Vagrus - The Riven Realms News

[h3]Hey everyone,[/h3]

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.

Speaking of which…

Vagrus - the Riven Realms and all of its DLCs are now live on Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PS4, and PS5! It’s been a long, hard road getting the game into a ready state for consoles, offering the features necessary that allow it to play well on these platforms, but we got there, and we can’t wait for console players to sink their teeth into the experience. If you have friends who prefer to play on consoles, we’d very much appreciate it if you were to inform them of the game’s console release.

And now, onto the patch notes!

Important Note: Considering the extent of the improvements, there is little to no chance that we broke nothing in the process. Assume that we did not want to make anyone's life harder. If you see something amiss, please flag it to us using the usual channels, like the inbuilt reporting tool (F1 button), forums, and our Discord server.

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[h2]Patch 1.200 - Codename: New Horizons [/h2]

[h3]Performance[/h3]

• All around performance improvements.
  
• Additional improvements to the save/load game menu points (they could become choppy when you had a lot of savegame files).
  
• Significantly improved the performance in long Companion Combat encounters.
  
• Known Issue: the Camp UI can still become laggy; we are working on it!
  

[h3]Improved and Updated Features :gift:[/h3]

• Save file sizes have been reduced (and more reductions are on the way).
  
• Reworked the Extras Menu (from the Main Menu): you can now check DLCs and artwork, as well as play music directly from there (the latter two only if you own the appropriate DLC of course – Patronage Pack and OST, respectively).
  
• Removed some useless settings from the game options (for example, the ability to turn off tooltips).
  
• Removed the option of double clicking/tapping for map movement – it is now default for mouse & keyboard users and disabled for controller users.
  
• Deleted the obsolete, very old logs from local files, freeing up some (tiny) hard drive space.
  

[h3]Controller-related Fixes :pencil:[/h3]

• Reworked how Companion Combat is managed by controllers (resulting in much better and intuitive handling).
  
• Added context-switching for controllers, allowing for quickly and effectively changing active tabs and windows.
  
• Improved a number of tooltips and tutorials to adhere to terminology relevant to controllers.
  
• A few missing controller-related icons were added to the Chart UI.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused certain Task-related icons on the Chart to be unselectable with the controller.
  
• Improved the drag&drop functionality on the Cargo UI.
  

[h3]Bug Fixes :bug:[/h3]

• The version number discrepancy between the main menu and the game log has been resolved.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused certain location background illustrations to appear blank.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused a soft crash during the tutorial (on Morwen’s Character Sheet).
  
• Fixed an issue that caused the Outpost to switch back to selling Salt even after it was given a “Keep” order.
  
• Fixed an issue that caused Deputies to be unassigned or prevented them from being assigned in the first place in machine-localized games.
  
• Missing text on many UI elements in the Chinese machine localization due to font loading issues have been fixed.
  
• The “Esc” key now consistently navigates to the Main Menu where it is intended to do so.
  
• Removed the occasional double tooltip from certain vagrus (leader) Perks.
  
• Corrected various inconsistencies in Events and fixed some typos.
  

As ever, more is coming, so stay tuned and conquer the wasteland!
- The Lost Pilgrims Team



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[h3]Hi everyone,
[/h3]

As most of you probably know, we are currently deep in the development of our upcoming DLC (or dare we say expansion) for Vagrus, titled At the Heart of Ruin. It’s coming along nicely, though it’ll take some time to finish all the cool stories and juicy quests. In the meantime, we keep teasing locations, enemies, and characters from it over on our socials, so keep a weather eye on the horizon. However, that’s not all we’ve been cooking up, and it’s time to finally reveal that very soon, Vagrus is coming to consoles!

