Vagrus: The Riven Realms - Fig Campaign Live

Myrthos

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Sooner than expected, the Fig campaign for Vagrus: The Riven Realms has gone live. It is an open access campaign, which is similar to the early access of Steam.

If you want to join this campaign, you can get a $5 discount by using this link.



Embark on a perilous journey across a realm forsaken by the gods and devastated by an arcane cataclysm. Accompanied by a hardy crew, you must trade, fight, and explore your way to success as the leader of a traveling company in Vagrus, a post-apocalyptic fantasy RPG-strategy hybrid.​

With Vagrus, we are aiming to revisit the classical turn-based RPG experience with an emphasis on narrative and exploration. Our unique setting, the Riven Realms, is a cruel, forsaken world that is quite different from most high fantasy settings, and the game builds heavily on immersing the player in its dark atmosphere.​
As a backer you get the following:​

As a backer, you are immediately added to our Discord channel, where you can provide feedback, see all the latest patch notes, get updates, and hang out with us!

Open Access gives us the opportunity to get more involvement from the community as we expand Vagrus. We want you to be a part of the development process and help the game reach its full potential.​

As we reach additional milestones, Open Access backers will automatically receive additional content through-out the campaign (check out our development roadmap).

The current build of the game features the introductory story 'Pilgrims of the Wasteland'. Below is a more detailed outline for the existing build as well as content developed during this Open Access campaign. We can't wait to continue expanding Vagrus - The Riven Realms with your help and hope you love playing it as much as we love making it!​
And this is their motivation to run the campaign like this:​

We have always planned to run a crowdfunding campaign, not only to gain support for going faster and further with the project but also to engage with players about certain aspects of the game. When we heard about Fig's new Open Access model we figured it was a match made in heaven. Combining the best traits of a crowdfunding campaign and traditional Early Access within a positive environment just felt right immediately. Additionally, we are in a good place from a feature and content perspective: we have a strong Alpha build that players can already enjoy right away.​

Funded milestones and hence all the content developed during the campaign will become part of the final release of the game received by backers on all tiers.​
More information.
 
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Updated the video, as apparently we were not referring to the latest one.
 
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@Sztaszov;, how comparable is this game to Battle Brothers? At first sight it seems pretty similar.

Honestly, the main campaign page seems a bit sparse on details, if I compare to other campaigns.
Some questions that I did not find answer to immediately (I didn't watch the video, just checked the main page):
- Is the world randomly generated or is it fixed?
- Are the characters that can join you randomly generated, or pre-scripted companions?
- How deep will the interactions be with your companions: will they leave when they don't agree with you, can you romance 'm (I had to ask ;)), … ?
 
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Ah right, additional question: what distribution platforms are you looking at? Will there be an option to redeem the game on GOG?
 
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For the PC (our primary platform), we are planning on eventually releasing the game on Steam, GOG (but we haven't contacted them yet), and Epic.
They're also considering tablets and possibly the switch.

I hope people aren't turned off by having to go with Discord as a distribution platform for the Alpha.
 
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This looks like a game which may be for me. I rarely buy games new, and what I see (for now) reminds me more of a budget game and the entry price seems high, but its hard to determine the scope and features from the Fig page. I'd be willing to pay the entry price for something with an epic main and quality side quests like Pillars of Eternity or D:OS2 has. So I also have a few questions.

Do you create a main character or party? Or are you playing a cast of premade characters?
What does character customization look like?
How many of the quest are handmade? How many of them are proceduraly generated or random?
 
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Hey guys, thanks for the questions, let me make an attempt to answer them all (yeah, I'm a dev on the LP team):

how comparable is this game to Battle Brothers? At first sight it seems pretty similar

Based on my familiarity with Battle Brothers (a dozen hours or so on an earlier build), our game is similar on the surface, in the vaguest of terms: you control and lead a company who travel a lot in an open world and are armed and the setting is dark fantasy.

Here's a list of what I think we do very differently in Vagrus:
- The campaign map is turn-based not real time
- The focus of the game is more narrative-heavy, which also means more reading and story
- Characters (companions) have more in-depth backgrounds, quests, etc
- Combat is not hex-based but more jRPG-style with a bit of Darkest Dungeons thrown in
- Combat is much less the focus of Vagrus than BB
- The setting is vastly different (BB is germanic dark fantasy, Vagrus is post-apocalyptic Roman Empire / Planescape dark fantasy)
- Trading and exploration is much more of a focus if you want it to be

Is the world randomly generated or is it fixed?

