Forsaken Realms Vahrin's Call is the action-RPG seven fans spent twelve years building, a dream of Fable and Elder Scrolls

Some games carry all their creators' passion within them, and you feel it from the first minutes. Forsaken Realms: Vahrin's Call is one of those: an action-RPG developed over twelve years by a seven-person studio, fed by an obvious love of Fable and The Elder Scrolls. When such a small team takes on a genre dominated by juggernauts, you inevitably waver between admiration and caution. The result doesn't have a blockbuster's scale, but it has something many big games have lost: real freedom, and a sincerity that commands respect.

The context

Forsaken Realms: Vahrin's Call is a single-player narrative action-RPG developed and published by Titan Roc, an English indie studio of only seven people, available on PC since 27 July 2026. Remarkably, the game has been in development since 2014 on Unreal Engine 4, over twelve years of work. It openly draws its inspiration from Fable for the tone and adventure, from The Elder Scrolls for its classless progression system, and from the exploration and puzzle-solving of an open world like Crimson Desert. You play a hero in the city of Vahrin, torn by war and on the brink of collapse, through an epic that spans several continents and brims with secrets to uncover.

The gameplay: the freedom of classless

The heart of Forsaken Realms is its fully classless progression, and that's where all its richness lies. The game locks you into no archetype: you shape your hero freely through your weapons, armor, abilities, alchemy ingredients and traps. You can thus become a nimble archer flinging fireballs, an axe-wielding warrior facing foes toe to toe, or any mix of the two, changing approach as you please. That freedom inherited from The Elder Scrolls is the game's finest argument, the one that lets the player write their own style rather than follow an imposed rail.

Around that base, the game deploys an ambitious narrative adventure in Fable's lineage, with an epic story spanning several continents and exploration riddled with secrets in the Crimson Desert vein. You explore, solve puzzles, fight and develop your character in a classic but generous loop, carried by a genuine care for adventure and discovery. For a seven-person studio, the ambition is considerable, and while the game obviously doesn't rival big-budget productions in polish or scale, it offers that now-rare feeling of a world to roam at will, where you carve your path by your own build choices.

What sticks

You have to stay lucid about what a seven-person studio can deliver. Despite twelve years of development, Forsaken Realms inevitably shows its modest means against the giants it draws from. You can expect uneven polish, animations or tech below big-production standards, and a scale that, however generous in intent, stays that of an indie game. Whoever comes for the sheen and density of an official Elder Scrolls will inevitably be disappointed by the comparison: it's not the same playing field, nor the same budget.

The other point of caution is the balance of such a free system. Classless is heady, but it rests on a delicate balance: poorly calibrated, it can let broken builds emerge or, conversely, make some approaches frustrating. A narrative game this ambitious in scope, carried by a small team, can also suffer irregularities in its pacing and staging. It's a title to approach for its sincerity, its freedom and its soul rather than its technical perfection, accepting the rough edges that come with such an artisanal project. Early press and creator reviews will help pin down exactly where it stands.

What we take away

Forsaken Realms: Vahrin's Call is an action-RPG that commands respect by its very existence, that of a dream carried for twelve years by seven fans. Its classless progression, inherited from The Elder Scrolls, offers delightful build freedom, that of shaping yourself into an archer-mage or axe warrior as you please, and its Fable-inspired narrative adventure, with its secret-riddled exploration, weaves a world you enjoy roaming. It's an old-school game, generous in ambition and sincere in execution, that restores that feeling of freedom many big RPGs have sacrificed.

You just have to approach it for what it is, an artisanal indie project, not for the blockbuster it never had the means to be. Its polish will betray its seven developers, its scale will stay an indie's, and its free system will need tested balance. But for whoever favors soul and freedom over technical excess, and wants to support a studio that poured twelve years of heart into its work, Forsaken Realms holds an endearing, generous adventure. It's the kind of game we love to see exist, and judge with the forgiving eye we reserve for projects born of pure passion.

Verdict

A classless narrative action-RPG inspired by Fable and Elder Scrolls, fruit of twelve years of work by a seven-person studio: delightful build freedom and real soul, to take for its sincerity more than its polish.

Strengths:

• Fully classless progression that lets you compose your style
• An ambitious narrative adventure and secret-riddled exploration
• Old-school freedom and soul that many big RPGs have lost
• A sincere project, fruit of twelve years of passion

Weaknesses:

• Polish and tech below the giants it draws from
• A scale that stays that of an indie game
• A classless system whose balance remains to be tested

---

Tested on PC.