Vagrus is 5 years old! Over the past week, we’ve been looking back at the places, faces, and sounds of the Riven Realms, while asking you to share your own favorites. Thank you for joining the conversation and sharing the memories that made Vagrus special for you. Now we have asked our team about their favorite memories from the past five years. We are also coming with gifts, and besides the Anniversary Edition and the in-game banners, we’re also celebrating with a GIVEAWAY, where 5+5 lucky winners can choose a Vagrus key for their preferred platform.

Team Retrospect

So, what does the team at Lost Pilgrims pick as their favorite parts of Vagrus? We picked five categories and selected the best replies from our colleagues.

Q: What is your favorite location in the Riven Realms, and why?

Sonja: “There’s something creepy and sad about the Dead Forest and the lumber camps alongside its border. Many of the location paintings convey these, but somehow the flitting ash, the great color work, and the fantastic composition of these pieces make them exceptional in my eyes. I also imagine the quiet sometimes, and revel in the feeling of a forest – a hotbed of life – turning into such a dead, cold location.”

Beni & Sztaszov both picked all the locations from At the Heart of Ruin. “I love all of them – both Bence’s and Péter’s paintings. Really can’t pick a favorite, I keep going back and forth between… well, all of them!” Beni says, and Sztaszov nods in agreement. “Dwarves here and in other settings have a special place in my heart. Being able to dedicate an expansion to them, taking players on a journey to Dvendar Tharr, and show off Dwarven culture was a dream come true, regardless of it being financially unwise, heh.” Bence also shares this enthusiasm for the Molten Kingdom: “Especially Varnurud, and how it opens up, changing the perspective, with all the little details spread over it.”

Ákos: “It’s a tough pick, I had to browse through the hundreds of background images we have to be reminded of the locations, and boy, are there too many to choose from! I think I’ll go with Celeanos, because it’s a bit different from the (haunting) wasteland depictions. It makes you wonder what is beyond poor, broken Xeryn. You just want to hop on one of those ships and sail the dark seas. Then there’s the Writhing Oasis. The color scheme is unusually vibrant for the rest of the locations, and that whole vibe of a living, fused-together glade of organic matter just sends shivers down my spine.”

Q: Which character in the game is your personal favorite, and why?

Sztaszov: “Well, for me it’s Harvek, but only because I actually played him in one of our old TTRPG campaigns a long time ago, in a story set some time after Vagrus. I was in control of the pragmatic criminal for a brief time only, just for a few sessions, and he… did not end well in that story. Is that canon? I’m not sure!”

Beni: “To me, the character design of Sedarias (both living and Undead) is so strong that he has to be my pick. The man oozes presence and his threatening demeanor works really well in the writing, too. Also, Knights of the Black Sun are just so cool. I had the opportunity to work on them in the concept phase, as well as on armor that belongs to an alternate Sedarias costume, and I loved every bit of drawing them.”

Viktor: “It’s Vorax, of course! The concept of an Undead cook is funny in and of itself because he has lost his sense of taste, but I love the way his combat skills are also humorous. He vomits on the enemy. He flips people off and it drives them nuts! Plus, he’s always happy. Best chap in my book.”

Q: What is your favorite scene, quest, or story moment in Vagrus?

Beni: “For me, it’s the first time you enter the Outer Realms. Xeryn is an unusual fantasy continent to begin with, but when you suddenly step outside of it, you suddenly find yourself on a floating island in the middle of a crimson void with outlandish locations and cyclopean ruins. It just opens up the world and immediately ignites the imagination, which only becomes stronger when you meet Kadaath’s guardian. The implementation of the new map and transition was an interesting project, too, and it paved the way to future locations, like the Dwarven underground.”

Bence: “The intro and teaser of Old Acquaintances culminates in the skeletal hand of Sedarias bursting out from under the black, accursed sands of Arenas Negras. Dry thunder flashes just as this happens, of course! I always liked how it was cheesy but creepy at the same time, while also bringing back a fan favorite in a sort of shock-reveal. The fact that he is now an Undead was also a cool twist, I think. These have cemented it as the most memorable moment for me.”

