After a road that was almost as long and arduous as that of Kharandar and his merry band of explorers, we have finally reached our destination: the closing chapter of the Expedition storyline is now available to all owners of At the Heart of Ruin! The free content is accompanied by a slew of performance improvements and tweaks, which we believe, improve the games significantly.

In the video game industry of the last decade or so, it has become increasingly common and appealing to talk about involving players in developer decision making, though what this means exactly can vary greatly between projects. In this article, we’ll discuss some elements related to eliciting, handling, and incorporating player feedback in Vagrus, so if you are interested in how you all had an effect on this game, dive right in!

This week, we have two things to talk about that are close to our hearts: we were invited to speak on the Into the Indies podcast, and we’ve just released a brand new update! Let’s get into the nitty-gritty of both.

Into the Indies

We’ve had the pleasure of appearing on Indie Game Picks before in the form of a written interview, but this time felt different. In this Into the Indies episode, our Creative Lead Geri Mácsai and Project Lead Gábor Szutorisz had the chance to sit down and truly reflect on the journey – how it all started from humble, uncertain beginnings, and how Vagrus slowly took shape through years of persistence, experimentation, and learning.

We’re back and we've got news to share! First, our ‘Cultured’ Support Pack is approaching its release, and second, we’re updating our official soundtrack (OST) very soon, which will then include tracks from our At the Heart of Ruin expansion. Additionally, we’ll also be updating our Patronage Pack, which will now include wallpaper pieces from Sunfire and Moonshadow, Old Acquaintances, and At the Heart of Ruin.

Deep beneath the broken earth of the Mountains of Fire, there exists a subterranean realm where amber crystalline growths, fungal forests, ancient Dwarven roads, lava-rivers, and long-abandoned mines await intrepid explorers. It is a perilous world full of secrets, wrapped in near-boundless gloom, and it leads every which way one can imagine. And yet, dear traveler, these things are not all that await interlopers.

This week we wanted to confirm that the second cosmetic supporter pack for Vagrus is coming along nicely, and also provide a little peak into said progress. These supporter packs are ways to further aid the development of Vagrus and our studio in general, and they provide a cosmetic for every Companion in the game as a “thank you”.

While the studio is still trying to recover from the exertion of the last couple of weeks (or months, really) leading up to the release of At the Heart of Ruin, we are patching and updating the game with hotfixes to iron out any outstanding issues. A detailed list of updates and fixes are below at your perusal, but we’ve also started to conceptualize our next cosmetic pack because of how popular the first one turned out to be – go check it out!

In the leadup to the release of At the Heart of Ruin on the 22nd of October (accompanied by the Ruinous Supporter Pack), we’ve already talked about new mechanics and features, like the updated throw-out or Exploration Encounters, but we thought it’s also time to touch upon the narrative and graphic art side of things.

Hey everyone,

We return to you with another round of updates, this time the focus being on performance improvements and save game files. Controllers received some love as well, fixing inconsistencies, updating UI, and squashing bugs that pertained to them specifically. We also reworked the Extras Menu due to requirements on certain other platforms, though admittedly, its functions are much better now, allowing you to listen to tracks of the OST there and check out other extra content you own.

The theme and look of this week’s location reveal for our upcoming DLC, At the Heart of Ruin, is quite different from the previously teased ones, all fiery and desolate. It is true that vagri who brave the Mountains of Fire will mostly traverse a volcanic hellscape replete with peril of the scorching variety, but what lies beneath is also intriguing.