Forsaken Realms: Vahrin's Call

Forsaken Realms: Vahrin's Call was provided by Titan Roc for review. Thank you!

When we talk about indie games with small development teams, most of us picture compact experiences built around a creative idea rather than sheer scale. A unique art style, an experimental mechanic, or a memorable narrative are usually what define them. Massive third-person RPGs packed with handcrafted environments, dozens of hours of content, and deep progression systems are an entirely different beast, requiring an enormous amount of time, resources, and manpower to pull off.

That's exactly what makes Forsaken Realms: Vahrin's Call so intriguing. Developed over more than a decade by a self-funded team of just seven developers, Titan Roc's debut title sets its sights on something most indie studios wouldn't even attempt. A large-scale fantasy action RPG inspired by the classics such as Elder Scrolls or The Fable series.

After spending 40 hours of exploring every corner of its world, uncovering its secrets, experimenting with different builds, and seeing everything the game had to offer, I felt like I had truly immersed myself in Vahrin. So, did Titan Roc actually manage to pull off what initially seemed like an impossible task? Let's find out.

Vahrin's Call is a zone-based, open-world action RPG that blends a classic, old-school classless progression system with fast-paced, combo-driven combat inspired by modern action/hack-and-slash games. Complementing that is a vibrant, colorful world with a distinct Fablesque visual style, creating a fantasy adventure that feels both nostalgic and super fresh at the same time.

Set in the war-torn kingdom of Vahrin, the story puts you in the role of a mercenary rather than a classic "chosen hero." The kingdom has been pushed to the brink of extinction by the insectoid Khraiax, the undead, and countless other threats, leaving entire regions in chaos. Your job is simple: take on contracts, help those struggling to survive, and gradually become involved in a much larger and increasingly mysterious conflict surrounding the fate of Vahrin itself.

Unlike many modern RPGs, the narrative is completely linear, with no meaningful dialogue choices or branching paths. Instead, the focus is on following the main story while exploring the world, completing side quests, and uncovering bits of lore scattered throughout the kingdom.

To be honest, the story and overall narrative were the weakest and, surprisingly, the only part of the game that I didn't like at all. At the beginning, it was interesting trying to figure out what was wrong with this world. Talking to NPCs and putting the pieces together kept me engaged, but the real problem is the main narrative itself.

The entire story is told through in-game dialogue, with virtually no cinematics aside from a few simple boss introductions, no detailed backstory for the key characters, and no real way to connect with the script. Everything happens so fast, and your character mostly just stands there while everyone else talks, making it feel like you're watching the story unfold rather than actually being part of it.

From beginning to end, the narrative never provides the hook or payoff needed to keep you invested. It always felt like a rushed and cliché fantasy war story that never gives your character the spotlight or enough room to grow. I can understand and respect the decision to make your character a simple mercenary, but I think that idea could have been executed in a much more interesting and immersive way.

One positive thing I can say about the story is the side quests. Almost every side quest either expands the world's lore or offers meaningful, and sometimes extremely funny interactions. They never feel like the typical "my mom is sick, go bring her some medicine" or "my farm is under attack by monsters, please save me" quests that we've seen countless times in other RPGs.

In fact, I ended up liking some of the side characters and their storylines more than the entire main narrative. They surprisingly kept me hooked, sometimes made me laugh out loud, and before I knew it, I had completed every single side quest without even realizing I was going out of my way to do them.

Let's talk about what is, without a doubt, the strongest and most impressive part of Vahrin's Call. Exploration. This is the aspect of the game that completely won me over, and it's the main reason I ended up spending over 40 hours in its world.

Exploration constantly feels rewarding. Whether I was finding hidden chests, discovering new dungeons, tracking down skill points, or simply wandering off the main path, I almost always felt like I was being rewarded for my curiosity. There was always another cave to check, another hidden path to investigate, or another secret tucked away in a corner of the map. It never reached the point where I thought, "Why am I even exploring?" because the game consistently gives you a reason to keep looking around.

I also absolutely loved how the main quests are designed. Instead of placing a marker on every single objective and telling you exactly where to go, they often give you enough information to figure things out on your own. That means paying attention to your surroundings, understanding the layout of the world, getting lost from time to time, and even solving small environmental puzzles before reaching your destination. For some people that might sound frustrating, but for me it made every discovery feel earned.

One feature I especially want to praise is the optional exploration mode that completely disables quest markers. When enabled, finding your way becomes your responsibility entirely, much like the classic days of Gothic or Morrowind. You have to read quest dialogue, pay attention to landmarks, and actually learn the world instead of following a floating icon. I honestly think every RPG should include an option like this. Even if not everyone wants to use it, giving players the choice between full guidance and a true hand-holding free adventure is something more RPGs should embrace.

There is, however, one thing about exploration that I absolutely hated: the overwhelming amount of loot and shiny flowers, barrels, crates, and other objects.

