This is my gigantic thread where I talk in detail and showcase many of my favourite enemy designs in Grim Dawn and its expansions. I may not be good at precisely conveying my thoughts on paper, but I have been meaning to do a thread like this for quite some time now. With the release of Fangs of Asterkarn - (presumably) the final expansion - it is a perfect time for me to go into detail about the many enemies I have faced thoroughts the thousands of hours I have spent enjoying the game. I may not be the best of builders or have vast mechanical knowledge of the game, but I do love talking about the artistic side of it.
The structure of this thread will be as follows: an entry for the enemy type, a description of what I like about them in various regards - like the model, animations, sound design and their use in the game. I will include pictures and gifs for the model and various animations, and I will include some of the sounds associated with the enemy type - anything that I think is the reason why I have a strong connection to the design. The list will not rank the enemies in any way and I will go in no particular order, with some exceptions included.
A note regarding and pictures and gifs - I took them in the Viewer tool and the Editor tool (in game for some specific cases). Due to how these tools function (or rather how much I know about using them), some particle effects and attachments like weapons will not be displayed.
Grim Dawn and its community has been a part of my life for many years at this point, partly shaping of who I am today. I want to show my appreciation of the game and the people in my own way. Lets go!
Eldritch Armor
Enemy Entry
I like when games use the idea of haunted armor. Korvan armor set looks very good, the winged helmet, wide shoulders with a ceremonial piece the back and the runed scrolls near the hips makes it stand out. The eldritch energies possessing these armor glow brightly and they give them great contrast, combined with the gilded rune details on the armor reflecting the light.
The best thing about these enemies are their death animations. The eldritch energies explode, with the armor pieces flying away - this makes for very satisfying foe slaying, and I like the death sound too, the eldritch spirit screams in pain as it escapes the crumbling armor.
Sounds
Kaw’Hranaak
Enemy Entry
These have a lot of character in their designs. The weakest variant has the least feathers and they cover their back in cloth, as if to hide their true appearance - out of shame perhaps, as this race’s history is rather tragic. Their heads look like they are fledglings, yet the Kaw’Hranaak are said to be ancient. The stronger variants are more feathered and I love how detailed the feather are, and the way the light interacts with them. The feathered backs give these enemies such an intersting shape too, they are one of the most interesting enemies to just… look at and appreciate. The despoiler variant carries an urn which releases a Ch’thonic Herald on death, yet an additional neat detail that adds something interesting for the eye. The Kaw’Hranaak also carry plenty of trinkets, primitive in design, as to hint at their long relationship with the Kurn people.
The animations give them some character too, with a lot of subtle movements. In general enemies in Fangs of Asterkarn has some of the best animations, bringing so much life to the model. Moving the hand across the serrations of the blade and chanting a void incantation is such a joy to look at.
As with many bird people races in videogames, these guys have hilarious voices, almost goofy. I love them, I love when a game allows itself to have goofy times at stuff. That goofiness can make for an interesting surprise too, as the voicelines of Naddo - the boss we fight at the World Tear - can be intimidating at times. On my first playthrough it didn’t click for me, but when I fought him in the SR boss room, his appearance with the crazed speech made me adore the design of this boss (also in Shattered Realm you meet him in much more bright places, lets you marvel at the character model and texture more!).
Sounds
Thorned Horror
Enemy Entry
An iconic beast, these are great at representing the grim dark nature of the game. They look like their bodies are made of charred wood,it gives them such an amazing texture. I love the head shape, how jagged it makes it look like while also having a jaw that is curved, resulting in a unique shape which is shared across other riftspawn enemies (unique shape to this faction of enemies). The head shape is so iconic that it has been used as an icon for Ultimate and Ascendant difficulty! Four eyes makes them look either more insectoid or alien, the latter is more logical as these beasts come from a different reality. The brambled backs make them look dangerous and the player immediately knows that this enemy deals bleeding damage. Their backs get even crazier with the other variants - aetherthorn and rimethorn. Aether crystals growing out of their backs makes for such a fun design, quite pleasing to look at. Rimethorns have beautiful textures and are probably my favourite, but I am biased towards blue colors and snow/ice themes.
Rimethorns also make use of a new attack where they repeatedly slam the ground, I really like attacks like that and in this case, this animation gives the enemy the character of a rampaging beast.
Sounds
Aetherial Colossus
Enemy Entry
Aetherial corruption meets industial machinery, this creates a great enemy for the faction of aetherials. The aether mostly corrupts the mind, body or nature, so this aetherial is a fascinating case. The grotesque combination of flesh and machinery gives it a distinct look, there are so many things that are being used in this fusion. A bunch of pipes sticking out on the side, which look like a pauldron. Some moving pistons, metal lids. The arms being a giant cannon and some kind of a mining tool, even a tiny furnace on its stomach as a fun little detail. Aetherials always lack symetry in their designs to make them look more unnatural, more man made. The legs are wildly different in size and the upper body of this colossus is massive. The idea of man being merged with a machine in such a violent way can be terrifying and this enemy displays it in an amazing way.
