I have an update:
It may not be the game at all! I ended up creating a new character and within the 1st 10 minutes there were crashes. So I did more troubleshooting and deep diving on the internet and I believe the issue is the Xbox console itself. Specifically for those in the preview alpha/skip ahead program. I have been in the program for over 7 years now and had completely forgotten about it. Apparently there is an issue in the latest Xbox preview program update that is causing a small number of user’s consoles to hard reset randomly. I believe this is the cause and nothing to do with the game itself.
More information:
I downloaded and installed the game on a different series x console with my profile and save data for Grim Dawn. I had zero issues with crashes. So this told me it wasn’t anything in my specific save file conflicting with any game code.
After that I tried to figure out what the difference is between the two series x consoles. The only difference is that the console where the crashes were happening is enrolled in the preview program.
Given that information and the handful of reports I’ve found of other preview program members reporting crashes I can only assume that the issue lies with the preview program’s latest OS update which was last night/this morning… just hours prior to my issues beginning.
I’ve unenrolled from the program on the console where the crashes were happening and played for 23 minutes without any crashes so far. If anymore occur I’ll update here.
I apologize for not thinking of the preview program first. At least everyone is aware it could cause potential issues so if anymore Xbox users report similar crashes you’ll have this information on hand!