Vangers is a 1998 game by the Russian studio K-D Lab, published at home by Buka Entertainment. It is hard to file under one genre: it mixes racing, vehicular combat and role-playing. The player drives a vanger, a vehicle produced by the Bios of the Eleepods, through strange interlinked worlds built with K-D Lab's own terrain editor Surmap A-R-T and its voxel-polygonal technology.
Interactive Magic released the game in North America on June 29, 1998, and Midas Interactive Entertainment handled Europe. The backstory involves the Spirits, who built Passages between worlds; K-D Lab's later strategy game Perimeter tells those events as a prequel.
In 2014 Vangers returned on Steam and GOG.com for Windows, macOS and Linux, though without the original multiplayer. In March 2016 the source code was opened under GPL-3.0, while the art stayed non-free.1
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Vangers: One for the Road | Windows | Jun 29, 1998 | Interactive Magic | 1 |
| RU | ВангерыExact Russian release date is not given in the source. | Windows | 1998 | Buka Entertainment | 1 |
| EU | Vangers | Windows | 1998 | Midas Interactive Entertainment | 1 |
| WW | VangersSteam re-release for Windows, macOS and Linux; English Wikipedia names KranX Productions as the Steam publisher. | Windows | Apr 24, 2014 | Association K-D Lab | 2 |
| WW | VangersGOG.com release (date per English Wikipedia); the game was not found in GOG's catalog on 2026-10-13. | Windows | Sep 24, 2014 | — | 1 |
Also known as: Вангеры RU1Vangers: One for the Road WW1
Box art by region
NA Vangers: One for the Road
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
Translations
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English Official
Interactive Magic1998Windows · Russian originalReleased
The English version came out in North America through Interactive Magic in June 1998 and in Europe through Midas Interactive Entertainment.1
Where to play legally today
-
Steam Purchase
Vangers
2014 re-release; Windows, macOS, Linux; English and Russian
Checked: 2026-10-132store.steampowered.com
How to run it today
Buy the Steam edition, which runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. The source code has been open under GPL-3.0 since March 2016, but the art is not free, so builds of the open-source engine still need the data files from the Steam or GOG.com release.1
Best version
The 2014 re-release is the only edition sold today. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux and supports English and Russian, but multiplayer is gone.1
Reception
Western reviews were mixed, with a 57% average on GameRankings. Next Generation said the fun was buried in a convoluted science-fiction script; Computer Gaming World liked the dark worlds and combat but not the controls or the invented vocabulary.1
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.