it’s like oregon trail, but instead of dysentery, everyone’s worried about demons and dark gods.
you play as a vagrus—a caravan leader trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world where everything wants you dead and resources are scarce. you manage your crew, pick your routes, trade goods, and try not to get eaten by whatever nightmare creature lives in the next wasteland over.
the writing is excellent. every settlement has stories to tell, and the lore of the riven realms is genuinely compelling in its bleakness. as one review noted, this isn’t grimdark for edginess—it’s grimdark because the world feels like it actually fell apart and the people living in it are just trying to survive.
the gameplay loop is meditative in a way i didn’t expect. you’re constantly juggling workers, scouts, guards, slaves, and beasts of burden. most of their needs boil down to four main stats, but balancing them is a constant challenge. planning routes, managing supplies, deciding who lives and dies when things go wrong—it’s stressful but in the way that good management games are stressful.
fair warning: the game doesn’t pull punches. the developers themselves warn that “this game will be difficult! it will try your patience, even if you are playing on easy mode.” if you’re looking for a very different kind of management sim and a steep challenge, vagrus is the game for you. one reviewer compared it to “the old d&d dark sun universe”—which is exactly right.
picked this up on a whim this year and it’s become one of my go-to games for when i want something that demands attention but doesn’t demand reflexes.