Grim Dawn - Reviews

The action RPG Grim Dawn is getting a lot of praise:

IGN:

Grim Dawn is one of the best ARPGs in ages, with everything a Diablo 3 competitor needs and a few of its own tricks.

Score: 8.7/10

CGM:

Grim Dawn is one of the easiest ARPGs to recommend in recent years.

Score: 9/10

PC Gamer:

It's a little hobbled by old-school stylings and the story could be better, but few modern hack-and-slash RPGs are quite so fun.

Score: 83/100

MMORPG:

There is no question that Grim Dawn moves along familiar lines: Base classes, a tragic world inhabited by monsters in a wide variety of flavors, nearly constant loot drops, action-oriented combat, somewhat "lite" yet interesting story, etc. Somehow, though, Grim Dawn just does it better than any other ARPG in recent memory.

Score: 9.2/10

More information.

Thanks henriquejr!

Just like I loved Titan Quest, I love this game. I'm not sure why I like them so much better than all the other hack and slay games that I've played. Part of it is the character system, but it seems to me they've got the pacing and other things just right. I'm so glad they were able to make this game.

Grim Dawn was the very first game I ever backed on Kickstarter, and the one I had to wait the longest to be delivered as it was originally expected to release in August of 2013 if I remember correctly. They went well above and beyond what was originally promised, even an entire act was added. I could have played early access, but I wanted to wait for the actual feature-complete release.

I am enjoying it more than any other similar title I have played since Titan Quest/Diablo 2, including Van Helsing, Victor Vran, Torchlight 2 (it would have got my runner up vote), and even Diablo 3 itself, though I have never played the expansion on that yet.

I'm not a huge ARPG fan, however Grim Dawn is an all around fun, rewarding gaming experience. It looks pretty nice, the areas are varied, and the 'fun factor' is through the roof. Just about any type of gamer will enjoy this title, IMO. Diablo 3 was like 50 bucks when it was released, had that ridiculous always online requirement, so I never bothered to buy it. I did play the demo and Grim Dawn is way better, and at 25 dollars a really nice value.

How's the level design? Are the level layouts randomized like in Path of Exile? I was enjoying PoE, but I really dislike how the layouts randomly change when you return to them.

For those of you who have played both games, which one would you rate higher?

If you are a MMO person Path of Exile is overall better.

If you are SP person Grim Dawn is overall better.

Originally Posted by JDR13
How's the level design? Are the level layouts randomized like in Path of Exile? I was enjoying PoE, but I really dislike how the layouts randomly change when you return to them.

For those of you who have played both games, which one would you rate higher?

Definitely would rate Grim Dawn higher, just has an overall better feel to me.
I love the look of the world for one, it truly does feel grim, also really like the actual combat, I feel that I'm truly bashing things around here, very satisfying for sure.

There's no randomized map that I saw, but there are different locations of where things are found.

Originally Posted by JDR13
How's the level design? Are the level layouts randomized like in Path of Exile? I was enjoying PoE, but I really dislike how the layouts randomly change when you return to them.

For those of you who have played both games, which one would you rate higher?

In Grim dawn dungeons are persistent and they are definitively lot better than PoE and they also have secret areas with some nice things like shrines, bosses and chests with good drops.I also like loot lot more in GD than in PoE.If you are solo drinker items with interesting effects drop fairly rare, same goes for currency items while in Grim dawn you get something interesting far more often.

This game is like a crack addiction for me. At level 49, with over 40 hours put into the game in total, I am still finding new things, locations, and am regularly impressed. I recently found my first two Legendary items, didn't even know they existed in the game. It has a much more interesting story than is found in most ARPG's, excellent atmosphere (strikes a post apocalyptic Diablo vibe), awesome character/loot building, varied back-drops, and even some choices and factions thrown into the mix a little later in the game.

I like this one a lot better than Diablo 3, though my disclaimer is that I only played through the D3 campaign all the way once when it first released (had fun but didn't feel compelled to play anymore) and have heard it has gotten better since. Actually, I have been enjoying Grim Dawn so much I decided to fire up Diablo 3 again. After waiting forever for the updates to download/install, I loaded it up then wondered what the Hell I was doing and went back to playing Grim Dawn.

In short, Grim Dawn is badass, and is an absolute steal at $25. I'm proud to be an original backer (picked up two copies for $30 in the Kickstarter).

