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!

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.

Fellow vagri,

2024 is coming to its inevitable end and so we are closing the books on this year’s adventures as well. For this occasion, we thought we’d look back on the past year and list some of the things that happened around Vagrus before signing off.

How It Started

We kicked off 2024 with a post about our plans for the year. In retrospect, wanting to release smaller bits of content at intervals while developing two very content-heavy DLCs with our tiny writing team was wishful thinking. Why it did not exactly pan out like that also involved a lot of other factors, like the many, many other aspects of the game we’ve worked hard to improve. Also, it seems that there’s no such thing as “smaller bits of content” when it comes to Vagrus. With millions of words worth of written content behind us, everything is interconnected and adding things can be very tricky. Also, players now expect meaty additions, so just any odd small story just won’t cut it. Still, this effort gave us Clandestine, so it was not in vain.

New or Updated Features

• You can now double-click to move on the campaign map.
• Revamped key bindings: defaults have been changed to be more intuitive and grouped by topics or UI categories, and new hotkeys have been added.
• The Leadership Perk “Command” has been reworked: it now unlocks all advanced Crew Combat actions passively and when Resourcefulness is spent, it raises Combat Strength and Defense by 15% as well as turns Critical Failure rolls to Failure.
• The effects of multiple “Terrifying” Perks no longer stack. Stacking caused Skills that target multiple positions with characters with the Perk to be close to useless.
• You can now butcher Beasts and Mounts directly at your Outpost instead of having to move them to the comitatus.
• You no longer lose Mounts when Fighters leave you during Events (ie. Outriders do not take their Mounts) for narrative reasons.

New Content

• The DLC ‘Old Acquaintances’ will now be unlocked to all its owners. It includes two Companions for the main campaign – Javek and Sedarias – with fully-fledged storylines including new enemies and rewards, their own Skills, Prowess progression, as well as four new Hirelings available at the Freelancers’ Guild in Tor’Zag’s Shelter, Deven, Avernum, Larnak, and (for owners of ‘Sunfire and Moonshadow’) the Onyx Outpost.

User Interface Improvements

• Clarified the visual guidance of Evading, including when you Evade to a position occupied by another character.
• Clarified the visual guidance of Javek’s Hypnotize Skill.
• We streamlined tooltip behavior while using a controller based on feedback and expanded their functionality.
• Changed the Move Skill in Companion Combat, giving it better feedback and a more streamlined usage.

Bug Fixes

• Steam cloud saves are now working and can store up to 200mb of save files.
• Tutorial windows no longer appear minimized under any circumstances.
• Owned DLCs will now always show up properly under ‘Extras’ in Vagrus games in GOG and Epic Games Store libraries.
• Event choices with an Achievement dependency now show the proper icon (chalice).
• When using a controller, the Chart tutorial no longer scrolls the same way as the Chart is zoomed in and out.
• Fixed a rare issue occurring on GOG and the Epic Games Store, causing players to be unable to select the Knowledge Ambition upon vagrus creation when owning the Vorax Free-LC.
• You can no longer turn back in the initial parts of Pilgrims of the Wasteland when using a controller.
• Fixed an issue caused by owning more than 10.000 Bross upon loading a game.
• Fixed an issue that caused the game to freeze in Companion Combat when Suppressing Shot would trigger an Evade.

Stay tuned and conquer the wasteland!

As part of the release of our upcoming Old Acquaintances DLC, The Freelancers’ Guild – or Collegium Mercennaris – will be added to the game, extending hireling options for aspiring vagri. Known across the Riven Realms for their neutrality, the Guild operates under a strict Imperial mandate, which allows them to lease out mercenaries to private persons. Collegia Mercennaris also prides itself on a diverse offering; ex-gladiators, legion veterans, and even Kal’rish warriors number among their ranks, as do licensed Necromancers who do not serve the Church for one reason or another.

Hey everyone,

This time, we come to you with a huge package of changes to the game. The first order of business:

The Prologue (Demo)

This scenario offers players a fixed timeframe within which they can play Vagrus without purchasing the game. Since its release in May of 2023, we’ve been eyeballing it for quite some time, and have finally overhauled it with many of the quality of life improvements the main game has seen. See our Steam post here for more information.

Hey everyone,

We haven’t released a new build since way back in February, so we have got a slew of changes to discuss. While the changes are wide-ranging and significant, we’ve broken down each batch into easily digestible sections, the first of which is the Outpost and its coming update. For those of you looking for an abridged breakdown of what we’ve been working on you may simply scroll down to the patch notes.

The Outpost feature has been on our minds for a long time but with all the other pressing matters – namely, our new DLC and the related coding –, it kept getting pushed down our priority list. In the end, however, we were able to dedicate a week to making improvements, focusing on adding clarity and showing more information to players. Please note that these changes are actively being worked on and will first come to the Steam Public Beta branch. Later, after being thoroughly playtested, they will go live on the default branches on all platforms.

Following on from last week’s post about music, this week we’d like to take a look at a place that is often no stranger to both ambiance and music: a tavern. We commissioned the new tavern art last year to diversify the many inns and watering holes of the game world. A combination of complementary hues, subtle lights, and peculiar ornaments make up this painting by Péter Kovács, which is used in a variety of locations in Vagrus’s major expansion, Sunfire and Moonshadow.