This is completely personal, but as someone with serious loot OCD, it really hurt my sense of direction. One of my favorite things in RPGs is getting lost, then suddenly finding an unlooted room or a hidden path and realizing, "I'm on the right track." It makes exploration feel rewarding.

In Vahrin's Call, though, every time I died or accidentally backtracked, I was greeted by the exact same glowing objects all over again because they would end up respawning extremely fast. Instead of helping me navigate the world or making new discoveries feel exciting, they often made it harder to tell whether I was exploring somewhere new or just revisiting the same area.

Again, this is a very personal complaint, and it definitely wasn't enough to ruin the incredible exploration for me. I just think the game would have benefited from much slower loot respawns, or no respawning loot at all.

The gameplay is another area where Vahrin's Call absolutely shines. The game offers an impressive amount of freedom when it comes to building your character. Whether you want to specialize in dual wielding, greatswords, bows, fire magic, alchemy, or mix everything together, the choice is entirely yours.

What I especially love is that progression works much like the classic Elder Scrolls games. Instead of simply spending points in a menu, your skills improve the more you actually use them. Swing a greatsword long enough, and you'll become better with greatswords. Spend time crafting potions, and your alchemy will naturally improve. It makes your character's progression feel much more organic.

And the upgrades themselves feel very meaningful. Even something as simple as a basic healing potion can eventually become a throwable debuff potion as your alchemy improves. Traps gain new properties, you can eventually disarm traps in the world instead of triggering them, and every weapon or magic upgrade unlocks new attacks, combos, and techniques as you level it up. It constantly feels like your character is learning new tricks rather than just getting bigger numbers, and that made progression satisfying from beginning to end.

As a personal example, I ended up trying pretty much every playstyle the game had to offer. I leveled every weapon type and skill to see how they played, but eventually settled on a build that I fell in love with.

I recreated an Enhancement Shaman from World of Warcraft. A melee spellcaster that controls the elements. I fought with dual-wield weapons, constantly enhancing them with fire and ice magic to quickly stack elemental debuffs, while my Earth Shield orbited around me, dealing consistent damage to nearby enemies. On top of that, I focused almost all of my amulets on increasing magic power, turning my character into something that felt more like a melee mage than a traditional warrior.

The fact that a build I came up with on my own worked this well was one of the biggest highlights of the entire game. It perfectly showcases just how much freedom Vahrin's Call gives you when it comes to experimenting with different playstyles. Instead of feeling forced into predefined classes, I was able to create exactly the kind of character I wanted, and it ended up being one of the most fun RPG builds I've played in a long time.

By this point, it should be pretty obvious that I absolutely fell in love with Vahrin's Call's combat. Unlike many RPGs that lean towards slower, heavier combat, Vahrin's Call is fast, responsive, and feels much closer to a hack and slash game without sacrificing its RPG mechanics. It actually reminded me a lot of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, which is one of the biggest compliments I can give to an action RPG.

Combat always feels exciting thanks to the huge variety of combos, techniques, and status effects available. Enemies constantly keep you on your toes, requiring quick dodges, well-timed parries, and fast decision-making. Instead of repeating the same attack over and over, you are constantly mixing abilities, elemental effects, and different combos together, making every fight feel extremely fluid.

Boss fights deserve a special mention as well. Almost every major boss introduces a new mechanic or attack pattern that you have to learn instead of simply overpowering it with better gear. Figuring out their moves, learning when to dodge or parry, and finally defeating a boss after understanding its patterns was very satisfying.

It doesn't matter if you prefer melee, ranged, or magic. Every combat style feels polished and surprisingly deep. Alchemy and spell crafting only make things better, allowing you to prepare different potions, upgrade your spells, and create powerful synergies during combat. Instead of feeling like mechanics you'll use once and forget about, they become an essential part of the combat loop and constantly make fights more enjoyable.

When it comes to the visuals, Vahrin's Call might be the biggest mixed bag I've ever experienced. The art direction is absolutely fantastic, and the colorful, Fable-inspired environments are beautifully designed. However, at the same time, some armor designs, character models, and low-poly foliage can look extremely dated. It almost feels like you're playing an old RPG that's been remastered with fantastic lighting and modern visual effects.

Oddly enough, I didn't mind it at all. In fact, it gave me a similar feeling to Valheim. Those lower-quality models and engine limitations created a unique charm that fit the overall old-school RPG with modern twists style of the game surprisingly well. It felt nostalgic somehow.

The most impressive part of the visuals, however, is easily the environment design. Every mini open world zone feels completely distinct from the last. Whether I was making my way through snowy mountain paths, exploring eerie haunted forests, wandering through beautifully lit castles, or simply enjoying the colorful, vibrant landscapes, every area felt masterfully crafted and memorable. Considering the budget and the size of the team, being able to create something this impressive is a remarkable achievement. Bravo!

Without a doubt, the audio was the biggest surprise of the entire game for me, to the point where I honestly couldn't believe it was real. The soundtrack is excellent and always fits the mood perfectly, but the aspect that truly deserves its own paragraph, and honestly should be studied by other indie developers, is the voice acting.

