Sword of The Vagrant Review – The Definition of a Hidden Gem (PS4)

Although there are many 2D side-scrolling action RPGs on the market, very few pack as much punch into their buck as Sword of the Vagrant. Originally launching on Steam in 2017, the game then arrived on consoles in 2022 and is gearing up for a next-gen release sometime in 2023. With an art direction taken directly from a Vanillaware title, alongside an exciting story, and tight combat, it’s easy to see why this little gem of a game is still breathing life for the developer O.T.K. Games. 

Sword of the Vagrant is available on the PlayStation store for the PS4 for £7.99

Story – A Story for the Ages

I recently saw a gaming meme that said, “Games don’t need better graphics they just need better stories” That may be true, but if you search deep enough, there are some games out there that do have great stories, and Sword of the Vagrant is one of them. 

You play as a traveling sellsword called Vivian who is following the research of her father with the hopes that following it may reunite her family. However, after a storm, the ship she was traveling on gets wrecked and Vivian is washed up on a beach at a place called Mythrillia.

As she starts to explore the local village, Vivian soon gets embroiled in assisting a local, which ends up with Vivian locking horns with a witch who then places a curse on her. This curse is set upon Vivian to ensure that she complies to achieve the wishes of the witch under pain of death. And so begins your journey of discovery, love, and loss in this surprisingly deep tale. 

Although the main thread of the story is an excellent concept, its delivery lacks the impudence to give it the weight it deserves. The exposition of the conversations and thoughts is presented in text, that doesn’t even emphasize crucial big-hitting moments. There are still cut scenes showing images of people and places outside the world you are in, it’s just that you, as the player, will need to concentrate very hard on the conversations to understand the gravitas. 

What the hell have I gotten myself into?

The game does have multiple endings, which does give a little weight to replayability, especially as the game only takes around ten hours to complete the first time. With a new game plus mode, keeping all your equipment and skill levels for the next playthrough, going through the story to catch what you missed the first time, might not be a bad idea.

The game also has a standard ending and a true ending. I got the standard one and watched a video of the true ending. Both endings felt satisfactory for the effort put in, something that can’t be said for many games that hide their “true endings”, but without going into spoiler territory, the extra effort required to unlock the true ending will only really benefit the completionists. 

Graphics and Audio – Simple Elegance

Hidden amongst the screenshots of the digital art book that comes with the game, was a note from the developers thanking Vanillaware for their inspiration. Looking at the art style of Sword of the Vagrant, you could be forgiven for thinking the game was indeed made by them. Previous Vanillaware titles such as Dragons Crown and Muramasa Rebirth, are famed for their gorgeous hand-drawn art style.

This is exactly how to describe the stunning artwork in Sword of the Vagrant. Lush, colorful, and varied environments, that have so much care and attention put into them, so much so that each scene could be considered a piece of art. From snowy mountains to autumn-filled forests, dungeons, and more, the game will take you on a visual holiday. The ridiculous amount of screenshots I took of this game because of moments that I thought looked good was staggering. 

The beauty of the game extends to the character designs, movements, and effects also. There was a lot of visual interest in all the detritus on screen. The flashy effects of Vivian launching a special attack; the enemy character designs; even the look of a simple chest; everything screamed look at me! 

Gorgeous Visuals

The one aspect in today’s world that was a little bit awkward, was the outfit, or lack thereof of Vivian herself. Fan service is one thing, but running around in what can only be described as a bikini that was supposed to be her armor, was willing the suspense of belief a bit too far. Thankfully there was an alternate costume that covered Vivian up and was more in keeping with the medieval, magical theme the game aspires to.  

One of the best parts of the game is the audio. This was a pleasant surprise, both in its quality and its quantity. Each of the six locations the game takes you had an overriding theme music to accompany your playtime in them. These ranged from pleasant medieval vibe pan music to slightly dark techno synth-based beats, and all in between. Sometimes the upbeat music felt a little too aggressive for the moment-to-moment gameplay, but it was really enjoyable all the same. 

With no voice acting at all, the only other audio effects were the in-game aspects. These included the slice of a sword hitting flesh, rocks falling, monsters groaning, or items smashing. Each was rendered well and gave the player many audio cues to help enhance the gameplay. 

Gameplay – Excellent and Tight Systems

On paper, the combat system of the game shouldn’t have been as good as it turned out. Vivian starts her adventure with only the most basic move sets. A light and heavy attack, combing with rage attacks that use up a value from your rage meter. Initially, there isn’t much of a combo list than a couple of swings per set. You can find in the skill tree more move sets to unlock to increase your combos to three or four swings per combo, but that’s about as deep as it gets.

