Vagrus - The Riven Realms: Demo (Prologue)

[b]Play the Demo first![/b] Yes it is great, but approach with caution. Certainly one of the more interesting titles of late. You see this bit on the sales page: 'THIS GAME IS VERY HARD..'Which is a warning from the team making it themselves, and good on them for the warning, but will it be the type of difficulty that you want and find fair? [b]The good:[/b] Beautifully written game world, depth feeling and lore. It's all there. If you don't like text heavy games look away now. There's nothing for you here. If you do however you're in for a treat. An easy description would be of one of those old 'choose your own adventure books' but on ultra hard mode and with some Darkest Dungeon style turn based combat thrown in. The free prologue download (search on steam, they give you a chunk of the tutorial for free) will give you a good idea of how the game mechanics work. I hate comparing games to games, it's silly, but there's no real way around it so in brief it's maybe the campaign map of Mount and Blade Warband (without the combat!) meets the writing of Sunless Sea (IMO this is a hundred times better than Sunless sea if only because it respects my time more) That's that part over and done with, cringey comparisons complete. This game deserves the awards it has received. [b]The Problematic[/b] The difficulty is mostly a numbers game. Again, bless the devs for warning you to save often but a few miss clicks on a trade page and you're reloading. And reloading. And reloading again. It's not really a question of getting good at the game, as figuring out a working trade route that will make enough money to make the time and risks worthwhile. Trial, error, reload. It kills the story telling vibe, really does. And as other reviews rightly point out: This is in part an accountancy game. Nothing wrong in that, trying to work out the margins, but it's not going to be to everyone's taste. I'm mostly OK with scrolling up and down a sheet trying to work out what will make money, but be warned. You will have to do a lot of that sort of thing. Some interface tools help, but it might be tempting to break out he Excel and do you really want that? Personal Taste I guess. [b]The Decent[/b] Combat has two forms: You're team of heroes (If you have any. It's depressingly easy to wander into combat early on before you have any to fight with) This is 'passable' If you don't mind or like things like Darkest Dungeon you'll be fine with it. You can see it in action on the demo videos. Buffs, debuffs, turn based attack orders,, that kind of thing [b]The Waste of Time[/b] The only good thing about the caravan combat however is that you don't have to do much. It's over fast Pick a few people to fight for you and press 'fight' for the round and then repeat Sit back and watch some animations. It's not offensively bad, it just feels like a waste of time for the people who made it as well as the people sitting there playing it.

For me Vagrus is one of the most ambitious indie game in the industry, with magnificent artwork, melodious music and impressive, gripping story. I love that unique 'undead Roman Empire meets Mad Max' setting, and the Fighting Fantasy-esque branching storyline brings back my childhood, when I was reading gamebooks night and day in the 90s. In my opinion Vagrus is the best innovation in the fantasy genre since the good old Dark Sun RPG.