Normally, voice acting is one of the weakest parts of indie or even AA RPGs, often feeling flat and lifeless. Vahrin's Call completely shattered that expectation. The performances genuinely felt on par with many AAA productions. Every single actor delivered an incredible performance, but Lysa's voice acting deserves special recognition. It was so good that I would've believed she was voiced by one of the industry's biggest and most experienced actresses. Her performance was phenomenal, carrying so much emotion that it often elevated the scenes by itself. In fact, despite the weaker narrative I mentioned earlier, her delivery alone managed to carry much of its emotional weight, which is an incredible achievement.

My only complaint about the audio department comes down to the sound effects. They're by no means bad or distracting, but I did find myself wishing they had a bit more impact. Especially during combat, I would've loved the swords and weapon hits to feel a little punchier and more satisfying.

Forsaken Realms: Vahrin's Call - Steam Deck Performance

Before getting into the Steam Deck section, it's worth noting that developer Titan Roc is looking into optimizing for the Steam Deck post-launch, and it wasn't their focus during development.

Vahrin's Call uses Unreal Engine 4, and unlike UE5 games, it usually delivers fantastic performance on Steam Deck. Sadly, that's not the case here.

First of all, the graphics options only include DLSS upscaling. Out of the box, your only option is using the manual resolution slider, and it looks absolutely horrendous and heavily pixelated.

I switched to Desktop Mode and looked through the game's files, where I found both FSR and Intel XeSS files in the directory. So the technology we need is already there; it's just not implemented in the game's options. That gave me an idea: what if I used OptiScaler to force FSR by injecting it through the DLSS option? I'm happy to say it worked flawlessly.

I tested multiple methods and upscalers, and FSR 4.1 using the DLSS Ultra Performance preset gave me the best results both visually and performance-wise. The only downside is that properly injecting FSR 4.1 is still a long and complicated process. You have to replace multiple files and tweak a few things manually.

I also tested XeSS and regular FSR 3.2 through the Decky Frame Gen plugin. Using the XeSS Balanced preset (displayed as DLSS in-game) still looked miles better than the manual resolution scaler. So if you don't want to spend a lot of time setting everything up, it's a simple alternative that avoids the horrible pixelated image.

The game's performance is extremely unstable. During the first two areas, I honestly started losing hope that the game would be playable at all. Even on the lowest settings, I frequently saw drops into the low 20s, especially in the South Vale area, where the game often stayed below 30 FPS. The only way to avoid that was turning Shadows completely OFF, but losing all shadows made the game look absolutely terrible.

The later areas, however, surprised me. I was hitting 45-60 FPS in some open-world sections and even a stable 90 FPS inside caves and dungeons. Aside from the first two locations, the game is actually surprisingly playable and enjoyable. The only thing I can recommend is accepting the rough performance during the first couple of hours. With performance fluctuating this much, it was honestly impossible for me to create one graphics preset that worked well throughout the entire game.

I played on the Lowest preset with Textures and Foliage set to Medium. Visually, the game still looked great. FSR 4.1 at DLSS Ultra Performance (or Decky Frame Gen using the DLSS Balanced preset) was easily the best way to experience it. Hopefully, the developers improve Linux/Proton optimization in the future. I contacted them myself, and they confirmed they're currently looking into it.

Another issue is a constant multi-colored box (or a black box when using upscalers) in the bottom-right corner of the screen. I eventually figured out what it was. It's the "Saving Game" icon that appears correctly on my desktop PC, but for some reason Proton doesn't render it properly. It's ugly, but I'm sure it'll be fixed in the future.

Overall, it's a very unstable experience. However, if you're patient enough to get through the first couple of hours, it becomes a surprisingly fun and enjoyable game on Steam Deck.

Conclusion:

Despite its narrative shortcomings, Vahrin's Call is one of the biggest surprises I've played in a very long time. It feels like a true passion project, taking on the incredibly ambitious task of building a massive handcrafted fantasy RPG with only seven developers, and somehow managing to deliver on most of its promises. Outstanding exploration, addictive progression, some of the most enjoyable action RPG combat I've played in years, and voice acting that honestly rivals AAA productions make this an easy recommendation for anyone who loves classic RPGs. It's far from perfect, but considering its budget and the size of the team, what Titan Roc achieved here is nothing short of remarkable. I can't wait to see what this studio creates next.

On Steam Deck, however, it's a much more complicated recommendation. The first few hours suffer from very poor optimization and extremely unstable performance, and getting the best visual experience requires manually injecting FSR 4.1 or using the Decky Frame Gen plugin. Thankfully, things improve considerably after the opening areas, and once they do, the game becomes surprisingly enjoyable on the handheld. If you're willing to put up with a rough start and spend a little time tweaking the graphics, Vahrin's Call is still well worth experiencing on Steam Deck, especially with the developers already looking into future Linux and Proton optimizations.

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

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