A Hero’s Rest, developed and published by Vanargard Games, a small indie team consisting of a married couple, made its debut on Steam on October 18th, 2024. This town builder and management game offers players the opportunity to create and customise their own medieval village, catering to the needs of adventurers. As their first released game, Vanargard Games has aimed to deliver a unique and engaging experience with charming visuals, extensive customisation options, and immersive gameplay. But does A Hero’s Rest live up to the expectations set by its ambitious premise? 

Launch Trailer

A Town to Call Your Own: Building from Scratch

The game begins by letting you name your town, choose from five maps, and toggle a list of modifiers on and off, allowing you to customise the experience to your taste. For my first playthrough, I chose the basics and the map “A New Beginning”. As the map loads, you’re presented with a letter detailing that the land has been given to your father to create a little pitstop, but he’s too lazy to do anything with it. So, it’s been handed over to you. After this brief introduction, you’re given the option to start a short tutorial that introduces you to the game and the world.

You’re quickly guided into purchasing a plot of land and placing a tavern. The plot system is the foundation of the game. Regardless of the size of the plot, you can only build one workstation on it, such as a tavern, blacksmith, or apothecary. However, you can decorate each of the plots however you like. While there are restrictions in place, there’s nothing stopping you from creating an aesthetic that suits your taste. This ties into the overall game, as each of these different shops has different ratings, and you’re going to want to create something pleasing while meeting the needs of visiting adventurers and heroes.

Your settlement isn’t self-sufficient, however. You’re required to craft armour and weapons, brew potions, and cook food for your visitors to purchase. This is where the game starts to introduce its RPG mechanics. There are rarity levels with everything that you craft, and equipment will have different stats with each item you make—they’re randomly assigned!

As adventurers visit your settlement, some will actually join you and use it as their home. They’ll bring in money by purchasing what you’ve crafted, and then they can take these items out on quests. The most interesting aspect of A Hero’s Rest is that the quests are created by you. While there’s not a great deal of customisation around them, you can state the goals of the quest, such as gathering materials or killing goblins. It’s an interesting spin, especially if you’re a veteran of the RPG genre.

The underpinning message here is, there’s a lot of customisation available for players, and this stretches to adventurer classes too. While they stick to the tried and tested paradigm of the RPG genre. You can create custom classes, choose what equipment they wield and even give them a unique name and class icon.

Beauty in the Details: Crafting with Care

The visuals in A Hero’s Rest are quaint, offering players a delightful and immersive experience with a great deal of flexibility. The core of the game revolves around customising various plots of land and building stores for adventurers to use, with an impressive range of customisation As you progress, you’ll unlock an array of cosmetic items to place, ensuring a high level of variety and personalisation.

One of the most surprising and impressive aspects of the game is the customisation available for equipment. You can modify various pieces of weapons and armour, changing the colour and components of each piece. For example, when crafting swords to sell to your adventurers, you can customise the shape of the blade, hilt, and handle. This level of detail allows you to create unique equipment that stands out in your town.

The game goes a step further by letting you see your adventurers wandering around town, brandishing their customised purchases. This adds a layer of immersion and satisfaction, as you can directly see the impact of your crafting efforts on the in-game world.

One area where A Hero’s Rest falls short is its user interface (UI). The UI feels somewhat dated and cluttered, which can be a bit off-putting initially. While it doesn’t significantly detract from the overall experience, it does take some time to adjust to. Once you get used to it, the game’s charming visuals and extensive customisation options more than make up for this minor inconvenience.

A Hero’s Rest: Building Dreams, One Plot at a Time

A Hero’s Rest offers a unique blend of town building and RPG elements, wrapped in charming visuals and extensive customisation options. The flexibility in designing your town and the level of detail in crafting equipment add depth to the gameplay, making it an engaging experience for fans of both genres. Despite some issues with the UI and a lack of extensive quest customisation, the game provides a refreshing take on the town simulator genre.

While I didn’t know what to expect when I first jumped into A Hero’s Rest, it took me a while to fully get to grips with the game. The cleanly presented game is let down a bit by leaving the player hanging. The mechanics are introduced slowly, but in a way that can leave you scratching your head. For instance, I had to restart the game because some of the mechanics were a little lost on me while trying to follow along the first time.

What took me by surprise was that your adventurers can actually die. Despite having plenty of weapons and potions available in my shop, I’m still uncertain about what I could have done to prevent their deaths. This mechanic adds a fascinating layer to the game. You don’t have a direct hand in what the adventurers do; you can only provide them with the necessities for their adventure. If they choose not to take them, that’s on them. Is this what it feels like to be a parent?

It’s also worth noting that some dialogue in the game doesn’t match up. One early example is during the tutorial, where you’re prompted to open the menu and select “Workstations”; however, in your menu, it’s referred to as “Stations”. While this is a minor issue, it’s enough to throw you off during the early moments of the game.

In summary, A Hero’s Rest is a delightful and engaging experience that offers a unique spin on the town simulator genre. Its charming visuals and extensive customisation options make it a standout title, despite a few hiccups along the way. If you enjoy town management and RPG games, A Hero’s Rest is definitely worth your time.