Aetherial Corruption
Enemy Entry
The common enemy of the Aetherial Vanguard (their face is on the faction’s icon!), but dangerous in their looks. The most interesting part of their design to me are the spikes growing all over their upper body. They look like plant thorns, but they appear to be bones, violently growing out of their bodies. Their hands also have these elongated bones, although the ones on the multi fingered hand could be nails instead. Looks gross overall and I love it. Their jaw is split and so is their stomach, filled with aether energies and what not, extremely grotesque and interesting to look at - I am a huge fan of open ribcages. Their legs are a mess too, the feet are completely warped at this point and one limb is presumably made out of two legs. The skin is heavily damaged, preobably because of the extreme experimentation the aetherials do to these bodies in order to improve their forces. With designs like that, it’s always a mystery of how many people were used to create something like that.
Sounds
Eldritch Gargoyle
Enemy Entry
They look amazing, especially the glowing ones. They have such slick design while their skin is made out of charred wood, or something that looks like one - a design choice which is used by most of Eldritch enemies, minions of Korvaak. The head’s shape is similar to a Korvan helm, with the winged details and a cone shape in the middle - Korvan people could have based their helmets on these monsters. Shoulders are wide and spiky, it makes the enemy look armored and imposing. I am glad both the head and the shoulder is available for the player to use. Wings have a couple of variants, from normal tattered ones to ones made out of pure energy. I really like the energy ones, pushing the enemy further into an otherworldly being. The glowing patterns on the chest, hands and legs make them look much more interesting than the basic gargoyles, the eldritch energies being the sap that overflows from their wooded bodies. The feet almost look like hooves, which makes them more chimera-like.
They share their animations with Void Ryloks, but that doesn’t meant they do not look great. The badass landing animation is great as an alternate spawn animation. The quick kneel into wing flap belongs to the category of animations which I don’t really know how to explain as to why they are so satisfying to me to watch. Many of animations like this, where a character quickly changes its pose are fascinating to me.
The sounds they make make me think of a cosmic furnace, their glowing stomachs being the fuel source. Voicelines of the Messenger are also fun to listen, I can hear the rage of it and it heralding the return of its master.
Sounds
Gryphon
Enemy Entry
They look majestic, both the living and the construct form. Something about their body shape and how they pose makes me think of them as the avian royalty. It could be because gryphons in Heroes of Might and Magic 3 and 5 were always a symbol of their respective kingdoms’ power, although in those games the gryphons were more on the wild, animalistic side. Grim Dawn’s gryphons look more regal, more… civilised, but it doesn’t stop them from being menacing in a fight. Of the living gryphons, their sovereign - Azaleon - has some of the most beautiful textures. The purple color is associated with royalty and the color reflection on the wings looks like something you would see on wet asphalt. The head resembles an owl, which is a symbol of wisdom (funnily enough, real life owls are pretty dumb). It has a bulky body, but their shape maintain the regal status of the creature. The construct gryphons lose some of that royalty, but the boss variants are adorned with either colorful or glowing patterns, which are pleasing to look at. The Korvan people knew well to build statues of these amazing birds.
The animations are interesting because they are fitting for both the living and the construct variant and I wonder if it was intended by the artist. In the walk animation, the way the head tries to remain static but then it quickly snaps to another position resembles how a bird of prey would approach something, being fully focused on the target. This works great for the living variant, but then if we switch the model to the construct one, it gains a new meaning of the head being a separate part of the main frame, which is why its movement ould lag behind the rest of the body. Only once the movement motion reaches the head, it quickly snaps to match with the body. It is easily one of my favourite animations because of how it has different “mechanics” behind its motions depending on the creature variant. The other animations I find good to look at because of how they use the wings to change the overall shape of the character. The wing flap animation also has the gryphon move its chest forward, as in a sign of bravery and further display of their regal status.
Hyporaven
Enemy Entry
A cousin to the gryphon. Most of what I’ve said about the gryphon applies to the Hyporaven, due to how similar they are. The Hyporaven does appear to be more feminine in its design, with the body being much more thin and the limbs being not a bulky as the gryphon’s. The textures, especially on the wings, are insane. The best looking feathers in game belong to Evernight, with beautiful dark purple feather that have amazing light reflections, oh what shame that we fight the boss in an area covered by night! The head looks beautiful as well and I like the little… twigs?.. that pop out around the beak, such a cool detail to add to make the creature look more messy and wild.
Animations are shared with the gryphon and what I will say applies to both designs. I like the head twitches the hyporaven does during its idle animation. Another great detail is the feathers at the back of its heads moving with a slight delay compared to the rest of the head, which makes the feathers look less static and as if they moved with a flow.
