I want MORE!

As a big fan of litrpg's, this reminded me of them... just in a game form. Ironic.

Immersive. Wide. Addictive. You enter a world broken by the gods and navigate the brutal landscape as a trader, warrior, or explorer; maybe all three - you decide! I've enjoyed the roleplay opportunities Vagrus presents. My trader likes to gives his comitus a break when we come into a city, resting his crew and slaves. But if obedience drops, punishments ensue! Then, what contracts should he take? What city to visit and what goods to ferry for the highest profit?

This game is most enjoyable if you can sit through a page or two of reading; if you want to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the world and just imagine yourself there. I've been hooked.

Don't have the DLC yet. Am planning on getting it. Devs -- you've done a fantastic job!

Another "it's OK"

Feels half baked but some really good ingredients are in the mix.

DLC is already expensive and keep making more while base game feels unfinished.

Dunno maybe it get's better but I wouldn't recommend as it is.

I usually don't post reviews but had to give my support to this gem of an indie game. In truth, it is not what I expected, but I've grown to love it.

Here are my thoughts:

-Early game is a grind. Admittedly, I failed the prologue the first pass around then jumped directly into the main game thereafter. On my third attempt, I finally got the hang of it after some trial and error. For any first-time players, you'll really need to focus on building up wealth. reputation among the factions, and trying to expand your comitatus. I really would not recommend exploring westward towards Avernum until you can get minimum 8-9 movement points, maintain high levels of vigor, and have around 300-400 military strength.

-Trade contracts are key for early- to mid-game. The stretch between Deven-Arken-TS are ripe for easy money back-and-forth. Trading marble bought from Arken especially can be a good money-maker. Once you have some expanded cargo space and some money for investments, buying crystals from Lumen to sell at Deven or buying cheap ore at the Mines of Plenty to sell at Deven are great. By mid-game, buying up scrap metal from your constant back-and-forth trading to smelt down at Avernum then selling at Deven will (by far) be the best, albeit requires heavy investment and time.

-Some quests are meant for early-game and I would really recommend getting companions early. Try to get them to level 2 or 3 and experiment with combinations. All of them have their ups and downs and there is atleast four or five companions I've yet to get despite my hours in the game. Lining up Goro and Harvik together for constant back-row attacks I have found to be really OP, especially with their attacks upgraded. Magic casters can also deal heavy damage but are prone to getting stomped on by heavy-damage enemies (having tanks like Vorax in front of them are key) and some late-game enemies seem to have strong magic resistance (although there are some items and perks you can get to negate this).

-The lore is absolutely amazing if you can get through the walls of text. As an avid reader, I love stuff like this but I know for some it isn't quite their cup of tea. However, my biggest gripe is that you really won't get into the weeds with the story and lore until mid-game as you'll be so focused on grinding up money to even just survive. However, as mentioned previously, by mid-game you'll feel more confident to explore and the game really begins to open up. You'll get disappointed that you can't visit the Dragonlands, the northern ash lands, or the south (which I really hope will be future DLC) but there tons of content that I am still finding things after 50 hours. Hell, there are still locations I've yet to visit nor have I even tried the new DLC land besides getting the astralobe and did [redacted] with Argos.

-Do not feel the need to take on every challenge. Especially once you get disposable income to spare, not every fight is worth it, even if you have a high chance of success. Sometimes you'll get f*cked by the randomness of the dice rolls, but usually the fights will screw with your vigor and thereby movement points even if it's a sweep. And because they always seem to attack when I am off the beaten path exploring, that can be life and death depending on how far you are from a town (and some times sell barely enough supplies to survive besides the big four cities). When I am raking in 400-500 dross easily, I found it's just easier to buy off bandits than fight them (unless they have some items I want).

-Once you get enough reputation with the factions, buy all your trade items from them in bulk for cheap. In fact, by mid-game, besides supplies and scrap metal (and ingots/ore), you really shouldn't be purchasing anything from the main market menu. Not only is it cheaper, they help you min-max your space. Also, if you are selling in a high demand area, overflowing the market too much will reduce the selling price and make you lose out on profits, The 3-5 full stacks they provide will be more than enough to maximize your profits.

-Because you'll be trade grinding so much in the early game, you'll get a good hang of where to sell what and how many supplies you should bring for each journey. I've gotten use to certain loops around the map and you will find what works best for you. I usually do Deven (buy chitin/scrap) --> Arken (buy marble, sell chitin) --> TZG (sell marble, buy mushroom beer/scrap) --> the Quarries/Lumen (sell mushroom beer, buy crystals) --> Mirage (buy dried fruit) --> Larnak (buy weed) --> Avernum (smelt down your scrap, sell part of your load) --> Ash to Sun Rock to Deven (where I sell off the rest of my crystals and smelted ingots). I'm still trying to min-max the proper items to sell but that scrap to ingot pipeline is really good if you 1) have the money for it (which by mid-game you should) and 2) don't get destroyed by bad RNG and have your caravan get ambushed. Although by 400 military strength with extra guards for sentries at night (as well as some other items you can attach on your comitatus), I rarely if ever get ambushed nowadays.

Overall, if you enjoy visual novel games and trading games, I would highly recommend this game. To be honest, it's been one of my best buys in recent years and I can't get enough of it. I really hope there will be more expansions than just 2 (one released and one to be released soon) so that we can get eventually a full map experience.

If any developer reads this, here are some minor suggestions:

-Some more events while travelling would be nice. Nothing big, just small RNG things that have a long MTTH (mean time to happen) so I'm not always getting the crappy bandit ambush event that I destroy in everytime.

-Please, please, please give us more interactions between the companions. There are all great but I would love some more cross-pollination between them. Perhaps quests involving a pair of them if you have both in your comitatus? RNG camp events where they have disputes between each other? Right now, they feel so... isolated from each other besides asking them for their opinion on their fellow attachees of the vagrus.

-I've only just started getting into the outpost system and it is a great late-game challenge. However, one thing I would love is eventually the ability to buy a villa in one of the major cities. As a House Venarus loyalist (Human Imperial Aristocrat), having a home in Larnak with the possibility of using it for buffs or just for the RP would be awesome.

-A very minor thing, but I would like some additional customization options for your vagrus and comitatus. I'm not sure if you have the means or time, but it would be cool to be able to have a custom appearance for your vagrus (even if it just appears in the corner of the main screen and in conversations). Furthermore, it would be nice to be able to recruit non-combatants (or even promote them from your own workers/slaves/fighters through random RNG and if you get one that lasts awhile) to give some buffs while costing dross for upkeep. A book-keeper, personal bat-man slave, etc.

-Combined with above, allow us to eventually have smaller comitati under us as we get massively-wealthy (unless we can already do this with the outpost system). Either your own faction or with a preexisting faction, it would be cool to fund small trade caravans with large risk but large reward. They should be expensive but it would cut back on the constant small-scale travelling late-game. Promoting fighters/workers above can be useful for this or having our companions become smaller vagri underneath us (would you become an arch-vagrus? lol).

-And lastly, please do not stop expanding this game. You have my loyalty with the current product that I'll probably buy any expansion you make. Eventually having the ability to do cross-continent journeys from one corner of the continent to the other would be immensely gratifying.