The Unauthorized Guide

“One of the oddest, most original and overlooked games in history” — rockpapershotgun.com

“Your task is to get some soft phlegma into your mechos as we need it in Podish.” — Counselour

PrefaceThere is an obscure subgenre of hard sci-fi, where the

author aims to to make the audience experience a

world which is completely alien. Here, everthing slightly

comprehensible is a cop out. The result is trippy but

rather exhausting: Every element has wierd names and

is explained only by their relation to someting equally

obscure. Only very few games dares go that route. There

was that RTS game from the nineties, what was it called? I

can’t remember. Oh, and then, of course, there’s VANGERS

- a Russian off-road racing RPG sandbox with destructable

voxel graphic, set in a twisted futuristic nightmare.

The Vangers manual contain lots of good info. But yes, is

is 84 pages long. Not very inviting. Which is why I made

this little guide, Which I hope this will nudge you into the

core mechanics of Vangers. If you later want to delve into

the deeper details, such as why you can paint on the wall

in the escave, feel free to hit the manual.

— Kasper Hviid

KeyboardThe keyboard control in this game is quite amazing. The first thing you notice is that the keyboard options described in the manual and the ones in the game appear in different order, has different names, and use different keys. Then you wonder about the fact that you have to press F24 to see game statistics. And you can press RESTORE ALL, and this will change all the keys to something entirely different from the default. As said, amazing!My advice: Go to the keyboard settings and change it to this:

Turn wheels left: ATurn wheels right: DMove forward: WMove backward: SAcceleration: Left Shift

Turn over left: QTurn over right: EActivate KiD (jump): SPACEActivate vector: VOpen: X Used to enter escavesHandbrake: C (no change)

Turn device Up: YTurn device Down: HInventory: i Toogles HUD inventoryChange target: TFire all weapons: Left Ctrl (no change)

Fire weapon 1: JFire weapon 2: KFire weapon 3: LTerminator release: RUse Gluek: G

Exit game: F10 (no change)Full Screen: TAB Toggles HUDReduce view: F2 (no change) Small-size HUDEnlarge view: F3 (no change) Large-size HUDRotation: F5 (no change) Toggles auto-rotationAuto tilt: F7 (no change) Toggles auto-tilt

Auto zoom: F6 (no change) Toggles auto-zoomZoom in: OZoom out: UStandard Zoom: 0Next text part: B

Chat: F12 (no change)Game statistics: F24 (no change)

PrehistoryThe game begins with a comphrehensive explanation about how our future turned into this wierd scifi body-horror insectoid mindfuck. Quite a tale ... I’m still not quite sure what the Bouillion of Spawn actually is, though.Okay, for now, just click on the red bug to skip the story.

Click the bug

FostralYou start the game in Fostral. That is an escave, an underground city. You can talk to the counselour, paint on the wall, save the game and buy stuff. When done with that you can enter the surface by clicking the upper left button, and cruise around in your mecho.

Go to surface

Save game

Ask question

Enter escave store

Confirm question

Read next bit of dialog

Escave StoreYou have three slots to buy from: Gear, Mechos and Tribeeb.GEARS: weapons and stuffMECHOS: Cars and car partsTRIBEEB: Other wares You can right-click to get more info about an item.You want to buy a MacHOTine Gun from the gears. Also buy a Nymbos from TRIBEEB, so you can sell it later and earn some Beeb.

Buy gear Buy Mechos ‘Beebs’ Insect currency!

Buy Tribeeb

Drag bought stuff here

Back to main escave

Prev item Next item

Left-click: Buy OR Mecho Exchange Screen

Right-click: Info text

Mecho ExchangeLeft-clicking on a mecho in the Escave Store bring you to this screen. This is where you buy a new Mecho. The left area is the one you’re currently owning. The right part is the new one.

Your current mecho Your new mecho

Cancel Confirm

Transfer from old mecho

SurfaceWhen you’re done chilling out in the escave, you can click the icon in the upper left to enter the surface. This is where you put all them keyboard settings to use!

If you’re getting seasick by the constant zooming, turning and tilting, try turning it off:F5 Toggle auto-rotationF6 Toggle auto-zoomF7 Toggle auto-tilt

Energy and Armor

Adjustable Windows

Inventory used Spiral Charge

Active Device Power

Hud ONThis is the default.

Hud OffThe Full Screen key (which I set to TAB) let you toggle the HUD off:

InventoryThe Inventory key (which I set to i ) let you toggle inventory: