Season 8 of Vigor has been met with a ....mixed reception. Many of the game's most vocal fans were particularly upset at this season, citing a lack of new content, questionable changes to encounters, and nerfing of some of the most popular sources of XP. Further, they felt that the new cosmetic packs were childish and gave the game the wrong vibe, and this was a dangerous step toward becoming more like Fortnite- a game they all seem to hate as much as I do.
I've been playing Vigor for almost a full year now, since its release on Switch in Summer 2020. I've over 250 hours logged and have played through 4 Seasons. I can agree with some of the criticisms being made of this Season, but if I'm honest, this might be the best state the game has ever been in, and many of the complaints about it are complete nonsense. Allow me to elaborate.
Something worth noting going in is that this is an exceptionally long Season. Typically Seasons in Vigor last only 10-12 weeks, though they are often extended if the following season isn't ready yet. This one lasts for almost 4 months. We aren't expected to be getting any *new* content outside of the Season Pass for a while, and for players who are thirsty for novelty within a game where you spend a lot of time hiding in a bush, this seems to be a problem.
However, I'd like to argue that this extended Season length is a *good* thing. I've never maxed out a Season Pass, typically topping out around level 40-45, while they're usually capped at 50. Given the developers have stated that only around 3% of players ever complete the Season Pass, it stands to reason that most people aren't getting their money's worth. Giving them more time to grind through the Season Pass and get all the unlockable content is actually more of an incentive to play- there's no real point in trying if you think you're wasting your time doing so.
A longer Season, planned in advance (not with a surprise extension as has often been the case) also gives the development team more time to actually work on the game, produce new content and fix bugs before the next season rolls around. If used properly, this will allow them to work more effectively to produce a strong Season 9, and resolve a lot of the long term issues people have had with the game, as well as some of the bizzarre bugs that persist across all Seasons.
A very long Season is only a bad thing for you if you are either:
For most of us -the people who play for maybe an hour a day and are pretty happy with the existing content- a long Season is an opportunity to finally hit Level 50. I'm no pro at this game. I've got a lot of experience and I know my way around the maps, I'm okay at the combat, but I'm still not that good at it. That's fine. I still enjoy it. And I'd like for once to be able to get all the rewards the Season Pass promises me.
The new cosmetics in Season 8 are pretty bland. I'm not going to argue about it. They're not especially exciting to me. Some of the facepaint is pretty fun, and the Poacher Outfit is reasonably nice, but it's mostly boring hats this Season. And don't get me started on the Trapper Outfit, something about that just screams *basement serial killer level hygiene* to me. Eurgh. There's also only one new gun, a bolt action rifle which I've not had the chance to try yet. Apparently it's nice. I don't care. There are no new maps. There haven't been any new maps since Season 6, which brought us Anniken, a desolate series of islands which hardly anybody liked and it's hard to get into a game on. I like Anniken, but I get why people don't.
I still intend to get all of the cosmetics from the Season Pass, to give me more options for dressing up, even if they're mostly a bit pants. But really this Season clearly isn't about the cosmetics. It's about taking the content already in the game, and actually making the most out of it. We don't need new content all the time. The game already has several large maps which play out a little differently every time you visit them, a vast array of weapons and gadgets, and loads of cosmetics for you to customise your outlander murder person with. And you know what we're getting this Season? Loads of the old content half the player-base has never had a chance to see! We're getting Legacy Seasons, which aren't in the game yet, but should allow us to play through old Season Passes alongside this one in order to secure stuff from past Seasons. Given that Season 5 was underway when the game hit Switch, and Season 6 was already halfway done by the time it reached Sony platforms, a huge amount of the current player base have never been given the chance to see most of the old cosmetics from the early game. When these drop, for most of us this is actually going to at least double the amount of new content. Content that is *new to us*. That's great, right?
XP has been massively retooled this season. A problem that was identified last season was that some players hit level 50 within hours of purchasing the Season Pass, because they'd saved hundreds of crates from the previous season and just spent their afternoon sat opening crates, as opposed to actually, you know, playing the game. Bohemia didn't like that (understandable) and so massively nerfed XP from Shootout, Resource, and Weapon crates. Basically all the bonus crates you get for doing daily challenges and playing Shootout (Vigor's terrible deathmatch mode). Do I think this is annoying for the few players who just grind shootout all day to get crates? Probably. Do I think this is a bad move? Absolutely not.
