Vigor (video game)

Vigor is a free-to-play online survival shooter game originally developed for the Xbox One by the Czech studio Bohemia Interactive. As of July 2020, it is also available on the Nintendo Switch. Initially released as an early access title in August 2018, the game was fully released on August 19, 2019. A PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 port was released on December 9, 2020.

Since its release, over 18,000,000 unique players have played the game.

Gameplay
Vigor is an online free-to-play survival shooter game set in post-apocalyptic Norway. The goal is to stay alive and upgrade an abandoned shelter that will protect the player against the harsh environment.

Encounters
Players called Outlanders must seek resources and better equipment during Encounters with other players, although fighting them is not required. Only care packages or self defense enforce the use of violence. Every Encounter has a map that shows all exit points to players, as well as Points of Interest (POIs), such as hideouts, outposts, houses, a radio tower, and a transformer station. The POIs can offer valuable resources to help players upgrade their Shelter and reach its maximum level. Doing so will generate more materials and food to use, as well as reduce the crafting time for weapons and consumables. There are also places called Loot Events such as the Barred House, the Locked Container and the Timed Safe. These Loot Events offer significantly better loot than POIs and their content can be upgraded by Crowns in the game lobby before the Encounter starts.

An important aspect of an Encounter is the airdrop. These are crates containing valuable loot such as weapon and consumable blueprints, resources, weapon skins, and Crowns (in-game currency). These are dropped by a C-130 or AC-130, and signal that radiation will start appearing soon. The rarity of the airdrop can be upgraded in the game lobby using Crowns. The map shows the general location where the airdrop will happen, but there are options to change the location by using the Comm Station. Airdrops are not triggered by players and instead occur at a predetermined time. When a player picks up an airdrop, their location is immediately revealed on the map to enemy Outlanders. The Comm Station can also be used to buff or debuff the airdrop. For example, it can be buffed by adding extra loot and resources or debuffed by making it radioactive. A radioactive airdrop poisons the player that touches it with radiation, giving them little time to make it out alive.

In every Encounter, a radiation cloud sweeps the area after a certain amount of time. When this occurs, players have to be quick and evacuate before they die from radiation. If the player has the special consumable iodine, they can stay longer because of its protection. There are many consumables that Outlanders can bring with them in Encounters, each one serving a specific purpose.

If players survive the Encounter, anything they've looted will be added to their inventory. However, if they die, all of their loot will be lost, as well as any weapons, ammo and consumables brought with them. There is an option to buy Insurance in the lobby before the Encounter starts using Crowns. Having an Insurance will save the players from losing their loadout and items looted in the map upon dying.

Shootout
A fast-paced solo combat where players spawn with randomized weapons, but can scour the map to find better weapons and take down other Outlanders. If players die, they will be respawned with a new weapon and ammo. Matches last 10 minutes and use a scoring system. The more Outlanders the players eliminate, the higher the score they get, with higher scoring players receiving better rewards.

Elimination
A 5v5 tactical, round-based team fight, where players work together to eliminate the opposing team or to capture the opposing team's flag.

In the pre-loadout screen, all players in the lobby will be able to buy score multiplier boosters which can be applied to all players in the lobby. Players can also purchase loadout tickets using crowns.

When Elimination mode starts, there will be 5 premade loadouts with guns and consumables. These loadouts are permanent for the whole session. Each player picks one loadout after which, that loadout will be grayed out and no other player can choose that loadout. However, if a player likes a loadout that is already closed, he can use a loadout ticket and open the grayed out slot and select it as his active loadout. This can occur once per round and a maximum of 5 times per match. If a player hasn't selected a loadout by the time the pre-round phase ends, a loadout will be selected for him randomly. 

Shelter
The player can do various things at their Shelter, such as:
 * Target shooting and timed shooting
 * Collecting resources from different stations, such as rat traps and boxes of herbs
 * Crafting weapons, ammo, and consumables to add to their load-outs or stockpile
 * Choosing cosmetics like emotes or clothing

The Shelter can be upgraded by using resources found in Encounters. These resources include wires, nails, chemicals, gas, food, spare parts, glass, etc. Each part of the Shelter requires different materials to upgrade, and once players start upgrading, their Shelter will begin generating crafting materials for them. Which means that the more players upgrade the Shelter, the more it will eventually help them.

As the Shelter is upgraded, its interior and exterior visually change. Every level requires a certain amount of upgrades.

One of the most important things in the Shelter is the shooting range. Players can practice shooting targets, test the recoil of guns, and complete challenges to make sure they're ready to defend themselves in the Outlands. The scarecrows in the shooting range have the same amount of health as an enemy Outlander, so that offers players a great way to test weapons, see which one does the most damage, and which one is best to take into an Encounter.

Lastly, there's an area in the Shelter where Outlanders can donate food. The reward by donating food is a crate which increases in rarity with the amount of food players donate.

Outlanders can edit their load-out with their preferred weapons and consumables. Every weapon and consumable can be crafted from relevant parts or with materials, the correct plan that drops from crates, and an upgraded crafting table. You’ll notice that weapons you can craft are marked with a yellow wrench icon. Each weapon has a different crafting time depending on rarity, and only one weapon and one consumable can be crafted at the same time. If a player is looking to craft a specific weapon but is missing some parts, they can select the weapon and see exactly what they're missing before entering an Encounter and trying to loot the things they need.

Players can also deconstruct weapons, ammo, resources, consumables, or parts they don't need, and the acquired materials can be used for crafting. It's always a good idea to deconstruct things you don't need.

Battle Pass - Seasons
Each new season is intended to bring new weapons, consumables, and purchasable cosmetic items.

Associated with seasons are time-limited battle passes that reward players with new cosmetic items, weapons, and consumable blueprints should they reach certain levels in the battle pass. Alongside new cosmetic items, seasons can also bring additional gameplay elements.

Development
Bohemia Interactive announced Vigor on 11 June 2018 during E3. The game launched in Xbox Preview on July 31, 2018.

Vigor was in the Xbox Preview until August 19, 2019, when it was released as a free-to-play title on Gamescom. It was also featured in the Inside Xbox Show.

The Nintendo Switch version was announced in a Nintendo Direct on March 26, 2020. The closed beta ran from April 9 to 16 and the game was fully released on July 8, 2020.

The game was released on December 9, 2020, on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5. After a week, it was reported that over 1 million players had joined the game.

Reception
The game was played by more than 700,000 players during early access. After the game was released, it became one of top 20 most played Xbox One titles as it was played by over 1,200,000 players.

The game was nominated for 3 Czech Game of the Year Awards including categories Main Award, Best Technological Solution, and Free-to-play.

In 2019, the game was nominated for an award in the Technology category in the Central & Eastern European Game Awards (CEEGA).

Since its release, the game was downloaded and played by over 18,000,000 unique players.