The world is fixed in a sense that settlements are always there, names are always the same, etc, but some content will be generated each playthrough and as time goes on in a playthrough (for example tasks/contracts that factions give out or rumors).

Are the characters that can join you randomly generated, or pre-scripted companions?

The characters are pre-scripted companions with their own backgrounds (like in Baldur's Gate, for example) but sometimes there is randomness in who you find or where/when you find them in a playthrough (especially towards the beginning).

How deep will the interactions be with your companions: will they leave when they don't agree with you, can you romance

Pretty deep I'd say: they all have their recruitment questlines, their personal questlines (that are integral in levelling them up), their preferences and alignments. You can talk to them about a variety of stuff and they will interact with each other. Some of them are not compatible at all. They will definitely be upset if you do things the way they don't like and even leave in extreme cases. As for romance, I have to admit: I'm not usually looking for that sort of thing in the games I love, so I haven't really wanted to add it, as I'm more focused on writing good characters and interesting stories first, and most of these fellows aren't actively looking for partners but who knows? I don't want to have that option as an afterthought, so it has to be genuine if it makes it into the game for a companion or two.

Do you create a main character or party? Or are you playing a cast of premade characters?

You create your own character in the main campaign who is the leader of the traveling company. The companions that can be recruited are fixed characters (see above). And you also have your nameless crew (fighters, scouts, workers, slaves, and so on).

Note however, that in the current build, the open world part is not yet available (and will arrive in a few months). The currently playable standalone story (6-10 hours long) has a fixed character whose story you play through but he's generic enough AND there are choices aplenty so that most people will not have a hard time identifying with him or playing him in a completely different way.

What does character customization look like?

There are a lot of perks in several categories (attributes like 'Tough' or 'Charismatic', professions like 'Alchemist' or 'Intimidate', leadership skills for your vagrus, and combat traits for the companions as well as stat-boosts) that you can buy for characters as they level up. You can also put some trinkets on companions for further bonuses and synergies. Your own character has other unique stats that can be raised, like Resourcefulness that can be used in a large variety of situations to boost chances of success.

How many of the quest are handmade? How many of them are proceduraly generated or random?

All quests and stories are hand-made (and there are a lot of them). There will be content that is randomly generated: tasks that factions give to you in turn for rewards and reputation. But these are on top of a ton of narrative so that players can have a variety of activities to turn to.

reminds me more of a budget game and the entry price seems high, but its hard to determine the scope and features from the Fig page. I'd be willing to pay the entry price for something with an epic main and quality side quests like Pillars of Eternity or D:OS2 has. So I also have a few questions.

Keep in mind that what you see is still in Alpha, so a ton of polish, features, and content is coming until release. I don't know how good an idea it is compare Vagrus to AAA titles like PoE or D:OS games (especially at this stage) or if even we want to compete with those. We are a small team with a lot of passion for this game and try to make the best of what we've got, aiming for higher and higher production values as our budget grows. That said, Vagrus will easily have 40-60 hours of gameplay in the end, or even more if someone wants to see/read everything or go for consequent playthroughs.
 
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Thanks Soulbane, that answers my questions (for now).
You might want to add some of this stuff to your campaign page, though. Like I said, I feel like it is a bit lacking in details.

But, the concept sounds good, so I will bite and back the game. :)
 
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Hehe, now imagine that people keep telling us the opposite, that there is too much info on the campaign page (including the Fig guys)!

But yea, maybe some of this stuff is useful to potential backers, perhaps in the form of FAQ items? I'll talk to the team about this.
 
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Here's a question: can you include full-res screenshots in the Fig details? I want to see some of these interface images up close.
 
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This actually looks pretty cool.
 
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Looks good though not a fan of the combat style. Hope you guys get funded.
 
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Thanks for the supportive comments guys! Totally get that some people prefers to wait for final release and/or confirmation on your fav. platform. We do need buyers at the time of release too so just wishlist/follow the game and get notified.

Yep, we would love to publish the game on GOG too. We have already made contact with them but they said they did not assess games in Alpha stage (as it would be unfair to the dev), so we should let them know when Vagrus gets closer to Beta and they will make their decision then. So, yes we would like to but cannot commit to it just yet as it really depends on them.
@screeg; Unfortunately the site seems to be resizing the images we upload so suggest to check them in the news section of our homepage: vagrus.com or on Steam. Or why not try the Demo and see them for yourself? It is available via our Discord server. Thanks, cheers!
 
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