DayZ’s Bohemia Interactive is a developer that cut its teeth on PC gaming, so it was always a bit strange that its latest game, the free-to-play Vigor, wasn’t initially released on our beloved platform of choice. Hitting consoles way back in 2018, it’s taken until now to come to PC via Steam. And, unfortunately, there’s a catch.
If you haven’t encountered it already, Vigor is a realistic FPS survival game set in a post-apocalyptic version of Norway. Players join Encounters with other survivors to fight over scarce resources and airdropped supplies, trying to live long enough to evacuate back to their base. At your Shelter you’ll be able to upgrade, perform other tasks, and load into more levels, making it an extraction shooter in all but name.
Console players have been able to play Vigor for free since 2019 on Xbox One and Switch, 2020 for PlayStation 4 and 5, and 2021 for Xbox Series X/S users. Finally the game has arrived on PC as part of Steam’s Early Access program, but there’s one big catch – it isn’t free. At least, not yet.
Despite being branded as a free-to-play game on Steam, PC gamers need to pay $19.99 / £16.99 for the Reinforcements Pack, without which it’s impossible to play on Steam during the early access period. The pack contains a few weapons and consumables to kickstart your Vigor journey along with an exclusive uniform and title.
In addition to the DLC requirement, when the early access period is concluded, all progress will be wiped. Players who have bought the Reinforcements Pack will be able to keep the items in the pack, however. The game will also transition into a full free-to-play model once it launches out of early access, with Bohemia Interactive aiming for a 1.0 after three months.
It’s fair to say that this has been a bitter pill for potential Vigor fans to swallow. The Steam comments under the announcement are uniformly negative with a similar grim outlook on the game’s subreddit. Currently the game is sitting on a mixed 51% Steam rating, with most negative reviews calling out the DLC purchase requirement as the core complaint.
If you’d like to check out the full announcement for Vigor’s Steam Early Access release, you can do so here.
Should you want to dive into something else, our guide to the best FPS games you can play will get you blasting with the best of them, or you can take a look at our best open-world games guide for a taste of pure exploration.
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