[h1]KENSHI in heavy text mode and turn by turn battles? A book where you are the hero/leader as a video-game?[/h1] [b]Conclusion in comments![/b] [b]Demo offers 2 game modes[/b]: -A tutorial campaign titled "Pilgrims of the Wasteland" which is in fact the first part of a story-driven campaign. I completed it in 3 hours or so, taking my time to read tutorial hints and lore texts. -5 turns in a free campaign, open-world setting. I didn't try it, 5 turns (days) seems too low for me to enjoy, also the tutorial has been enough of a test for me, i'm hooked. The tutorial is a story driven campaign in which you, the player, are a Vagrus. In fact, you're always a Vagrus, the respected leader of a comitatus(caravane). Being part of a comitatus is one of the few ways to survive in this post-apocalyptic world. There services are much needed and respected as they transport goods and people though dangerous lands. Most of all, they have stories and make history. [b]This is what this game offers you, stories, some are told, some you make through decisions, be it through dialogues or your way to manage your comitatus.[/b] [h1]A comitatus is comprised of :[/h1] - a Vagrus, this is you. - deputies, your most trusted and powerfull allies, they are the ones you control during fights. - workers and slaves to do the chores. (hauling, foraging for food, ect...) - scouts who will warn the Vagrus of incoming dangers when exploring. - soldiers to guard the comitatus when camping, you don't want to get ambushed while sleeping. - mounts, creatures that can haul goods or be mounted by soldiers making them outriders, superior offensive units. - beasts of burden, they are your main goods carriers, bulky reptiles. - carried goods for sell or transport contracts, need money to survive. Your job as a Vagrus is to prosper and survive in cursed lands where opportunities are more often deadly than profitable. Lead your crew, manage them carefully or sad things may happen... [h1]The tutorial:[/h1] You are really playing a story that some old man, in the present, is telling you about. The old man's text is nicely voiced. It happened to him decades ago when he was escorted by a comitatus under the lead of a veteran Vagrus and his deputies: - Javek who is a human with telepathic powers, a close friend to the Vagrus. (ranged unit) - Morwen the Demonkin. (part-human, part-demon, melee-unit) The comitatus is short on money, horizon looks dark. Hopefully the Vagrus knows someone with whom he could make a good deal by buying scap metal, a ressource that became scarce, a cheap price. Upon arriving in the city the guy lives in, you go to the bar he should be in. You're not even sure he's still alive though, it's been 10 years since you saw him and left him in a way you have regrets until now. At the bar, you are relieved to see the man sitting at a table in the back with his nose in papers. This is where you start making choices, will you: 1. Go and sit at an empty table? 2. Go straight to him and engage discussion? 3. Go to the barman first? As advertised, the game is text heavy, if you don't like blocks of text it will be a problem. As far as I can say, as a french with good skills at english, texts are well written, very descriptive but not as much as in a H.P Lovecraft book hopefully. :D [h1]It's just like in a good book, do you like a lengthy, quality written book?[/h1] There are many words that I don't know so that's the first time since long that i've been translating that many words while reading, mostly adjectives that are more commonly used in written text I guess. Decisions look meaningfull with multiple ways to achieve a goal with varying result. I'd need to complete it again and try other ways to really check on this though and I will! Some choices are resolved with dice rolls, difficulty depending on your comitatus vigor or other stats. Also your Vagrus can learn "professions" which can unlock new choices. After the deal is done with your contact and your stocked in food supllies, scrap metal and such, comes the time to leave to your destination. It is at the big city of Avernum that you will be able to sell your scrap metal for a hefty profit. Maybe will you also deliver some secret package the guy gave you, if that's how your story unfolded. [h1]The WorldMap:[/h1] I was impressed at the size of the Worldmap, many regions and points of interest to explore, each with their stories, lore, "inhabitants" and events I guess. Not sure all of them are complete though as the game is Early Access. At any rate, this feels exciting and perilous! Reminds me of Kenshi, another open-world game I love for this. WorldMap has 4 specific stats relating to the comitatus status: - Morale : general mental well-being and confidence - Obedience : how disciplined your slaves are. At low they start to misbehave - Nutrition : How well-fed it is. Impacted by food given in the long run. Low means penalties, high means boosted vigor. - Vigor : Measure of the physical state of the comitatus, impacts events tests ect... Moving the comitatus is made along paths made of nodes. Getting to the next node cost move points. Getting on a new node may trigger events, scripted or not. Scouts in comitatus and Vagrus skills in scouting seems to impact the ability to get events. Events can be a dialogue with a deputy or a scout warning of some threat incoming your direction. You then choose if you wish to hide or flee. Fleeing makes you lose time and move points as you leave the main path to avoid said danger. When out of move points comes the time to camp and rest. Camping as its own interface where you can: -Pay your crew now or pay later, this impacts morale in a logical way. Low morale have dangerous impacts game says, never got low though but I imagine your crew starting leaving or even rebelling. -Feed your crew using food supplies from 50% to 200% daily ration, impacting vigor. You can ask your scouts and workers/slaves to go foraging for food supplies but it costs vigor. Vigors affects tests rate in events and other things. Camping with a few move points left seem to replenish vigor at a higher rate says the game. -Discuss with your deputies, manage their skills and stuff. Managing them is possible out of camping too. - Post guards with 3 options : 0 guards: lowers obedience/morale few guards: costs viguor, reduced ambush many guards: increase obedience/morale, much reduced ambush, may cost viguor if not enough guards. - You can whip slaves or free them to increase obedience. Free slave becomes a worker but then get an upkeep cost. All units but creatures have an upkeep. [h1]In Town: [/h1] You can get to a shop and buy food supplies for travels to come in the limit of your money, carry capacity. You can buy goods to sell in other towns, in the hope to get benefits. There are quest related actions too. [h1]Combat:[/h1] Only your deputies go into combat in turn based mode. Turn order is based on INITIATIVE stat. Deputies have many stats, perks, resistances and 4 upgradeable skills. [h1]Deputy character sheets:[/h1] Stats: - Vitality (hp) - Downed vit - armor - Vitality regen - Evade % - Block % - Power (mana, MP) - Power regen - initiative - Action - Accuracy - Upkeep Resistances: - Impediment (stun/immobilize) - Magic - Bleed - Poison - Fire - Cold - Electric - Mind Perks may affect the unit or comitatus stats (hunting, foraging ect...) Positioning is important, each side has two rows. Front row can melee attack, back row can only range attack. Cover a (weak) unit in the back row by placing someone on the same lane in front row. Unit Animation reminds of Slay the Spire, it is minimalist. It lacks the use of shaders/particles/screenshakes to make fights more impactful but it does the job. Hope they add that though. [b]Conclusion and more in comments, max limit of 8.000 caracters hits me. Thanks for reading, hope you liked![/b] Peace, Grilvhor

