks are okay. I have nothing to point out in specific. They do their job is all I can say. [h1]Pros[/h1] [list] [*] A lot of content. More than you expect! [*] 2 different ways to approach combat; manual or turn-based. [*] There is a high sense of progression due to the presence of the social ranks. [*] A lot of customization when you start a new game. [*] There is an “Iron Will” mode which adds a bit more challenge to the overall game. [*] It’s not necessary for you to start as a nobody/vagabond. There are a lot of scenarios that you can choose from. This adds a lot of variety to the playstyle. [/list] [h1]Cons[/h1] [list] [*] Turn based combat feels slow. [*] People will pass away randomly. For some reason, your children don’t have a long life. [*] Vendors/Merchants sell trash products forcing you to secure the stuff you want in other ways. [/list] [h1]Conclusion[/h1] This wasn’t too bad for my first time experience in a Strategy game. It was quite intriguing although I didn’t get the thrills that the FPS or Racer games give. Will I play it again? Maybe..maybe not, who knows? But yeah, I do recommend giving this game as it seems promising due to the presence of a lot of content. Is the price good? It is worth the price! [b]Reviewer:[/b] Midplayz Once a vagabond, now a leader…. [b]Rating:[/b] 7/10 [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/38888018-United-Critics/] Please follow [b]United Critics[/b] for more quality reviews.[/url]

“I will create my own kingdom with castles and feasts!” When a game opens with a well known meme you know you are in for a fun ride. Prior to being given access to this game all I had to go by was a couple images and I already knew I would find this game interesting. It is like a Crusader Kings Lite. Which for many that have attempted to play Crusader Kings, this is a potentially good thing. Right from the start you are given the clear goal of the game. Start from absolutely nothing and rise to become the emperor. This will not be something you can accomplish in one life time. No, it will take generations. So your personal objective then is to improve your character each time and try to pass on as much wealth and power to your heir, so that they can become the all powerful emperor *queue Sith music* You will have to manage those relationships between yourself and the nobles in the world. There is seduction, wiggling of eyebrows, marriage, insults, trade, and of course combat that will take place. It is up to you how you want other characters to perceive you. Some will have natural feelings based on what traits you give your character. You could even plot to assassinate another character if you feel so inclined. The family tree will matter greatly as you progress through the generations. The idea of continuing to play past the death of your player character is a mechanic that not many games have attempted but I personally love it. It just adds more weight to everything that you do for me. Each generation you can move higher in the social hierarchy as long as your character can gain the experience, and has the funds to buy the next title. Each generation can own more land and have larger armies. Speaking of larger armies… In this game I fear there may indeed be at least one too many. Honestly I didn’t mind it as once you figure out which type of battle works best for you, you just sorta use that one most of the time. With that said, the results of battles can change drastically based on which type of battle you attempt. The arcade battle is where the fun is at. it will drop you and your followers onto the battlefield with you only controlling yourself. You run around attempting to kill the other fighters without going down yourself. There are special moves and dodging. This gives me 2D Mount and Blade arena fight vibes. I won’t pretend I am good at it but I normally will attempt an arcade battle that I would otherwise lose. In the hopes that I could pull out some sweet moves to save the day. Automatic battles are the same as the arcade battles except that you do not control your player character. You get to sit back and watch the action as if you were fighting without having to bother hitting the controls. This is normally the best way to win a fight when you have superior numbers as your troops can overwhelm enemy on the battlefield in this mode. In turn based battles it becomes all about army compositions and turn order. A well balanced army will thrive here and can win where they wouldn’t on the arcade battle field. You can just automatic results it and the game will run the numbers of a turn based battle on its own. While playing I personally felt like I would lose the most troops doing this and stuck to arcade battles, plus it was more fun. The game has a lot of limitations on how rich and powerful you can become early on. This is required to support the idea that you have to play through multiple generations in order to reach the big goal of becoming an emperor. Some of these are reasonable, Some I think could use some changes. The combination of limits though have the desired effect and nudge you towards focusing on personal development, dungeon crawling, and relationships for the early game. Leaving massive armies and owning huuuuuge tracks of land until the late game. Your title is the main limiting factor. As you move up, hopefully in each generation. You will have more inventory space. Inventory space itself is a limiting factor that I hope is adjusted. Having limited inventory of course makes sense to me. However, each follower also takes up inventory space. That, does not make sense to me. I often found myself full of just basic resources and the troops I felt I needed for the dungeon I was going through. Often having to leave behind useful tool or treasures as I went. I would end up hoping to kill off most of my followers in the final battle of a dungeon just so I could collect more treasures after the battle. I hate this. After a dungeon I was traveling back to re-coop at the nearby kingdom. Only to have a random event happen and the result was a prize of an armor upgrade. I could not accept the armor upgrade because my inventory was full. I could not drop anything in order to accept the prize and as soon as you leave a random event that item is gone for good. Overall I am honestly impressed with how many systems a solo dev was able to build within this game world. I am hopeful that this is the type of game that WigglingEyebrows can continue to improve upon after 1.0 release. Once I learned the systems I was able to work within them. Leaving me with a very enjoyable time playing this game.

Great game with greater future

When I saw this game, I thought that this is the concept I was looking for for a long time. I loved it. Now after playing it a few hours, I have suggestions: 1- Crew capacity and Inventory capacity could better be separated. 2- Increasing ranks could be much more difficult but it could be possible to do more than once in a lifetime. 3- The crew could be equipable, trainable, levelable, not standard stereoypes but characters just like the player. Even there could be relationships with them. I have more but these are just a few of my suggestions. I think, this game has a lot of potential. Good Luck.

This is a very promising game made with love. Some aspects can be improved, but is has a lot of potential, for sure! If you want to read my preview, you can find it here: https://turnbasedlovers.com/overview/the-vagabond-emperor-first-and-wiggling-look/

Tho i like this game i would not recommend it at the moment. It has some issues with the gameplay, lose respect by working as a beggar or due to events, earn or lose karma and you will get lords as enemies. What that means is that the whole map will want you dead, the few npc that like you due to karma will instantly turn on you as things spirals out of your control. These enemies will be kings etc , that means they not only got a bigger army usally but their units are way stronger then yours despite it being the same type or basic peseant. This is due to the game rank system. They will have better stats then you leading to a plot against you that you cant protect your self against, this will lead to you getting murdered with no way to stop it other then loading a earlier save and track down the murderer and kill him, that leads to a death spiral and you get killed in the end any ways. To prevent this you cant raise your karma or lower it, you cant afford to do things that will lower your respect unless you already have respect you can afford to lose. In this game you want is to raise your rank, get a child, build a store for money and then die and repeat until you are high enough rank to survive plots against you etc.