Chthonian Herald
Enemy Entry
More caster/intelligence based minion of Ch’thon, different from the usual enemies that are relying on brute strength. I love that they have four arms, it makes them more inhuman and insectoid, more scary, and I love the gesture they do with their lower arms. It looks like they are either praying or scheming something, they are more cunning and intelligent compared to the rest of Ch’thonics, which makes them stand out as heralds of the end times. They are rather thin and it makes them look frail, further pushing them into a caster archetype, but they are not weak, their spells can kick one’s butt pretty hard. Their lower parts with the cloth and hanging chains remind me of Ch’thonian Harbingers, these heralds could be an evolution of them. The tentacles for legs make me think of jellyfish and the heralds can use them to essentially swim in the air. The carved out chest is a design element shared among many Ch’thonians and Aetherials, I think in both cases it showcases how these monsters are not something created naturally, instead they are artificial products made for specific purpose by their creators, both factions achieve that through different means and for being very hostile towards each other, they do share some of the design elements. The herald’s head is tall, with a gaping maw and an elaborate head piece. The boss variants also have a void crystal piece popping out of the head. The head looks like a religious headpiece, like a mitre, and with the maw being wide open, the heralds preach of the impending doom. Of course the most interesting and great look part of them are the back pieces. They wear them like crests of the faction they are representing, although in this case these crests are organic and growing out of them. The strongest herald variants have the most detailed crests, with Prodromus wearing, what I like to call, Path of Exile logo. The Bloodbound nemesis, Nyarlathon, takes the crest to an absurd degree, with it becoming the central piece of the character and being bigger than the herald itself. The crests have eyes and a void portal, as if the back piece was becoming its own, living thing.
The animations have them performs plenty of channels, where the multiple arms are used to create satisfying to look at gestures. The hand waving to maintain the channel, or reaching the sky with open arms as if to ask (and receive) a blessing from the very heavens, from Ch’thon itself. In their walk, or rather float, animation they do keep their lower arms’ gesture of praying/plotting, which makes them look calm and composed even in the heat of battle. The appear animation that is used by Prodromus (and Nyarlathon, but that one is harder to spot) is badass, with the way it is used to surprise you with the one final obstacle before the final boss, the music in the area also helps to sell the feeling that you are approaching the finale of the entire game.
Sound wise, with the enemy being the preacher of the end, it is natural that it has some ominous evil speech, I am not complaining of course as it is great to listen to. The various voicelines also make the encounter with Prodromus memorable, as he performs a speech on his appearance and later in the fight, as he chants different summoning spells of either projectiles or void enemies.
Sounds
Void Leech
Enemy Entry
A monster with a more nostalgic value to me. When I have first started playing Grim Dawn ages ago, it was on a potato pc and on the lowest graphical settings possible. I remember progressing through the game and finally meeting the leeches. Because you usually meet them in dark areas and of my potato mode settings, I have thought they are mutated humans wearing a hood. This has impressed the younger Maska, but present Maska is impressed with the actual design as well! Their arm tentacles having rows of teeth is a fun detail and the back of the creature has rows of tentacles growing out of it, these tentacles give the creature an interesting shape if viewed from the front, as they look like a headpiece. The back tentacles is also where the leech’s eyes are, making them appear more as an afterthought for the creature’s design and leaving more area for the mouth. The giant, round maw is based on real life leeches and the belly being slighlty swole further helps to push the idea of a gluttonous creature.
The leech’s sound paried with its texture makes the enemy feel “slimy”, like something that would be weird to touch. Greed and gluttony does go well with the creature looking swole and slimed, the leech will consume the blood for its master, but it will never satiate its hunger. The death sound is also pleasing to listen to for me, it makes killing groups of leeches quite satisfying.
Sounds
Aetherial Obelisk
Enemy Entry
A giant crystal, probably one from the big crystal clusters, that has gathered enough corpses and has decided to lift itself into the air. I am a sucker for giant tower-like enemies that are used as sentries for specific areas. The obelisk’s top is covered in bones of the many corpses it has gathered (or rather the aetherials piled up the corpses in specific areas to grow these obelisks). They are mostly found either as a lone watches of a strategically important place (Port Valbury entrance, Black Legion’s arsenal of cannons) or in areas of an ongoing battle that provide a steady supply of corpses (Plains of Strife, Mourndale). Center of its body is covered in rock, which was taken from the ground as the crystal unearthed itself. The lower parts are merged with flesh and the legs are flesh tentacles that end with a bone hook, used by the obelisk to remain tethered to the ground. It also uses magic to float nearby rocks which are used to shield the middle part of the obelisk. Overall, an amazing design. The flesh parts at the bottom may be replicating roots the crystal has used while still grounded. The flesh part in middle between the two rock bodies resemble a mushroom stem, which makes the entire enemy appear like an aetherial plant of some kind. These obelisks are used to terraform nearby areas to be corrupted by the aether, further supporting the idea of a plant that is feeding itself on its surroundings.
