Wilderness survival sandbox Vintage Story has a massive upgrade out now

Absolutely love this game. In my opinion, it's one of the best and most creative games of all time. Seriously.


Last edited by Avikarr on 15 June 2022 at 12:56 pm UTC

Just started a new game 1 week ago, this is great news :)

Another update, and here I am again to praise this game. Been playing this game for over two years now, and I'm still not bored with it, a hard feat in these days and age of games overabundance. Each update makes the game more and more interesting. The dev team is absolutely fantastic.

I'll repeat this again, this game is NOT Minecraft. Yes, it's blocky, and its got crafting, but that's about it. This game is very realistic and a lot more challenging. Each update brings *consistent* improvements, not random unrelated things like Minecraft. Also, they have a normal combat system, not the weird unusable timer based weird thing Minecraft calls a battle system. Add to this the lovecraftian horror touch and you are in for a great time.

Any great servers to recommend for beginners?

Last I looked this game had pretty annoying DRM, any chance this has been removed?

Quoting: torhamLast I looked this game had pretty annoying DRM

I bought it in 2020 and don't remember any DRM back then. Can you elaborate?

Quoting: wytrabbit

Quoting: torhamLast I looked this game had pretty annoying DRM

I bought it in 2020 and don't remember any DRM back then. Can you elaborate?

From what I recall you need to create an account and login when installing the game and then authenticate with their servers each time you want to play the game.

Quoting: torham

Quoting: wytrabbit

Quoting: torhamLast I looked this game had pretty annoying DRM

I bought it in 2020 and don't remember any DRM back then. Can you elaborate?

From what I recall you need to create an account and login when installing the game and then authenticate with their servers each time you want to play the game.

That's not exactly DRM, your account verifies you bought the game. It would be the same if you wanted to play a B2P game on Steam but you need to log in first on the Steam client. Yes it's still required.

Quoting: wytrabbit

Quoting: torham

Quoting: wytrabbit

Quoting: torhamLast I looked this game had pretty annoying DRM

I bought it in 2020 and don't remember any DRM back then. Can you elaborate?

From what I recall you need to create an account and login when installing the game and then authenticate with their servers each time you want to play the game.

That's not exactly DRM, your account verifies you bought the game. It would be the same if you wanted to play a B2P game on Steam but you need to log in first on the Steam client. Yes it's still required.

I disagree, any required connection to a 3rd party server after the game has been obtained is DRM. The fact that you have a copy of the game verifies that you bought the game. Additional checks are the definition of DRM, and will make the game uninstallable and/or unplayable once the auth servers are shutdown. This is why it is important to split downloading and installing of the game into separate stages.

Not sure what a B2P game is, but yes the Steam client is also a DRM implementation because you cannot install or play your game without reaching out to 3rd party servers for permission.

Quoting: torhamNot sure what a B2P game is, but yes the Steam client is also a DRM implementation because you cannot install or play your game without reaching out to 3rd party servers for permission.

Not without reaching out . . . but for all the games I play, the reaching out doesn't have to be successful. So like, you have to have the Steam client on your computer (although there's probably a workaround for that), but it does not have to successfully phone home. If I have no internet connection and start a Steam game, it tries to contact Steam, then whines that it couldn't and grumpily asks if I want to play in offline mode.
I'm not clear that you can really call that DRM--it doesn't enforce anything.

[quote=Purple Library Guy]

Quoting: torhamNot without reaching out . . . but for all the games I play, the reaching out doesn't have to be successful. So like, you have to have the Steam client on your computer (although there's probably a workaround for that), but it does not have to successfully phone home. If I have no internet connection and start a Steam game, it tries to contact Steam, then whines that it couldn't and grumpily asks if I want to play in offline mode.
I'm not clear that you can really call that DRM--it doesn't enforce anything.

The Steam client is definitely a lighter DRM solution than some others, though I still consider it DRM since you must always use it to install your game, installing the game is not possible without the client and Steam's servers. Each time you want to install the game you must ask Steam for permission. The only alternative would be to install it once, and then attempt to package it up yourself for later installs. This is possible, but undocumented and outside of what most people could do. Anyway, this is all somewhat off-topic since Vintage Story has a custom DRM.

Quoting: torhamB2P

Buy To Play

I guess you could say it's a form of DRM, but typically what people refer to as DRM is third-party software built-in to the game which this doesn't have.