World and dungeons are not randomized in Grim Dawn. Just like ti was in Titan Quest.
Monsters spawns, loot and chests are randomized of course but scenery and layouts is not.

Originally Posted by JDR13
How's the level design? Are the level layouts randomized like in Path of Exile? I was enjoying PoE, but I really dislike how the layouts randomly change when you return to them.

For those of you who have played both games, which one would you rate higher?

I'm the same way, hate the feeling of never accomplishing anything. Save the world? Nope all the same monsters are still in the same place in the same levels, though dispersed differently.

I really want to like ARPGs but why must they steel the fundamental foundation of playing a game. Additionally you never seem to be able to get a complete set of gear. There's always random crap you class build can't use, sure it makes good vendor loot. However if my character is a mage, why can't I get matching set lvl 5 mage gear before I reach level 10 or lvl 10 gear before lvl 20. Don't even think of planning ahead to get lvl 20 gear before you even reach lvl 20.

Originally Posted by JDR13
For those of you who have played both games, which one would you rate higher?

I found GD to be much slower than I'd prefer. But I also found Titan Quest to be a bit boring as well. Different strokes.

Originally Posted by Acleacius
However if my character is a mage, why can't I get matching set lvl 5 mage gear before I reach level 10 or lvl 10 gear before lvl 20. Don't even think of planning ahead to get lvl 20 gear before you even reach lvl 20.

Because its not World of Warcraft or something similar with linear progression of gear. The closest thing to what you describe (and basically only isometric HnS that is doing something like that in existence) is (suprise!) Diablo 3.
Mix'n'matchin puzzles with gear is one of the genre staples so if you want linear 'sets' with +10 stamina more per 5 lvl you must stick with childrens… erm…sorry… Blizzard games.

Also you definitely can achieve something like you describe in all HnS in history… you must just be very lucky or you must trade with other players or you must have stashed stuff from other chars.

You quit the game and, when you come back, the areas of the automap you have uncovered so far still are there. That is the main reason why I prefer Grim Dawn.

The lesson here is that it pays to wait as long as you can and polish the game up to perfection so that everything plays right, because your efforts will be felt in the game and people will appreciate it. It's the same thing with Age of Decadence.

Originally Posted by HummaKavula
Because its not World of Warcraft or something similar with linear progression of gear. The closest thing to what you describe (and basically only isometric HnS that is doing something like that in existence) is (suprise!) Diablo 3.
Mix'n'matchin puzzles with gear is one of the genre staples so if you want linear 'sets' with +10 stamina more per 5 lvl you must stick with childrens… erm…sorry… Blizzard games.

Also you definitely can achieve something like you describe in all HnS in history… you must just be very lucky or you must trade with other players or you must have stashed stuff from other chars.

WoW (3 months, after the game had been out for 5 years (I lost a bet) and D3 (never played, surprise?) seriously…have you played Gothic or any real RPG? This has nothing to do with mmog armors, you clearly misunderstood (best case) or have no clue (worst case). You can't even get matching visual armor set, much less stats that actually benefit your class. Not to mention the ridiculous, randomized crap stats in ARPGs.

Yes I can see why your speaking of children, seems you only frame of reference to reality. Here's hoping if you grace our presence with another post, you will actually have a clue what your talking about.

You are in the wrong genre m8. Thats all. You must be if you compare Grim Dawn to Gothic and 'real' RPGs lol.
And you may try Diablo 3, it has exacly what you are talking about. Or stick to Gothic.

450 hours and i want to try 2 new builds. Help me.

I loved TQ - played it tons and finished it several times. I'm just not getting into GD as much. I might need to try a different build or something. Could be that I adore mythology and the setting in GD isn't quite as interesting. Dunno. All thru beta I'd play for a very short time, put it down, return, get a smidge further after restarting, and repeat. Still have yet to clear the first chapter.

I think part of it is expectation. I've never really played ARPGs to go thru repeatedly to get a full build or to farm the hell out of loot - I just like to get thru the game and enjoy that, and maybe it's that the game doesn't get truly good til you're on your 3rd trip thru the story with a higher level character.

GD has lots of nice additional tweaks and improvements over TQ and I think it's a good game overall, just maybe not the best game for me. But I didn't finish D3 (as much of a joke as that game is first time thru - so easy it's comical) til I changed classes a few times, so I'm sure I'll poke GD again to give it a more fair shake.