However, XP for *almost everything else* has been increased substantially. Yes, they've massively cut the XP boosters in the Season Pass as well, but now the base XP for just playing the game has been hugely improved. If you just sneak around, do a bunch of looting, and get out, you're gonna get a ton of XP for it. Actions taken *in* encounters seen their XP rewards doubled, tripled, or in some cases quadrupled. The focus is drawn away from grinding crates to instead going out and actually doing stuff in the game. The shift in XP incentives reflects that.
Yes, the change to put most of the scavenging XP rewards on retrieval, rather than collection means that often you'll leave with very little if you get killed. But this just ratchets up the tension further, incentivising getting out of the encounter alive because the rewards for doing so are much bigger now. It re-legitimises the preferred play style of many players, which is to sneak around and avoid other players while scavenging resources, before slipping away unnoticed. This is a perfectly acceptable and fun way of playing the game for many people, and previously the rewards were limited because the big XP comes from killing a bunch of people or getting the crate. Now we've got more people incentivised to just sneak off, the people who do want to go around doing murders and fighting for the crate are more likely to meet the other people who want to do that.
Straight up, I'm just gonna say it: The pink bunny outfit and the wolf hood are way cooler than that fucking £70 hazmat suit they were selling before. People have been dunking on the bunny outfit in particular because
I think the pink hoodie is rad. I'd rather it be more of a hot pink, but it's cool. There's a weird obsession with some players in this game- that Vigor is some realistic, serious, simulationist type game. That it should be nothing but military and survivalist type outfits and brawny men in camoflage going around the wastelend with their fancy tactical weapons, throwing grenades at each other and doing cool manly military stuff. That the game is supposed to be a realistic portrayal of a post-apocalyptic Norway and that means only strong serious men who take their janky apple stealing game very seriously have valid opinions on the matter. This speaks to a weird mismatch of priorities and values, and really feels like it points to a certain insecurity in what games they're comfortable playing. If you wanted a super serious realistic survival game, you shouldn't be playing Vigor. This is a game only semi-serious in tone (have you seen the number of vibrators scattered around the maps!) and uninterested in providing a tactical militaristic experience. Don't bring your obsession with living out some tough guy survivalist fantasy into a game that does not want it. Vigor is not that game. It's cutthroat, dog eat dog, and yeah ultimately a game about people killing each other just for some stupid crate. But it's also wonky as hell, full of silly hats and emotes, and really not to be taken that seriously. Chill out.
As it stands, what is the state of Vigor in Season 8? Well, we've got back 2 Points of Interest per map. We briefly had three over the Christmas period, which was incredible, and then dropped back down to one for Season 7, which honestly was kind of rubbish. Having two POIs per map with guaranteed good loot helps split the aggressive players up and gives each player a higher chance of actually getting to loot a POI, as well as increasing the level of variety per map.
The bugfix and quality of life change lists are massive. The game plays more smoothly now, has a better feel to it in moving, shooting, and looting, and overall is just less annoying to play. This is something that is easy to take for granted, but having put up with it for so long, it's really nice to have it just feel more responsive.
The XP changes have altered the incentives for players and alongside the added POIs, the encounters tend to feel more active and dynamic now. People are encouraged to travel further now and scavenge more, but also to consider just leaving once they've got some decent scavenging done. You don't technically lose any more by dying, but you do gain a lot more by staying alive, so the risk-reward feeling has been heightened in each encounter.
I think Season 8 is actually a very strong one, if you can look beyond the Season Pass and limited content. This is a great time for people to start getting into the game. It's less off putting due to bugs and general jankiness, there are enough POIs that new players can feel like they've really accomplished something by getting them, the confusing and broken anti-camping system has gone, and you *still* don't need to pay a penny to to get the Season Pass. I haven't! With Legacy Seasons coming in, this is an excellent time for anyone to start getting into Vigor, as there should be more content than ever to enjoy.
Vigor Season 8 is good and most of its detractors sound like they're playing a totally different game to me. This isn't some super serious simulationist survival game, it's a game about shooting a man in the arse while he rummages through a toilet for fertiliser. It's a game about picking up a crate and then running the wrong way and dying of embarrasment as you get irradiated during your escape.
It's a game about sneaking, scavenging, shooting, and (e)scaping. And with Season 8, the focus on this has never been clearer.
(Originally posted 04/05/2021)