Forsaken Realms: Vahrin’s Call – Imperfect Journey Back to an Older RPG Era

If you enjoy independent indie game coverage, consider supporting Indie-Games.eu on Patreon. It helps keep the site independent.

• DEVELOPER: Titan Roc
• PUBLISHER: Titan Roc
• PLATFORMS: PC
• GENRE: Action RPG
• RELEASE DATE: July 27th, 2026
• STARTING PRICE: 29,99€
• REVIEWED VERSION: PC

There was a period when fantasy RPGs did not need enormous open worlds or hundreds of hours of content. Games such as Fable, Gothic and Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning offered more focused adventures that were often clumsy, yet memorable. Forsaken Realms: Vahrin’s Call feels like it escaped directly from that era.

Developed over more than a decade by the seven-person team at Titan Roc, Vahrin’s Call is an extraordinarily ambitious action RPG. Its rewarding exploration, flexible progression and colorful environments provide the kind of nostalgic fantasy adventure that has become increasingly rare. Unfortunately, weak narrative presentation, uneven combat and a serious lack of polish prevent it from completely answering the call.

A Mercenary Rather Than a Chosen Hero

The insect-like Khraiax have devastated Vahrin. Although armies from the Free Cities appeared capable of containing the invasion, something more dangerous emerged beneath the city and killed its king alongside thousands of soldiers. You create an ordinary mercenary answering the queen’s call for assistance, initially accepting contracts for money before becoming entangled in a larger conflict involving rival mercenaries, undead armies and demons.

It is an appealing premise because Vahrin feels like a place that existed before the protagonist arrived. Unfortunately, it sometimes feels as though the more interesting story also belongs to everyone except you. Characters discuss politics and shared history while your blank-slate mercenary silently watches. Numerous factions and proper nouns are introduced with little context, while the absence of meaningful choices, branching routes and substantial cinematics makes the narrative feel rushed.

Side quests leave a stronger impression, mixing stories about grief and desperation with unexpectedly funny interactions. Full English voice acting also gives these survivors more personality than their simple models can convey.

Curiosity Is Consistently Rewarded

Vahrin’s Call is divided across large interconnected zones rather than one seamless open world. Loading transitions separate its wilderness, bogs, castles and magical caverns, but each area contains layered routes, hidden caves and optional dungeons. Exploration is comfortably the game’s greatest achievement.

Following a suspicious path can uncover rare equipment, talismans, puzzles, side quests, secret bosses and valuable skill books. Those discoveries are not merely collectibles. Many attacks, spells and passive upgrades only become available after finding their corresponding books, directly connecting curiosity to character development.

An optional exploration mode removes quest markers, requiring you to read directions and recognize landmarks. It recalls Gothic and Morrowind without forcing that philosophy upon everyone. Clumsy movement occasionally undermines this freedom, especially when routes demand precise jumping. Glowing resources can overwhelm the screen, while winding dungeons sometimes continue longer than their combat can justify. Nevertheless, nearly every diversion offers something useful.

Practice Shapes the Mercenary

Rather than selecting a class, your actions determine what the mercenary becomes. Using swords, bows, armor, magic, alchemy or traps increases the corresponding proficiency, following the familiar Elder Scrolls principle that practice creates improvement. Traditional levels still award skill points, but stronger nodes require sufficient proficiency and frequently a skill book found through exploration. Upgrades provide combos and secondary effects instead of merely increasing damage.

This structure supports creative hybrids. An archer can slow enemies with traps before applying elemental arrows, while a dual-wielding warrior can enhance both weapons with magic. Equipment has few restrictions and points can be redistributed freely, turning unusual loot into an invitation to experiment.

Free respecialization removes some consequence from progression, while raising an abandoned speciality can become repetitive. Even so, developing abilities through actual use gives the character a more organic identity than choosing every improvement from a conventional menu.

Flexible Combat Lacks Consistent Impact

Combat combines light and heavy attacks with blocking, perfect parries, dodging, techniques and status effects. Regular attacks do not consume stamina, leaving it for defensive actions and stronger moves. This creates a faster rhythm than a Soulslike and places the action closer to a rougher Kingdoms of Amalur. Shields provide reliable defense, dual weapons favor aggression and heavy weapons control groups.

Bows reward precisely timed releases, while four schools of magic, traps and potions provide projectiles, buffs and elemental combinations. Unfortunately, melee attacks lack convincing sound and reactions, making heavy weapons feel as though they are cutting through air. Lock-on restricts awareness, dodging can feel awkward and several weapons share too many animations. Build variety disguises these problems without fixing them.

Bandits, beasts, Khraiax, undead and demons use different ranges and status effects, although repeated groups make some dungeons drag. Bosses fluctuate between interesting patterns and fights that end before their mechanics matter. Strong hybrid builds can trivialize much of the game before several late encounters create abrupt damage spikes.

Nostalgia Comes With Rough Edges

The comparison to Fable is most appropriate in the art direction. Crooked buildings, quaint settlements, exaggerated architecture and vibrant landscapes create a charming storybook world. It also balances grim events with silliness in a way few contemporary RPGs attempt.

It does not recreate Fable’s morality, social systems or meaningful decisions. Models, facial animations and menus look dated, while performance is disproportionately demanding. Updates have helped, but the interface still resembles a placeholder. Forsaken Realms: Vahrin’s Call is too uneven to become the independent successor to Fable some may expect. Its main story lacks involvement, its combat needs stronger feedback and nearly every menu reminds you how small the team was.

Yet few games understand the pleasure of wandering towards something interesting quite as well. Exploration feeds directly into an excellent classless progression system, while the colorful world and sincere fantasy atmosphere generate genuine nostalgia. Players who miss ambitious, imperfect RPGs from the early 2000s may discover something special here. Anyone demanding fluid combat, consequential role-playing or AAA polish should wait for further updates and a discount.

Review copy provided by the publisher