When we released Vagrus in October 2021, we could not have imagined that so many would be enthralled by the world of the Riven Realms. Naturally, we have been busy trying to get the game to as many people as possible, but the sheer complexity of the game left us skeptical of the viability of a release on consoles. However, those days are long behind us, and so we are thrilled to announce that Vagrus will be coming to consoles on the 31st of March, 2025 – specifically, to Playstation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox.
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
None of this would be possible if it weren’t for the devotion and ample feedback of our players. That feedback, coupled with a strong desire to experience the game with a controller, was part of what drove our team to deliver on console releases, culminating in the builds or ports we shall share very soon.

Both previous free DLCs have been integrated into these releases, which means if you’re eager to sink your teeth into the game, it will also come with the Vorax DLC and the shifting dungeon known as the Sunken Tower included in Seekers of Knowledge. All other DLCs will be available for purchase, too, of course.

Vagrus is a complicated game. We know that, and thus, bringing together elements relating to UI and UX have been instrumental for the impending release. The testing process – both in-house and outside of the studio – has helped us craft a version of the game that we are proud to put on the market.

So, if you’re a returning player or a console aficionado who’s been waiting for more intricate, strategic, and lore-rich RPGs (with a lot of reading) to reach your favorite platform, we’ve got you covered. We’ve also created a new trailer to mark the release; it’s going to be an important one, and we hope you’ll spread the word. It’s important to note that getting the game into the hands of more players vastly raises the chance of a small indie studio such as Lost Pilgrims being able to deliver more content, more adventures, and more stories to all players.

As always, we wish you prosperity and good fortune out there exploring the Riven Realms, or indeed any realm. Stay safe, stay awesome, and conquer the wasteland!

– The Lost Pilgrims Team

[h3]Hey Everyone,[/h3]

Our aim at Lost Pilgrims is not just to create memorable gaming experiences, but also to introduce you to people who contribute to building our cozy community. Therefore, we have interviewed Ben the Human, who has been streaming Vagrus for a while now and recently arrived at a major milestone by concluding a run with over 250 episodes. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to ask him about his gaming journey and his experience with Vagrus:

[h3]Lost Pilgrims: When did you start playing video games?[/h3]

Ben the Human: I've been playing video games since I can remember. As a kid, my family had a Super Nintendo, and playing Mario was one of my earliest gaming memories and I never stopped gaming!

[h3]LP: What games do you feel were formative for you as a gamer?[/h3]

BtH: The games I played the most when I was little were classics like The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64 and Age of Empires II on PC. As I got older, I started getting into more challenging games like Dark Souls and XCOM. I even have a soft spot for racing games because Need for Speed Underground was the coolest when I was younger.

[h3]LP: What is it that you particularly like about streaming gameplay? What are the biggest challenges in streaming for you?[/h3]

BtH: I started streaming and recording gameplay as a hobby in late 2022/early 2023. People seemed to enjoy it, so I kept it up. It's been a big learning experience – everything from video and audio production to figuring out what kinds of games people like to watch. But I'm still learning and improving all the time!

[h3]LP: How did you find Vagrus and what caught your interest?[/h3]

BtH: Vagrus was a game I had my eye on for a while before playing it. I had read some great things about this in-depth trading RPG, so when I decided to start recording for YouTube, I thought, "Why not give it a try?" Now I have over 250 episodes recorded!



[h3]LP: What aspects of Vagrus do you like in particular?[/h3]

BtH: I was instantly hooked by the incredible world-building in Vagrus. It's this living, breathing world that you get immersed in, where your actions can have major consequences – or go completely unnoticed. The narrative is brilliantly done, and the challenging yet rewarding trading simulation gameplay is a lot of fun to figure out.

[h3]LP: What are your most memorable stories, quests, or questlines in the game?
[/h3]
BtH: My favorite quest overall has to be the one with the Sand Wyrms. I spent so long fighting those horrible creatures that I think I developed some trauma! But the quest builds to this epic, climactic finale that it's definitely earned its place as one of my favorites in the game.



[h3]LP: In a Companion Combat, which Companions do you tend to use? What is your “best team”?
[/h3]
BtH: I find myself really attached to certain characters in combat. Right now, my frontline is Eylani, Gor'Goro, and Skornar, with Nedir, Finndurarth, and Javek in the back. Before Javek, I was torn between Crifta and Garrick for the other backline spot.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]LP: Full mounted or all-in hunting & foraging?
[/h3]
BtH: I think my approach is a bit of a middle ground - I'm too attached to my beasts of burden to go fully mounted, but I also don't max out my scouts or foraging parties. I just kind of pick up supplies as I go and it seems to work out.

[h3]LP: What was your biggest challenge so far that you had to face in the game?
[/h3]
BtH: Nedir's questline was one of the toughest for me to complete. It might have been because it was relatively early in my game and my fighters weren't fully leveled yet, but that was the combat I had to restart the most.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]LP: Do you remember any moment that drew an outstanding or weird reaction from you and your audience?[/h3]

BtH: One of the coolest experiences was the first time I used the portals to the Bronze Desert. Popping out on the other side of the world in that vast desert was just an incredible feeling - a really unique moment in Vagrus.



Ben is taking a little break from streaming Vagrus for now, but cannot wait to get back into it and try our new DLC coming later this year. Don't forget to follow Ben on Twitch or Youtube for more amazing content!

With that, we’ll sign off for now. As for you, as always, stay awesome and conquer the wasteland!

– The Lost Pilgrims Team

[h3]Fellow vagri,[/h3]

With 2024 behind us, we're closing the book on those adventures and looking forward to what 2025 brings. For this occasion, we thought we’d look back on the past year and list some of the things that happened around Vagrus.

[h3]How It Started[/h3]
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.

[h3]Clandestine Part 1[/h3]
Of course, we haven’t forgotten about Clandestine, which started out as a multi-part, free questline that we wanted to add part by part. Unfortunately, we fell in love with it, so it became intricate and too big in scope. We have every intention to keep adding the other parts but with the shift of the industry towards the middle of the year, we realized that we can’t spare the capacity for more free stuff for a while and instead have to concentrate on things that generate revenue. It’s not an ideal position but watching so many companies and studios close down around us made us face harsh realities. We’re super satisfied with Part 1, though – it has a unique atmosphere, artistic identity, and creepy storyline that we’d love to revisit one day.


[h3]Soundtrack[/h3]
In the first quarter of 2024, after finally squashing most issues with Sunfire and Moonshadow, we also got around to adding its awesome soundtrack to the OST. With that, we also immersed ourselves again in the great, forlorn ambiance of Vagrus’s music.

[h3]A Team of Pilgrims[/h3]
This year will no doubt go down in gaming history as a painful one for many and we’ve had our fair share of hardships. Despite these, we managed to keep the team mostly intact. Bence and Zoli, both consummate professionals in their own fields (graphic design and quality assurance/coding), have been integral parts of our team since last year even though we officially welcomed them early this year. Viktor also returned to Lost Pilgrims after spending some time honing his coding skills, which allowed us to expand into new territories. We’re happy to report that the Pilgrims also like spending time together outside work, be it fighting Great Old Ones on the tabletop or gathering for a few drinks and chatting.


[h3]Praetor Edition[/h3]
Another big milestone was the introduction of the game’s Praetor Edition, our largest collected offering to date. It includes everything we offer for Vagrus, including the OST, the Patronage Pack, and the Season Pass, too, at what we believe is a great price.

[h3]Turn-based Thursday[/h3]
It has become somewhat of a tradition now for us to get involved in the organization of this festival on Steam. Once again, we teamed up with Terra Randoma, Trese Brothers (Star Traders: Frontiers & Cyber Knights: Flashpoint), Unleash the Giraffe (Seer’s Gambit & Obsidian Prince), and Curious Dynamics (Folk Emerging). We can’t recommend these games enough.


