You will most likely come across the artwork you can see here when wandering into sewers below Imperial cities in Vagrus' main campaign. This might not seem a very good idea since such places are typically neglected and extremely filthy. They are also most likely infested by mutated beasts or stray undead. Yet a vagrus needs to plunge into such vile places more often than not.

As we are getting closer and closer to releasing the first playable build of the main campaign of Vagrus, it is perhaps a good time to talk a bit about the differences between the open world campaign and 'Pilgrims of the Wasteland'. The focus of this is going to be narrative design and stories but there are going to be implications on gameplay as well.

'When we arrived at the observation  post, Borgan was nowhere to be seen. The craven slaves pointed to tracks in the sand that looked like someone had been dragged away, accompanied by small, triangular stab marks – Yrg prints, I presumed correctly. These led to a dark crevice at the foot of one of the towers. We tried calling after Borgan but there was no answer. Eventually, I sent down one of the slaves with a torch. The unfortunate bloke happened upon the mutilated body of Borgan down there and fled back up in a panic. Yrg are clearly present down in the underside of the city, that much is certain. This ties in perfectly with what we know of the Elven tribes of the Second Age. The accounts of Sage Ikar record that the realm of Dor Anthelas was involved in a great war against the Yrg that lasted for  millennia. What these insect broods were like, I cannot imagine, but  they must have been a far cry from the mostly docile Yrg we know today.'

Besides working on implementing new features into our Open Access build, we made great progress with prepping for the debut of the first Open-world region - Tor'Zag's Shelter and its surroundings -  which basically is about the first half of the main game. We are actually contemplating to bring its release ahead of polishing all the features.

The creepy Hollow Eyes may look like weird children but in truth they are one of the most dangerous enemies you can come across while traversing the Riven Realms. Luckily, these creatures of cold hatred can only be encountered in and around the Hollow Crags and the Hargad Tuul in general.

'Worry not, general. Their right flank won't be able to cross the gullies to press your lines. I and my apprentices will make sure that the enemy is flooded in corpus vile. Worry not about squandering resources, either. Those same soldiers in the gully will provide the reinforcements.'

In this video, you can check out the upcoming Scouting feature in Vagrus in action. Essentially, you can gather information about neighboring nodes by sending scouts there. You can find more information on this in a previous post here.

'You can say a lot of nastiness about the Imperials but one thing is for sure: they know how to build stuff. Take Fort Larius, for instance. They constructed it over seven hundred years ago. It survived the war against the Dragons and the Orcish invasion! The fools abandoned it and the ages gnawed at its walls and turrets incessantly until it became a hollow ruin. And yet, the towers and walls still stand, only awaiting someone to occupy the place and make use of it.'

'Day 54 - Another week goes by and the vile horde broke again on the wall of our scuta today like the fierce tidal waves break on the rocks of Anurao Bay, the place of my birth. Most of the day after dawn devolved into a cruel dance in the mud and gore - one of pushing and pulling and stabbing at the rhythm dictated by the roar of our foes and the bone whistle of our centurion. Yet nobody complains; no true legionnaire would. The green-skinned bastards have to be stopped here. For our families. For our Empire. For the Emperor, too, though I would rather pray to Old Hand Marcus than to the distant, slumbering God-King in our capital that I've never seen. But best keep that to myself, else the Priests of Sergorod find some punishment for me. They would sure love to. Perhaps there will be a night attack, too, at least that's what the talk is around camp now. If so, and considering the losses of the 3rd and 7th cohors in the last few days, I am not sure I will ever see the capital...'

At long last, Scouting is making its way into Vagrus. It is a vital feature in navigating and surviving the many wastelands of the continent of Xeryn.