Apart from certain boss fights where your time was limited in how many hits you could get in before you had to get out of the way, I pretty much completed the game with nothing more than a 4 hit combo. Light attack, light attack, light attack, heavy attack got me through pretty much everything as it broke through defenses and hit multiple enemies at once. Despite being very basic, it was hugely enjoyable to watch the destruction this created. 

Combining the basic hits with the various rage attacks you can unlock and use them in different ways for the different styles of boss fights, was a lot of fun. The saying less is more certainly worked here. The game didn’t need a huge basic combo set, but it would have been nice to have had a little more choice, ie a combo that ended in lifting you high into the screen to attack flying enemies rather than having to jump. 

The proof in the pudding so to speak, was how the combat came together for the many boss fights you will encounter. Apart from the melee weapon and rage abilities, the only other aspect at your disposal was to jump or roll out of the way. There was unfortunately no parry. 

If only there was a parry!

I always gauge the combat of hack-and-slash games by their virtue of how easy it is to express yourself during combat. This includes being able to dance around the screen with aplomb, converting what you want to do, from your mind to your character with ease.

For the most part, I could do this in Sword of the Vagrant with the only annoyance being I couldn’t cancel a move with a new one before the former had played out. For example. I may have started a four-swing combo only to realize that I needed to jump. The jump wouldn’t cancel the combo move set and I’d plow on, and get hit. For the majority of the game, this wasn’t an issue, except for a few of the more challenging boss fights. 

The game would need you to watch the move set of the boss, to figure out the opportunities to strike, some of them being just a short window of two hits. Getting the timing right was crucial, especially more so in that if you were defeated, it wasn’t just a case of re-starting the fight, it was back to the last save point. Thankfully there were save points right before each boss encounter. 

Combating with the many minions in the field was fun, especially as it gave you the chance to experiment with various weapons, potions, and skills you can acquire. The boss fights were where the best and the worst of the game came to the fore.

The worst part would be, some boss fights didn’t visually explain what you needed to do. One of them for example needed you to kill everything else on the screen within a certain time frame before an opportunity arose to then get hits in with the boss. Others were more straight-up, one on one, trying to get hits in while avoiding their attacks. Once you knew what you were required to do, each boss encounter became something to savor and enjoy. 

Getting to know the locals.

The most uneven aspect of the game is the Role Playing part of it. There is everything you could wish for here to dive into. Weapons/armor to buy and upgrade, enchantments to bestow, skill points to use, gold to spend, potions to buy, recipes to create, and collectibles to sell. The problems start with buying weapons.

As you get to the midpoint of the game, you will have reached the limit of how much you can upgrade your weapons. For example, you can buy some swords for around 20,000 to 40,000 gold which gave you a base attack in the region of 80 to 100 points. To purchase the next sword up from this will cost you 450,000 gold! The jump in prices for many items seemed extraordinarily high and didn’t have much more base attack points than what you already had equipped at this stage.

So for the mid part of the game, and the bosses I struggled with the most, I was stuck for a long time with the same weapons I had. Then when I started to gather enough gold for the next purchase, I had found the weapon I was intending to buy in the field anyway, ergo negating the need to buy it. Why were the swords (and other items) so overpriced? The design choices for the systems in place always felt at odds with each other and unbalanced.

Easy-to-navigate maps

Traversal of the world was very easy. Each location formed a block that when you looked on a map, gave you a clear indication of how many routes there were to get off it. Save points that were gravestones allowed the player to teleport instantly to other locations which was useful to stock up on items and upgrade on the fly. Anyone who has played Muramasa Rebirth, or Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, will be comfortable with the map system here.  

The other issue I found was that as you play you earn Mana. Mana is what is used to unlock new abilities on your skill tree but also to upgrade your gear. I was forever running out of Mana to use to upgrade my character, but always had oodles of gold I couldn’t spend on anything, especially as the aforementioned weapons I needed a few hours in were always way out of my price range.

Even though I had plenty of gold to spend, buying meals to then be able to craft in the field, often felt overpriced, but when consumed gave valuable player buffs for the next encounter.

It’s a bit cold.

For a game that costs just £7.99 / $.9.99 on the PlayStation store, there is a tremendous amount of quality content here. Sword of the Vagrant on normal difficulty will take around ten hours to complete, and to achieve the platinum trophy, you could add a further four to five. 

The game is achingly beautiful, with a wonderful yet simple combat loop, alongside a great story. Sure, there are little niggles along the way such as the delivery of the story and the uneven RPG elements, but these didn’t distract from the fantastic and satisfying time I had. 

Sword of the Vagrant was reviewed on PS4 with a code provided by Rainyfrog.