The animation of the obelisk rising is a unique introduction of the enemy, assuming the player does the Conflagration quest and meets their very first aetherial obelisk in there. It makes me think that supporting the entire body with these flesh hooks is energy consuming, so the obelisk remain passively in the ground for most of its time. It only rises when danger is approaching, also serving as a sort of an alarm for nearby aetherial forces. After taking some beating, the obelisk will pull its hooks off the ground and begin to float. I really like how aggressive the animation makes the pulling off hooks look like, the enemy is done playing with you and it’s time to get serious for phase two of the fight.
I am also a sucker for the sound, because I love the deep, bass heavy sound that many giant static defensive structures do in videogames. The sounds are like a siren’s alarm, to notify the player they are in the dangerous zone, and to notify the enemy’s allies that an intruder has come to their area.
Sounds
Aetherial Sentinel
Enemy Entry
After the obelisk finishes the terraforming process, the aetherials reinforce its body with more and more harvested flesh and the final result is the sentinel. Aetherial Vanguard continues to create absolutely gross designs with the excessive use of flesh and bone. The sentinel has rooted itself to the ground with thick flesh appendages. The center body is an amalgamation of flesh and bone, a lot of corpses has been used here. There are plenty of skulls to be spotted and the spines look like braces that reinforce the structure’s integrity. It is hard to spot, but the middle area has a bunch of wide open mouths too, the pained screams are used to summon and alter nearby allies. Some arms and mangled flesh create tube-like connections, which does make the design look bit more mechanical, manufactured. The very top has a bunch of flailing arms which are probably useless in defense, but they make the tower look bulkier at the top, and lots of eyes to help the sentinel watch over an area. The skin all over the tower is tattered and damaged, showing combat damage and little consideration of the aetherials towards their flesh materials. The sentinel is a bulkier version of the obelisk and designed so much more violently. The most foul of aetherials are so detached from humanity and so desperate to claim this world, that they see humans as nothing more as building blocks for their Glorious Dawn. With how nedlessly cruel some of the aetherial designs look like, it is clear that they also take pleasure from seeing the humans suffer the worst fates possible.
Wind Raptor
Enemy Entry
(Old) Rifthound with wings. I miss the old rifthound model, so I am glad these guys are still in the game. They may be lacking in the model or texture quality, but I just really like their design. The head is my favourite part of this enemy type. It looks like a skull with an extremely thin layer of skin covering it. There is no nose and there are empty eye sockets, warped in a way to look more otherworldly, eldritch. The hooked mouth and lower jaw is my favourite part of the design, it creates an interesting shape, shared with some of the other riftspawn enemies, like the Thorned Horror. It has no neck as the head directly connects to the rest of its body. The back has a heavily pronounced spine, almost looking like spikes shooting out of it. The creature looks frail, thin and skeletal, as if it was malnourished.
(Old) Rifthound
Enemy Entry
Wind Raptor without wings. The new rifthound model is of higher quality and it looks less goofy, but I like this design more overall. Nostalgia may play a factor in here, as these guys remind me of the more gritty looks of older Grim Dawn, before the newer expansion introduced incredible looking and high quality models. All I have said about the Wind Raptor design applies here too. Looking at them from the side shows how much skeletal they are, which looks interesting and I like it more than the newer design that is more similar to Eldritch Hounds. I wish there was a spot in game with a bunch of them, as a reference to the older times.
Reanimator
Enemy Entry
The very first major enemy in the game, being a boss in the first quest. The two heads give me a vibe of conjoined twins, but in this case it is two people merged into one being through artificial means. The big head in front is the dominant one and the smaller one without eyes seems tucked in the corner, but it is capable of speech. The creature appears to be powered by the crystals on its back, because their stomach is hollowed out and filled with aether energies. It could even be a case of the crystal using the body like a puppet, something that’s usually reserved for non organic aetherial enemies. The idea of being an amalgamation of two people isn’t on display that much, other than the upper body being bloated and one of the legs having a foot merged with another one. The design abandons symmetry to make it look artificial, as it is usual with aetherials. The bandages on legs are a nice touch, it’s like the body is crumbling away and the aetherials try to keep it in shape.
The animations may support the idea of the body being a puppet of the crystal growth. The creature is all shaky, as if trying to fight for control of it’s body. It has a lot of sudden movements and twitches, like the two heads are trying to assume control. The shakiness adds a lot of character to the design and I enjoy watching the one with the reanimator opening its arms. The way it walks is like a shambling corpse and the animation gives weight to the bigger leg, you can see how the enemy struggles to move it forward. Their death animation is very satisfying in game, with giant aether particles exploding from the aether cluster.
The sounds are great too. The voicelines make use of the twin head and they sound like being spoken by two people at once. The death sound is iconic, with the gurgling sound being so memorable and the voiceline being a cute reference. Now that I think about it, the voiceline “Come to us!” proves that this creature’s mind of made out of multiple beings.