Sztaszov: “I think I’ll go with the ending of the Sunken Tower. The location itself is really out of the ordinary, even for Xeryn, but when I arrived at the final, sealed area, and came face to face with what happened in ancient times, the scene just blew my mind. I was aware of the place’s lore and story beats in general during development, of course, but I did not expect the ending to go down like that. The cosmic horror really worked for me, but on top of that, some of the reveals about the setting’s lore were super intriguing.”

Q: What is your favorite piece of music or audio moment in the game?

Erika: “For me, it’s “Blood-tinged Dunes” from the Sunfire and Moonshadow OST, hands down. I can’t stop listening to it. Daniel builds beautifully on the Humming Composer’s original Vagrus main theme, adding middle eastern instruments, and with it, an element of wonder and, well, sadness. For what this fictional world could have been, but alas, it fell into ruin. Tracks like these are the reason I wanted to have articles that look back on locations and their score – and so, the Revisited series was created.”

Sonja: “I have a special fondness for Celeanos, the hidden port, with all the Lovecraftian themes, the shanty town, and of course, the pirates! So it comes as no surprise that my favorite piece of music is “Hidden Cove”, the theme of Celeanos. It has everything you want from a pirate town – whimsy, adventure, and dread. It reminds me of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie score in the best way possible, though it has its own thing going on, too.” 

Geri: “Mine is “Hollow Lands”, though I keep using all of them for our TTRPG sessions, and I love them all. But for that particular track, I told the composer (the Humming one) to listen to a lot of Gothic 1 music, and take inspiration from there. I wanted Hargad Tuul to have a similar atmosphere with its craggy but relatively verdant wilderness and its many outlaws. At the same time, I wanted to give homage to the magnificent work of Kai Rosenkranz. I think the end result is spectacular, not only because the composer completed the assignment perfectly, but because the track also manages to avoid being a lame imitation, instead standing strong on its own. It even summons the main theme in a playful way that I can’t get enough of.”

Q: What's one part of Vagrus you enjoyed working on in particular?

Sonja: “I’m going to go with painting the Chart, which was my responsibility, even though I’m mainly a character artist. At times, it was frustrating work, technically very challenging, but it also helped me get to know the Riven Realms better. I remember looking forward to the little lore dumps I got from Geri to help bring the continent of Xeryn to life in a map format. That same approach with background information is what makes working on the NPC portraits extra fun as well.”

Ákos: “I’ll pick something unusual for my field of expertise as well: the physical editions of the base game, and all the goodies that went into the box. Yep, many players are unaware, but back in crowdfunding days, we did the unthinkable and created two boxes of physical editions for Vagrus. It was the most frustrating, most awesome thing to work on for someone who is mostly specialized in UI and web design. I think we outdid ourselves there, especially with how the box and the artbook came out. I’m really proud of all that. I think we still have some lying around, though we’d have to figure out how to get it to players who’d want them first.”

Geri: “Jeez, it’s kind of like having to pick between your children, so I’m not sure if I can name a single thing. In general, I love hiding stuff that observant or perceptive players can then find – lore tidbits, secret loot, hidden paths, and so on. There’s a lot of fun in building stories in this modular way, and coupled with the interaction with the community, it almost brings the feeling of playing the role of a Game Master for hundreds of people. When it comes to writing, I’m also very fond of the character work in the Expedition storyline in At the Heart of Ruin, because it allowed me to delve deeper into NPC motivations and choices.”

Anniversary Giveaway

To celebrate Vagrus turning five, we’re giving 5+5 lucky winners a Vagrus key of their choice (1 base game key OR 1 major DLC key OR 2 small DLC keys)! To enter, simply like and repost our giveaway post on X and BlueSky, and reply with your preferred platform and region. The giveaway runs from October 5–9, with winners contacted via DM after the draw. Good luck!

Last Call for the Patreon Revamp Survey

If you haven’t had a chance to share your thoughts yet, there’s still time. We’d love to hear what you value or would value most about supporting Vagrus, what kind of content and perks interest you, and what you’d like to see from us in the future. Your feedback will help us better understand what matters to our community as we rethink our Patreon. Take the survey and let us know what you think!

This is it for now, thank you again for being here and celebrating with us. Watch out for further updates and giveaways in October! Until then, stay safe, stay awesome, and conquer the wasteland.

 – The Lost Pilgrims Team

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