This game is not ready to play, not even for free. The fact that it boasts being HARDCORE is fine, but it also obscures its rules and definitions at nearly every turn. As an example, I just spent 90 minutes trying to figure out why my chances to hunt for food are always at 100% failure. My MC has the right skills, my companion has the right skills, that companion is assigned to the deputy role that oversees hunting with scouts, and I scouted ahead to land on a square with an above-zero chance of hunting success. Yet when I assign the scouts to go hunting, I'm informed that it's 100% chance of failure. ♥♥♥♥ that noise. This game might be a good game two years from now. For now, it can go ♥♥♥♥ itself in the ear.

The bad: Vagrus has a huge fatal flaw: the economy. Kind of defeats the whole “adventure in a post apoc setting” when you’re a caravan/delivery truck. Often goods are a net loss after factoring in travel time and paying your slave drivers, and it's easy to get locked into an economic death spiral. There’s a reason Eve Online has a working economy. They have a full time economist to tune their models. Specifically, I'm not knocking the premise of being a caravan master, I'm wondering about the math behind the markets and logistics. The good: The lore is top notch. The world is very Dark Sun or Mad Max, a post-apoc wasteland filled with lava and ash. I enjoy the writing, the whole narrative is well crafted and written. There is a lot of text to read, which is a big plus for me - I enjoy long-form narrative games. There is an open world setting, it's just really difficult to actually explore and adventure without starving to death. I won’t be playing the paid game. Good but can’t recommend unless you enjoy grinding for coin. It’s out of Early Release Oct 5.

I liked the atmosphere and storytelling, but the impression I got from the gameplay is that its a bit convoluted and combat is boring. I played the story driven tutorial part and honestly, didnt get much of a chance to deal with the gameplay by myself. The gameplay could work if its properly balanced, but in order to find that out I will need to play the game proper and invest a fair amount of time in it. So you need to spend a lot of time before you can understand, how well thought out the game actually is. But judging by the negative reviews and "hardcore" tag I dont think it is. Ive played enough of a game called "Battle Brothers" to know that so called hardcore difficult gameplay is achieved through user unfriendly design and balancing decisions, not complex thought and planning provoking gameplay. So it all depends on you. How much of your time you are willing to waste for potentially inbalanced, dragged out, boring gameplay in return for a unique setting with hints of interesting storytelling. Some people will like it, but I dont recommend the average user to waste their time.

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A hidden gem developing here. It's unique, and kind of niche. Do you like caravans and interesting worlds to explore? Well you'll probably love it. The world is a fantasy post-Rome dark age with some interesting twists, with an emphasis on dark fantasy (not edgy dark, just more realistic with adult themes). The art is gorgeous, and the writing is really, really good. You're a captain in this world trying to make enough money to keep your caravan going, navigating politics and maximising your opportunities. It describes itself as hard, and that's true, but it isn't the kind of hard that demands reloads for randomness, it's more along the line of it punishes you real bad for messing up with your decisions. For example: In the beginning I routinely pushed my men too hard in marching to get more map movement, which created a spiral of defections and discontent that cause a gameloss. Now I pay a lot of attention to morale, stamina and nutrition and enjoy all the benefits a provisioned, fit and determined caravan provides. Give it a try, the prologue is free and quite fun, I am shocked this is the studios first game, they've done a great job so far.