Sounds
Roc
Enemy Entry
The Roc has such a slim body shape which I like, normally it would make it look too thin, but the wide wings compensate for that and in game, the creature has an almost equal ratio of width and length. Vibrant feather tips makes the character’s shape stand out more and is a fine detail. The common and storm variant is adorned with big, bushy plumage, it looks interesting and makes the creature look more distinct. The cold and void variant suffers a more gruesome fate, with shards covering its head and back, making them look more pointy and therefore dangerous. The shards growing out of the eyes is an amazing touch, it makes me feel bad for the enemy as it appears to be in constant pain. The tail is big, with an elaborate pattern of feathers. The two long feathers at the very end look like a double tail of some insects and it adds something interesting to look at on the back of the Roc, so the entire design is filled with unique details that makes for a good looking enemy.
The enemy has a variety of unique attacks too. The animation of calling a projectile storm adds to the Roc’s magical nature. Both the dive bomb and disengage attacks also result in the encounters with these enemies to be more memorable. I tried to capture the dive bomb attack in a gif, but the enemies refused to use it.
Haunted Scarecrow
Enemy Entry
I like it mostly because I like the theme of a spirit animating an object that was never supposed to make movements, with said object looking humanoid. The scarecrow is being controlled by the small aether crystal planted inside its stomach. The straw hat variant is a more interesting design to me as it removes the symmetry of the arms, with both arms using different makeshit tools to resemble fingers. The hat is hiding the sack used on the head, which has a scary looking face sewn onto it. The legs are sharps sticks tied together in a crude way, with no consideration to the structual integrity to them, something made quickly to serve its limited purpose.
Where this character shines are the animations, mainly the ones used for movement. The walk and run fully commits to the puppet idea and the aetherial haunting this objects tries its best to keep the balance without the entire thing falling apart. The drunken walk looks like the aetherial is learning how to manipulate the legs in order to remains in balance and slowly move forward. The run animation focuses on the legs as they shoot forward, leaving the rest of the body behind. In the dark it could fool someone to think they come across another person, but once it starts the chase, the doubts are removed and it would create a terrifying encounter.
Korvan Scorpius
Enemy Entry
A humanoid insect with multiple limbs and segmented body, I really like such a design. The Scorpius looks intimidating and dangerous, the exoskeleton makes for a fantastic armor texture. Its head also has a unique shape, which makes the character stand out more than it already does. The little arms near the chest adds some detail in the middle parts of the design. The chest also has a protruding piece going from the around the ribs, down the stomach, which I find interesting. The enemy makes me remember the scorpion monsters from Titan Quest. If I remember correctly, the scorpions in there had both a scorpion arm and a human one with which they held weapons. That enemy also had a cool design, but Korvan Scorpius with its body shape and many hard edges makes for a more menacing looking foe.
The animation has a lot of twitching, which makes them stand out and give some character to the insectoid monster. The long winded attacks are always fun to look at, and anticipating them in game to perform a dodge makes for a more engaging gameplay for me. Even their idle animation is fascinating, with many of the segments doing the twitches.
The sounds it uses have a lot of “clicking”, together with the twitchy movements it results in a fun enemy to fight in the game.
Sounds
Korvaak’s Servant and Grand Magus Morgoneth
Enemy Entry
The Servant shares many characterstics with Eldritch Gargoyle. It has a body made out of charred wood, with great looking textures where the wood bark is used to create various patterns all over the character. The hip armor is seemingly a part of its body, with the cloth being fused to the body. The head uses the winged design of many Korvan enemies, with a crystal growing out on top, lack of eyes, and no nose but only the nostrils. The shoulders of stronger variants look like tree roots reaching to the sides. The chest has a lot of detail, the stomach is very thin which, combined with the wide hip armor and shoulders, create a pleasing shape to look at, almost feminine even. The chest has a hole in the middle, which stores some kind of a gem. More powerful variants have eldritch energies pouring out of the gem and covering most of the chest area, in a way that once again creates a good to look at texture pattern.
Grand Magus Morgoneth seems to be one of the Korvaak’s Servants, but heavily armored and armed with a giant mace. Armor of the Eternal Night is one of the best armors in the game and so it makes Morgoneth’s design look fantastic. The armor takes some of the design characterstics of Eldritch creatures and expands on them while replacing the charred wood textures with dark metal. The winged helmet and the head crystal is now much taller and the wings are thinner, ending with a sharp point. The face is narrow and it abandons anything that would resemble a human, no more mouth and nose. The shoulders are larger and more sharp, the idea of tree roots can still be seen, but the armor has been made more smooth, hammered down. The hand armor is the most different piece compared to the Servant. It is plated in a way to create sharp edges and the hand armor is extremely spiky. It gives the character the appearance of a tyrant, with his grip over others being dominating and cruel, a cause of a lot of pain. The hip armor and the chest lose some of the detail from the Servant, with the main focus being on the giant blue crystals. These crystals are the only bright source on the overall dark armor, which creates an interesting contrast of colors. Morgoneth’s weapon also looks brutal, with a lot of spikes and hard edges. It is a mace, so I think of it like a scepter, a symbol of kings and power - which in this case is being warped by Morgoneth’s tyrannical grasp.
