Vagabond is the story of a wanderer who stumbled upon a patch of cursed woods in a mysterious land, trying to find his way home. It is an exploration-heavy demo made by Zeuzio that features lavishly rich environments, tough encounters, and lots of treasure-collecting. Accompanied by your trusty slime companion, you set out on an adventure to defeat monsters and collect lots of loot. Oh, and some main quest or whatever.


Rating: 9/10

+ Overall polished feel
+ Minimalistic layout
+ Feeling of isolation
- Needs to maintain the tension in upcoming areas

Vagabond has an overall feel of polish about it, that never fades away. Everything that is contained within the game seems to serve some purpose, other than to fill your time or to delay you from getting to the next plot objective too quickly. Menus have been compressed highly, for those with minimalistic fetishes, and the combat system has been rearranged to provide a logical and more engaging flow layout. Item chests have been meticulously arranged to provide reward for those players that like to search every nook and cranny for those valuable lewts. You, perfectionist player, will not be disappointed.



But this game is not only for collectible-crazy players; it also features rich and rewarding exploration. Exploring the maps feels like you are discovering a new world entirely on your own, with its own realities and its own rules. The sense of isolation that you experience as you fight your way through the monsters, with few NPCs or characters to talk to or identify with, solidifies that bond between you and your companion slime. After you reach the gate, you are free to roam an entire world to yourself, save the limits of the demo.


Rating: 9.5/10

+ Lush environments
+ Stellar use of RTP
+ Rewarding level design

Upon deciding the fate and personality of your character, you are immediately thrust into a lush world ready for you to explore. The graphics are mostly RTP, but they are used so skilfully that you don’t even care to notice. The level design of each map is so well thought-out and intuitive, that it makes for interesting decisions, regarding questions of whether I should kill that monster and grab the loot behind him, or should I just leave it and come back later. These kind of interesting decisions make maps a delight to play, even if they are mostly linear corridors for the first part. From the Lonely Forest to Ryvanel Village to the Gorgorel Swamp, everything was lush and vibrant and interesting.



The interesting thing I found about the second half of the game (after the Gate Hub) is that maps, and gameplay in general, were a lot less linear than the first half. Maps branched out into several locations, different regions, and different challenges. I found myself backtracking a lot, like in a Metroidvania, to unlock passages that would not be able to be unlocked before. The game uses several mechanisms on the maps, such as Grappling Ropes to cross rivers, and trees that can be cut down using certain skills, to give the player obstacles that they can come back to later and unlock. The mapping was gorgeous, yet at the same time functional and logical, and I loved it.


Rating: 9/10

+ Innovative equipment system
+ Logical, engaging combat
+ Metroid-style backtracking
- Slime companion too weak



After you choose your character options, the game immediately thrusts you into exploring. Upon collecting from the chests that are available to you at the start, you realize that the equipment slots have changed. Instead of weapon and armour slots, you have 1 weapon slot, and 6 augment slots. Augment slots are for augments such as “Refresh Tome”, that can teach you the skill “Refresh”, and gives a +10 bonus to your DEF. These particular types of augments are called Spell Tomes, which teach you spells, and raise/lower your stats. This innovative equipment system gives you endless possibilities for equipping your character.



I usually find turn-based combat tedious and repetitive after a while. Vagabond’s turn-based combat, however, continued to thrill me, due to the different possibilities and interesting decisions that you could make. The battle system has been simplified, where you can choose between “Action”, “Items”, and “Guard”. Combat is balanced and strategic, right through the levels. You always have a choice to either heal, or to attack, and there is a sense of teamwork involved, even if your companion is slightly weaker than you. (Ok, a LOT weaker)

Collecting key items from large chests give you grapple ropes to cross small rivers, which are utilized like the lock-and-key mechanisms in Metroid (you have to get this skill before you go to the next area). The game is a hybrid of exploration and combat, which are balanced in such a way to make gameplay vibrant and fresh. Items are useful, but very balanced, and heal 25-50% of your HP/MP/TP stats. Refresh is a very useful skill early-on in the game, and I would recommend using it instead of potions, because they are very useful later on in the game. The mistake I made first time I played the game, was that I forgot to equip the Fireball Tome, thus the monsters were much harder to defeat. So remember to equip the Fireball Tome when you get it, because it is very useful against plants.


Rating: 8/10

+ Great concept
+ Cool slime companion
- Excuse plot
- Little characterization



Our hero “seems to have found himself lost again” in one of the mysterious forests of Granti. The master of the Adventurer’s Guild told him that he was a “Vagabond”, with no sense of direction, wandering from place to place without a job to speak of. And this is exactly how we find ourselves upon playing the game, with no idea how we got to where we are, and trying to find out where to go, wandering from area to area. In a good way, of course.



You are introduced to a slime that blocks your path, whom you can name yourself. I named him “Hermin”, for no reason in particular. Hermin became one of my most loyal companions in this game. We wander together through the lush, yet cursed forest, to find the lonely Oneo, a sick old man who tells us to seek out the other six sages, and use their power to defeat the seven fiends. One of the flames turns my slime into a lizard. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! But really, the lizard was more useless than my slime. I should have chosen the mouse, apparently it’s really good.

The demo gave us a good glimpse of the story, which was quite good in my opinion. It didn’t feature any bold characterization, but this is a very non-linear game anyway, where you discover your own personality. The very non-linear approach to storytelling is ambitious and very cool, since I assume you can defeat the 7 fiends in any order? I would like to see some new characters pop up too, to make the story more personal, but so far I like my slime.


Rating: 9/10

+ Custom for once
+ Uses non-RTP BGMs and SEs
+ Supports atmosphere

This is usually one of the more neglected sections of the game, and that is why I hesitate to include it. But for this game, the music was noticeable, and it deserved some response. In short, the music was beautiful and clandestine, and supported the general atmosphere of the game. It was more than the traditional RTP BGMs and SEs, which appealed to me in the fact that no-one actually ever bothers to change these anymore :/ I enjoyed the small strings being plucked pizzicato-style over toms, rising to crescendos.

The battle music is positively thrilling, providing a good combative and energetic atmosphere. The gate song is an epic and emotive song, which lightened the mood a bit from exploring the dark forest. The brass riffs support the strings, and it generally gave a good vibe about it. Overall, the music was lush and inviting, and supported the atmosphere of the game.


Rating: 9/10

+ Lush environments
+ Great combat
+ Very polished
- Story needs work



If you enjoy exploring lush environments, defeating monsters in interesting and logical combat, and discovering items in the nooks and crannies of maps, then you will enjoy this game. Incredibly polished, and exuding quality, this game has its fair share of interesting decisions, tight and enjoyable gameplay, and captivating storyline. It is recommended to all who enjoy a well-made RPG, and I am thoroughly anticipating the completed game.