RoguedexPart 1 (Sep 2023) · #7 of 35 in that tierWatch the moment (2:55:43)
Vagante
- Developed by
- Nuke Nine
- Published by
- Nuke Nine
$14.99
Vagante is an action-packed platformer that features permanent death and procedurally generated levels. Play cooperatively with friends both locally and online, or adventure solo in this challenging roguelike-inspired game.
Consensus
B72.3/100
Steam players89.4% positiveVery Positive5,041 reviews
Metacritic ↗69/100Users: 7/10
VG Insights estimate ↗≈175K copies · ≈$2M gross
What creators say
What players say
A dark-fantasy 2D pixel-art platformer roguelike from Nuke Nine with permadeath, procedurally generated caves, RPG classes and up-to-4-player local/online co-op.
Steam players rate it Very Positive (about 89% of roughly 5,000 reviews), and the reviews that praise it describe a punishing but rewarding Spelunky-meets-RPG loop with strong class variety and excellent co-op. Critics are lukewarm: Metacritic shows a 69 Metascore (Switch, 7 reviews; PC has too few) with PS4 at 79 and Xbox One at 75, and a 7.0 user score from very few votes (9 ratings). Reviews split into strong 80s from outlets like TouchArcade and Hobby Consolas and a 40 from Nintendo Life, which called it incomplete. Steam lists the full release as Feb 21, 2018, the price is $14.99, and a Steam Community thread asks whether the game still gets updates, so it reads as a finished, largely dormant title kept alive by co-op fans, the Workshop and a Vagante Remastered mod.
Players love
- Steep but rewarding learning curve: players say runs feel fairer and more controllable as they learn items, spells and boss patterns
- Class and build variety: each class plays differently, any class can use any item (a mage can wield a knife), and most weapons and stats are described as viable
- Co-op with up to 4 players locally or online is repeatedly called the best way to play, producing chaotic, funny moments (reviews mention reviving friends, shared trap deaths)
- Tight, responsive movement and combat; one reviewer notes they rarely felt a death was out of their control, and jeuxvideo.com praised 'millimeter-tuned' gameplay
- Atmospheric pixel art, oppressive dungeon mood (catacombs named) and a well-liked soundtrack
- Depth from item identification, shrines/offerings, magic versus burning books for healing, and gambling on unidentified potions
- Replayability and completionist content: Book of Secrets unlocks, hard achievements, Steam Workshop and custom levels, plus a community Discord
- Reminds players of Spelunky and UnEpic (Steam reviewers), with RPG-style classes layered on a platformer
Common complaints
- Controls draw repeated complaints on keyboard/mouse and especially controller; some players report needing Steam Input settings or a restart to get a pad recognized
- Trap deaths (spikes, arrow traps, boulders) and instant kills feel cheap to some players, who say traps rather than enemies dominate the difficulty
- Combat is called simple or repetitive by some (Hobby Consolas, and a Steam reviewer who says the RPG layer is a facade over platforming)
- Weak onboarding: Nintendo Life and Metacritic users cite minimal tutorials and unexplained mechanics
- Hard-to-see hazards, including traps that blend into the environment, make some deaths feel unfair
- Online multiplayer is reported as a bit buggy, with sparse public servers per Metacritic users
- Limited content scope for some critics: jeuxvideo.com wanted more biomes and Nintendo Life found the adventure short with no story
- Dev support appears to have ended, with Steam forum users asking if the game still receives updates
Can feel tedious
- Repeated early deaths, sometimes within seconds of starting a run, from traps or bad RNG
- Item roulette: unidentified items and randomized loot can make or break a run
- Losing long runs (an hour or more) to a single spike or boulder
- Learning mechanics by dying because the game explains little
- Achievement hunting is described as extremely difficult though fair, with 100% completion taking 180+ hours for one reviewer
What's unique
- RPG-style classes, skins and backgrounds with free item mixing inside a Spelunky-like platformer
- Item identification, curses, shrines and offerings that make item use a risk-reward gamble, close to classic ASCII roguelike design
- Up to 4-player local and online co-op built into a hardcore permadeath platformer
- Steam Workshop custom levels plus the Vagante Remastered community mod
- Hard mode and Rift bosses give high-end endgame challenges for veterans
Players want
- Better, rebindable and more reliable controller support and general control feel
- Real tutorials or in-game explanation of hazards, items and systems
- Difficulty or accessibility options, for example ways to tone down traps, since one reviewer found the devs offered none and modding them out is hard
- More biomes and content variety, plus some narrative or goals beyond the dungeon crawl (critic feedback)
- More varied and complex enemy mechanics so combat carries more of the challenge than traps
- More stable online co-op and matchmaking, and continued post-launch updates or a sequel (Steam forum users want one)
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
Rogue-liteAction RoguelikePixel GraphicsRogue-likeRPGAdventureRoguevaniaIndieOnline Co-OpPlatformer
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Tier list Part 1 (2023)
Vagante is a classic fantasy 2D dungeon crawler that he describes as a Spelunky wannabe, but with swords, bosses and far more character upgrading. He says it has little roguelite meta-progression but plenty of in-run growth, class choice and inventory management. It is brutal, with traps that can one-shot you, yet he had more fun with it than with Spelunky because of its stronger roguelike feel. He admits most people would rank Spelunky far higher and that this is just his opinion.
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