Introducing Vatra
What Vatra is, what we hope it becomes, and why it is being made for — and with — a few friends.
A co-op village defence game around a shared fire
In development
Eleven villagers. One fire.
If it goes out, the valley starts over.
The game
Rebuild a Romanian mountain village by day. Keep its fire alive through the night. Together.
By day, the village
Gather timber and stone, mend what is broken, and help the eleven people who stayed. Every house you rebuild and every favour you do changes the valley a little.
Nights bring the old creatures
When the sun drops behind the ridge, things come out of the trees. The game is early: today the nights bring raiders and slimes. The valley’s older creatures — strigoi, vârcolaci, the iele — are what the nights are growing into.
Keep the vatra burning
The village fire belongs to everyone. If it goes out, the valley starts over. But the village half-remembers: the Chronicle keeps what you did, and the people greet you a little warmer next time.
Together, with friends
Made for a few friends on a set evening. Worlds are small and private, by invitation, and the world waits for you: when nobody is online, no night falls.
Meet the villagers
Eleven people stayed when the fire began to fail. They remember you, even if you have forgotten them.
Baba Frasina
She tends the vatra and reads the dusk. She knows every verse of the old song but the last.
Vasile
the smith
Gruff, and proud of his iron. His grandfather forged the ring that held the first fire.
Mihai
the guard
He watches the ridge from the tower. He saw lights up there the night the fire went out.
Ileana
the weaver
Her patterns are older than she is. She keeps the lanterns lit when the nights grow long.
Petru
the merchant
He will haggle over a nail, and still be first at the fire with a crate of arrows.
Stefan
the miller
He rings the mill bell when something moves in the dark. The millstone came down from the ridge.
Ioana
the cook
Nobody leaves her kitchen hungry, not even on the worst nights.
Adriana
the farmer
Up before the hens and her two boys. When the hens go quiet at night, she knows something is listening.
Radu
the priest
Adriana’s husband, keeper of a church with half a roof. Help him restore it, and he will bless you for the night ahead.
Ioan
Adriana and Radu’s younger son
The little one. Follows Vlad everywhere, and is braver than he looks.
Vlad
Adriana and Radu’s elder son
The bolder of the two. If there is a carved stone in the river, he has already found it.