On the animation side, I like the little intro Morgoneth has when you meet him. Adds just a little more to his character. His long channel animation also looks nice to me, with the slighly shaking hand grasping the air, summoning the dark energies of the eternal night.
For the sounds I want to return to the Servant (I think Morgoneth shares these sounds anyway). They are less beast-like than the gargoyle and the curious thing about them is how they sound as if the creature was underwater. The gurgling sound while its dying makes me think of the creature drowning, it could be related to how their chests are glowing with eldritch energies. Maybe on its death, the energies release within the Servant and it chokes on its own blood - it could be interesting.
Sounds
Chthonian Servitor
Enemy Entry
An insect design warped by the void. A giant tick is very fitting for a faction that is all about blood. An upgrade to the Void Leech. Where the Leech looked more like a greedy, gluttonous monster that drank blood due to animalistic craving, the Servitor appears to be more intelligent, made with a specific purpose of storing blood not due to hunger, but for other nefarious reasons - like the many blood rituals the Cult of Ch’thon likes to perform. The Servitor takes design elements of insects, with a hardened insectoid armor and many limbs. The void takes these elements and warps them to an extreme. The creature has spikes all over its body, the spikes which help it cause bleeding for harvesting. Its head has insect like segments, which became much sharper and with hard edges. There are two pieces on its head that help with the front view of the enemy look unique. The servitor has many bug eyes and I really like the noodle-like tongues it has near its mouth, just because of how they keep flowing, they are probably something like a filtration device for the blood. Most of the creature’s textures are dark, the brightest spots being the light reflecting the slick armor plates. The overall dark appearance of the enemy makes its most defining feature - the giant blood sac - stand out even more. I find this play with the color contrast amazing.
Animated Keeper
Enemy Entry
A depiction of Korvaak by the Korvan people, these statues have an amazing design. Their most standing out features are the foour arms, the crest on their backs and the fact they are animated statues. Animated Keeper, like the other Korvan enemies, has a beautiful armor, full of small details and pleasing to look at textures. The most basic vairant has an armor without much of the coloration, either due to time removing the paint or because these statues were of lower quality and not painted. It’s nice to have both male and female versions for extra variety and it’s cool how their helmet is different when used by your character, depending of their gender. The armor uses a lot of leaf-like shapes, you can see some of that on the weapon, the helmet, the crest, the shoulders and the chest (the part in front of the shoulder). It makes the statue match with the architectual style of Korvan temples, where there are a lot of pillars also detailed by gilded leaves. The leaf in question could be of a lotus, which does have some symbloism in mythologies. All of it could be done to make the statue and the architecture feel unique and from a far away land that was more rooted in religion and worship. The boss variants of the Keeper are detailed with beautifully colored textures and have more glowing bits around them, to make them appear more magical. Some of the variants have cosmic energies flowing under the armor pieces, as to suggest powerful spirits animating the armor. My favourite variant is the Keeper of the Seal one, with deep purple color associated with royalty and shining gold armor. His design is a great contrast to the horrors that await the player inside the Tomb of the Heretic.
I love animations of animated constructs, so the spawn and death animations are amazing to look at for me. How the individual pieces of the armor are being either built into the Keeper or crumbling as it dies. The idle stance does a cool thing with the lower arms, it makes the Keeper look like it is focused, weary of its surroudings and keeping watch. The overall shape of the character is just interesting to look at with the arms being wide open like that. The Keeper has a great looking halberd attacks, but it will also make use of its arms. These hand attack animations are satisfying with how snappy they are, these attacks are just very quick and they carry the weight of the massive statue. The chest bump animation is great as well, makes the enemy have more character. The Keeper is still an honorable warrior in the long gone and forgotten land.
The voicelines of boss variants further carry the notion of these statues being honored warriors carrying their duty. There is a lot of conviction in its voice. It does make me feel sorry for the Keeper, in a way. The Korvan city is destroyed and the lands are a shadow of their former glory, the gods are gone and Korvaak is forgotten, yet the Keeper stands proud to their purpose, misguided or not.