[h3]QoL Quest[/h3]
One of the important marks throughout 2024 for the team was our almost single-minded dedication to improving the game’s UI, mechanics, tutorials, and controls by adding quality-of-life (QoL) features or expanding already existing ones. There were several rounds of updates revolving around these, as well as improvements for the outpost (a seemingly well-received part of gameplay) and a complete rework of keyboard controls.

[h3]Old Acquaintances[/h3]
June brought with it (apart from crippling heat) Vagrus’s second DLC that is part of the Season Pass, Old Acquaintances. It reintroduced two Companions from ‘Pilgrims of the Wasteland’ and expanded their stories in the main campaign. On top of that, it added four hirelings you could make use of in your playthroughs. It took longer to develop than we had anticipated but it delivered a depth in storytelling and characterization that we’re really proud of. The DLC’s reception was great, too, and we were really excited to see players enjoying the intricately built Companion storylines as they returned to old playthroughs or began new ones.


[h3]Store Page and Demo changes[/h3]
While patching was being done on Old Acquaintances, we already started working on the next big release but we also had to return to some old stuff and rework it. Our demo and ‘Pilgrims of the Wasteland’ deserved a long-awaited new coat of paint, so we went in and made a lot of improvements. Then Steam changed things around and we had to separate our store page for the demo, just in time for us to capitalize on the work we had put into it.

[h3]At the Heart of Ruin Announcement[/h3]
And so, here we are, at the announcement of the next big DLC – the last one of the Season Pass: At the Heart of Ruin. Revealed just recently, it promises to be a unique excursion, with a densely packed, multi-layered region full of overarching stories and a lot of things to do or fight. Check out the reveal trailer we’ve lovingly created here:
[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h3]What to expect in 2025[/h3]
We are fully committed to releasing At the Heart of Ruin as soon as it is done, which is in the first half of the upcoming year. It is no secret that it’s taking longer to finish but that’s because as usual, we keep adding awesome things to it. We hope you’ll appreciate all the love and cool stuff that go into producing it. It’s difficult to say further than that for now – especially times being what they are – but rest assured that we have plans and will reveal them in the upcoming months. There are some things we’d love to discuss already but we can’t just yet.

That concludes 2024's year review, and boy, what a year it was! We've had the chance to recharge our batteries and get ready to work harder than ever on a cool DLC (or hot, you might say!) for this year.

We hope you had the chance to wind down (or party like Tartaris if that's your preference) at the end of the year and have much planned for the year ahead. Stay safe and conquer the wasteland!

- The Lost Pilgrims Team

Vagri! We’re sure many of you’ve been waiting for more information about our next DLC (shaping up to be expansion-sized once again) and the time has come to deliver just that – in the form of a special story trailer we’re excited to share:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

So, there you have it. Some exposition delivered by award-winning voice actor Phil Rowe, along with a title reveal and the year of release. Although the latter is fairly vague, we can already say that we are aiming for the first half of 2025, as we’ve been working on it very diligently for months now. There’s still a lot to go, but we’re making good progress and we’re very satisfied with how it’s shaping up. Can you guess where it’ll be set? There are quite a few indicators, we think.

We can’t wait to share more, of course, including a launch trailer with some gameplay closer to release, so stay tuned. In the meantime, you can wishlist the DLC on Steam.



[h2]Holiday Deals[/h2]

In other news, we’ve teamed up with fellow developer Balcony Softworks to promote each other’s work and created a limited time bundle that includes Balrum and Vagrus, called Resourceful Realms. Plenty of story, exploration, and resource management strategy for everyone who loves to delve into such challenges.



Lastly, you might be keenly aware that the Steam Winter Sale is on, with discounts to many great games, including Vagrus.



With a super busy but satisfying year behind us and a very exciting one ahead of us, we’re taking a break soon, if only for a bit. See you after that, but until then have some fun, stay vigilant, and conquer the wasteland!

– The Lost Pilgrims Team