Quoting: torhamThe fact that you have a copy of the game verifies that you bought the game.

That doesn't mean much, it's the same deal with Minecraft. You could have acquired a copy of the game from a friend you want to play with. However since this is not a subscription based service (where you can download it free but need to pay monthly to play), you need to verify in some way that you did indeed buy it at some point, and logging in with an account is the least invasive option in my opinion.

EDIT: Also I installed the flatpak version, so clearly having a copy of the game verifies nothing. And I just tested it with my internet disabled, there is an offline mode that lets you play singleplayer as long as you logged in at least once before.

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Quoting: Purple Library GuyNot without reaching out . . . but for all the games I play, the reaching out doesn't have to be successful.

Sure sure, but you will need to connect to Steam for any multiplayer that uses Steam's services. They could separate the singleplayer gameplay but they choose not to. *shrug* Logging in with an account is the least invasive option in my opinion and I'll take that over 3rd-party software any day.


Last edited by wytrabbit on 15 June 2022 at 6:58 pm UTC

I also recall that the developer said you only had to log in the first time, then you could play the game disconnected. I don't remember having to log in again after the first time but even if it is, my Steam games log far more activity and I'm willing to accept that.

For a small development, it is an impressive game and very enjoyable, though difficult since it took me forever to figure out how to make coal properly.

Quoting: dmoonfireI also recall that the developer said you only had to log in the first time, then you could play the game disconnected. I don't remember having to log in again after the first time but even if it is, my Steam games log far more activity and I'm willing to accept that.

For a small development, it is an impressive game and very enjoyable, though difficult since it took me forever to figure out how to make coal properly.

I just verified by disabling my internet connection, there is an offline mode that kicks in after 10 seconds of no response from the server. Since I logged in previously it assumed the same account.

Any experiences playing it on the Deck? Sounds great for couch sessions, but not sure if it is playable on the Deck.

Quoting: wytrabbit

Quoting: torhamB2P

Quoting: torhamThe fact that you have a copy of the game verifies that you bought the game.

That doesn't mean much, it's the same deal with Minecraft. You could have acquired a copy of the game from a friend you want to play with. However since this is not a subscription based service (where you can download it free but need to pay monthly to play), you need to verify in some way that you did indeed buy it at some point, and logging in with an account is the least invasive option in my opinion.

Of course it's still possible to play the game without actually paying, and for that the account authentication also does nothing, as I know the game has been cracked. Few games are able to avoid this and it usually requires draconian measures.

Myself, I'm happy to login once to download the game after paying, but I don't want to be stuck asking if I can install/run it forever, especially since they will shutdown their servers at some point.

Quoting: torhamespecially since they will shutdown their servers at some point.

You only need to login once, you can continue to play offline if the servers shutdown. I verified it a little while ago, the offline mode kicks in after 10 seconds of no response from the server.

Quoting: wytrabbit

Quoting: torhamespecially since they will shutdown their servers at some point.

You only need to login once, you can continue to play offline if the servers shutdown. I verified it a little while ago, the offline mode kicks in after 10 seconds of no response from the server.

If you need to reinstall or lose your game files for any reason you will need to reauthenticate before playing, you may need to do this for a number of reasons. For most users this will be a problem, since most do not keep proper game backups and may not know how to restore old game files. Personally, I'm not willing to encourage this behavior by developers. I hope they will remove this limitation in the future.

Quoting: torham

Quoting: wytrabbit

Quoting: torhamespecially since they will shutdown their servers at some point.

You only need to login once, you can continue to play offline if the servers shutdown. I verified it a little while ago, the offline mode kicks in after 10 seconds of no response from the server.

If you need to reinstall or lose your game files for any reason you will need to reauthenticate before playing, you may need to do this for a number of reasons. For most users this will be a problem, since most do not keep proper game backups and may not know how to restore old game files. Personally, I'm not willing to encourage this behavior by developers. I hope they will remove this limitation in the future.

At this point I'm not sure what you're complaining about--are you saying that it's DRM if you can't download the game again from a company that's gone under?

Quoting: Purple Library GuyAt this point I'm not sure what you're complaining about--are you saying that it's DRM if you can't download the game again from a company that's gone under?

No, I am saying that it is DRM if you cannot install and play a game you already have a copy of without authorizing it with a 3rd party server.