Sounds
Ugdenbog Golem
Enemy Entry
A fun variation of the ent enemy. Instead of being a tree-like enemy, the Ugdenbog Golem is a uprooted stump, which elongated roots covered the dirts and rocks and gave the golem its shape as it is standing. It’s a cool take for a tree enemy, something like a reverse of one’s expectation of what the enemy should be. It fits the Ugenbog as that place is full of things that aren’t what they seem like at first, getting ambushed by tree stumps that are usually a source of loot and precious Ugenblooms makes for a nice scare. The Golem is full of detail, with a lot organic materials being woven inbetween hard rocks and dirt mounds. The stump is hollowed out and has a bunch of plan life growing around it, there is even a bunch of shrooms. The lower parts are mostly wooded roots entangling the rocks that build the shape of the enemy. At the very bottom, entangled roots create makeshift feet with fingers, with some rock details around them. The arms are similar, but since they were supposedly closer to the ground, they have some branches and moss growing on them. The giant stones are used as the torso, while limbs are mostly made out of tangled roots. Overall this is such a fascinating character design, it has a lot of detail which is hard to spot in game. The boss variant is Gargabol, a Golem that has been corrupted by the void and is suffering, that pain manifesting all across the Ancient Grove. Its pain and rage is on full display during the second phase, where all its roots become charred and it consumed by fire. The fire glows through the gaps in the wood and the stump is burning inside, like a mini volcano. Gargobol embraces its rage and it manifests on the character, with it casting fire fissures and volcanoes as it literally unleashes the anger within its heart.
In the animation where the Golem unearths itself, I like the small aggressive movement it does to separate the main body from the ground. It adds some extra weight to the motion, it’s a small thing but effective in showcasing the weight of the enemy.
Wendigo
Enemy Entry
A beast fully embraced by hunger, which it will never be able to satiate. It looks absolutely feral, with messed up furs growing over it and leathery face, almost looking like exposed flesh and bone. The tongue is elongated, which I think is supposed to help the Wendigo taste more meat. It is a beast associated with hunger and its fullfillment, but the design of it shows a very skinny creatures, there’s little muscle and the fingers are so thin, while also elongated to showace greed and how the beast wants to grasp as much food as possible, they could be just bones. The Ravager promises eternal satiation, yet Wendigos are wretches that will feed on scraps for most of their existence. The eyes on the weaker variants still appear human-like, but on stronger variants they are replaced with small glowing dots, to signify that the beast has long abandoned its humanity and now it is feral, purely driven by its hunger. The Wendigo showcases the most primal urges of humanity and this character design sells it so well. The Ravager itself is pretty similar to other Wendigos, but it does have the most elaborate horns and bone spikes growing out of its body, making it look more menacing. The Ravager also glowing marking over its body as an extra detail, I really like the symbol on its back.
The animation of the Ravager rising is pretty badass, I always like when a character has a cool introduction animation. The Wendigo walk is interesting too, the beast appears as if it was stalking its prey. The movement feels a bit off, like it lacks the usual cadence of taking steps, which could be showing lack of patience and how the creature’s mind is slowly being lost in the thrill of satiating its hunger for just a short moment.
The Ravager sounds more composed that what one would expect, from the demigod of hunger. It is definitely more intelligent than it looks and is confident in its will. It will mock the player deservedly so for having a mere thought of challenging it. It knows you will lose the fight and it will mock you for your choices.
Sounds
Wight
Enemy Entry
Undead of the Kurn. They have some of the best looking armor pieces and weapons and unique attacks as they will jump and charge at you, a lot. Wight’s armor not only looks great, but it also supports the established lore. Kurn people leave their dead warriors with armors and weapons on them, in tombs full of riches. Other warriors are expected to enter these tombs and take all these items, it serves as a challenge to them and it is a part of their culture. This explains why the Wight is so fully equipped, as they are the awaken dead Kurn that were not given proper burial. It’s some neat worldbuilding in this enemy design. The armor is thick, with metal bits and leather straps, detailed with a bunch of markings and trinkets that are associated with the Kurn. The spiked shoulder gives me vibes of a gladiator or a post-apocalyptic survivor, but the spike works well with their attacks being a jump or a charge - they can use the shoulder spike to impale you with it. The helmet with horns and a plume looks fantastic, I have yet to make a character that will use this cosmetic, but I find it goregous, one of my favourite helmets in the game. The Wigh Hag is the caster variant and even though it wears the same chest armor, the leather shoulders with a metal pad that has runes inscribed on it is enough to make the enemy look less armored. The helmet is open, revealing the decaying face, and the horns are taller than on the warrior’s one, it looks less combat oriented and more like a ceremonial piece.
The Master of Flesh - Theodin Marcell
Enemy Entry
Theodin Marcell is my favourite final boss out of any expansion. His design is so grotesque, with the body being made out of multiple people, mangled together into mountains of flesh. He is a literal heart of the Fleshworks, being fused with it. He does have the design visual of an open ribcage, although in this case this is completely artificial. It is rows of sharp bones being used a shield to the human body that is inside the flesh torso, the possessed human is presumably Theodin himself. His original body is malnourished and damaged and he has an aetherial scar across his heart, hinting further into an idea of him being a heart in a literal sense, or him having no heart and therefore no emotion towards humanity, and why he commits to such horrifying experiments. The sharp bones also grow behind him and with the they are positioned, they look like a crown, as if the Master of Flesh has crowned himself the king of either aetherials, or humanity. The original human’s arms are still visible, but they seem nonfunctional. Theodin uses artificial arms instead, which are a mix of flesh and bone, making for an effective weapon. There are also aeher pustules growing around the body, which may appear as an effect of overly experimenting on the body or powerful aether energies being gathered.
