Vagrus - The Riven Realms

This is a well written book, the amount of content already in it amazing. The world feels really fleshed out. You will lose, but it will not be because of RNG it will be because of the choices you made, or failed to make. The game seems to be about risk managment and planning, using limited data. There is a long way to go on the game, a lot of the game still needs to be finished. If you are playing the game for Combat you will not be happy with it yet. I have recieved good value and look forward to the updates.

First of all, this is a game for people that like to read and that got a decent english. Besides that, you can invest alot of time into the game ("oh, 3 AM already? DAMN!"). Still in? Allright. There is a big world for you to explore, alot of lore to dig and alot of decisions to be made. Your decisions matter. Sometimes even small events can evolve into epic quests if, and only if, you make the right decisions. If not? Well, sometimes the game tells you that it wasn't the best idea, but more likely it just says "allright boss, as you say" and goes on. The usual gameplay loop, ressouce management, (turn based) fights, trading, etc. isn't something extraordinary but it's solid and enjoyable. Even for someone like me, for whom "turn based" often ends up as red flag. It's the stories between the everyday stuff you discover where the game really shines. Especially because the game got a very deep lore and a fresh post apocalyptic setting. Right now the game tells me I've invested 2 days 18 hours into the current game (even with some hours of them afk) and I still got a full quest book and places where I got the mark on the chart but I haven't seen until now. If you're still unsure, download the prologue and play that one first. It starts very narrow, opens up later on and should give you an impression for the game.

Vagrus is a commerce based RPG. You play as a caravan like wandering escort and merchant called a Comitatus, wandering from settlement to settlement finding companions, helping others, and fighting foes. The difficulty is steep, being harsher than most other games, but it's survivable, and doesn't let up once you figure out how to scrape yourself off the pavement. There's a lot of customization, allowing you to coordinate your talents with your companions, and even the dialogue systems and your ways of making money - called Bross, Lyrg, and Changer - are flexible, giving you options in how you can make your dough and how to get through dialogue events. The comitatus system isn't too difficult to understand. You manage stats like Vigor, Nutrition, Morale, and Obedience to keep your comes (your company in your comitatus) happy. Obedience is the morale of slaves, who can leave and steal or murder if it gets too low. Vigor dominates your extra movement points, for when you've spent all movement points in a day, but it degrades your other stats. Morale is the overall mood of your comes, and can cause your workers, slaves, or fighters to act out or leave. Nutrition is your hunger, but when it's high also improves your march points and morale, and when low can cause your comes to act out. You also have to buy supplies to keep your comes fed, effected by Consumption, and your comes need a daily pay to make them satisifed, which you can delay, but only for so long. There are factions, and loyalty quests for custom companions, hunting, foraging, and scouting, and larger scale battles with steep costs. The item customization for your comitatus and your companions is also decent. To say the least, this game is a very well-written, difficult and complex game. If you're looking for a relaxing time, this isn't for you. The game is challenging, but the writing is interesting, there is a lot of lore and excitement in the writing, and you won't regret buying it.

Great game for those who love to read about interesting worlds. A bit of Dark Sun, a bit of Dune, some Midnight (RPG) vibes as well. It is based on the devs D&D campaign world. Fantastic world building. The fall of their Roman-esque empire resulted in a continent of deserts. The new Empire is run by Liches, the official religions are Death and Rage/revenge. They have necromancers and death knights. Slaves, drugs, gladiators, all present. Grimdark, very cool setting. You are plopped down in the desert with a couple horses and a cart (you can upgrade to lizards later, as shown on the title screen). Make money however you want. It is hard, but you can save whenever you like. Save scumming is OK. The trading system doesn't hate you, it's not that hard to make money. Start moving around the world, and plenty of quests and events will happen to keep you interested. The gameplay loop of managing your caravan and making improvements/more money will keep you engaged. The story you uncover while exploring is the real star though. It's not perfect, but I'm not docking stars for that. The interface is finicky. The tactical combat is pretty decent, but he large scale combat isn't great. Out-right bugs were very rare, and the writing hardly has a single typo. I loved it.

If you liked Sunless Seas/Skies or the Banner Saga this is very much in that style and well worth the asking price. Vargus is set in a dark fantasy/post-apocalyptic setting and you play the leader of a humble merchant convoy, travelling from settlement to settlement across grim and inhospitable deserts. Like the sunless games, exploring this dark, dangerous world while managing your resources (money, food and your caravan's morale being the key ones) is the meat of the game, and you'll spend much of your time travelling between locations of interest, buying low, selling high and schlepping people and goods across the desert on behalf of various factions to maintain an income and upgrade your caravan and crew. There's stories, secrets and quests aplenty to discover and spice up the trading routine, all navigated via a sunless seas 'choose your own adventure' text-heavy interface. The world is really lovingly-made and fun to explore - it'll really suck you in. Different to the Sunless games, everything is turn-based, including the two combat mini-games which are serviceable but not the focus of the experience - combat is in many ways discouraged and you gain the game's version of XP by discovering new areas and secrets rather than through combat. The trading system is much deeper and more robust than the sunless games and strategizing profitable routes that also take you past your quest objectives makes up the bulk of the early to mid-game. The game is quite hard to begin with but later on money is less scarce and you're mostly exploring to uncover more story. As other reviews say, there is quite a lot of reading so if that's not your bag then give this a miss. Graphics and music are minimal but serviceable and evocative of the setting. The game-world is quite large too - I'm at least 50 hours in and while I've discovered most of the main outposts by now there are still a lot of quests to explore. All up, well worth the asking price if this is your kind of game!