The design of the second phase is my favourite. The side profile looks so good with the way the legs are posed and all the spiked bits on his upper body pointing forward, it looks deadly and so aggressive. The smaller insect like limbs in the front are also a neat detail and it gives him a way to attack something at close range. He also now has a giant aether crystal merged with one of his arms, giving him a blunt weapon and a way to cast aether magic attacks. With the many extra limbs on this model and the way they are positioned and posed, it gives the design a fantastic shape which I love looking at.
In the third phase, the body is mostly destroyed and extremely damaged. The cut limbs are letting out aether energies. The energies at the top resemble wings, it makes the boss look like an angel, but one that has been warped beyond reason, surrendered to the darkest desires and cruelty of huamnity. At the bottom there is something resembling skirt, but it is made out of arms, a fun detail.
There are a lot of great animation for this boss, given it has three phases and a lot of attacks. The way how he transitions into the second phase is amazing, it’s quite cinematic with how the boss is slowly tearing itself away from the ground to reveal his mobile form. I love how in the second phase the boss moves and attacks, using its legs to hook into the ground. At the end of the attack you can even spot that he’s struggling to let his legs go off the ground, adds a bit more character to the attack and makes it more interesting to look at. The idle animation is also great with all the shaking and the legs quickly being repositioned, as to show the boss being overly energetic or impatient. The movement animation is good, with the front legs doing more rapid movements that reach more forward compared to the rest of its legs. In the transition to third phase I notice the growing frustration or desperation of the boss, how it crawls before taking flight and opening its chest widely, like a sign of an angered scream. I like his dive bomb attack and the projectile barrage from nearby aether crystals is my favourite attack in the entire game. I just love the variant of the attack where the crystal shoot out projectiles in a pattern, it’s one of the rare instances where the focus of the attack isn’t coming from a boss nor it is targeted at the player. The attack shoots in a specific pattern and you have to adjust your movements to it. Once finally defeated, Theodin lets off one final scream as the aetherial is leaving the destroyed body, resulting in a very satisfying death.
Theodin has a lot of voicelines and I like his voice. The taunting as you enter the Fleshworks, assurance of the aetherials victory over the human race. The maniacal laugh and the overall vibe of taking pleasure in causing as much pain as possible. Even at low health he mocks your attempts at saving the world and when finally dead, he puts to question that if we managed to achieve anything at all while putting great effort into our goals.
Sounds
Manifestation of Korvaak, the Eldritch Sun
Enemy Entry
Great design for the final boss of Forgotten Gods. Korvaak looks weakened, thin and malnourished, his skin is bland and he has visible skin damage around the metal braces, he has a prnounced ribcage and is almost skeletal in his look. All of this really helps you think that he has been imprisoned for a very long time. His skin on the most of his body has various runes carved on it, looking like scars. He has a giant headpiece covering his entire face, making him effectively blind and in total darkness. His lower arms are covered by big metal cuffs. Most of the metal pieces in his body appears to be a suit for a prisoner, with lots of the pieces being detailed with metal spikes sticking out of them. The imprisonment was not enough it seems, Korvaak was left hanging and chained, with all the metal bits making it painful and uncomfortable to move. I am not surprised he was so full of rage and wanting to be set free. With all of these things in mind, he still is extremely powerful during the fight and worthy of the title of a celestial. We fight him at his weakest and he’s still one of the more difficult boss fights. With how much torture he had to endure and with how much the design makes him look so weak and damaged, it makes me slightly empathetic towards him and question if making a deal with the Witch Gods will be good for the Taken in the long run.
As we fight him and he is letting go of more and more of the metal pieces that are weakening him, he reveals his unleashed rage in the third phase. The eldritch energies burst out from his arms and the back. Similarly to Theodin Marcell, the wings on the back make me think of an angel figure - this one is being consumed by the millennia of containing rage within. The runes on his skin and scrolls now glow with furious anger. The headpiece is gone, showing Korvaak’s face. It is interesting because the head’s design leans a bit into the chthonic side, with the lower part ending with two sharp pieces of skin. They almost look like tentacles of some of the void enemies’ mouths. It ties Korvaak closer to the Dying God which makes sense, Korvaak is one of the first gods. Another design aspect that makes him tied with the void is the hair. The dreadlocks resemble tentacles and something smilar is happening in Beronath’s design (in the second phase, it has hair that look almost the same as Korvaak’s). Korvaak has five eyes, with one being on his forehead, something that usualy is a symbol of wisdom, forbidden knowledge and invisible energies, like the ones of the Eldritch Realm. With the horns further giving his head a more interesting shape, the entire design of the character is fascinating to describe and very cohesive.
The animations are all packed with the character displaying its rage, finally uncontained. Korvaak will stomp wildly, slam the ground with his hands at full force and unleash fires of rages when he gets to the third phase. Even in moments of great relief, like when he finally frees himself from the metal cuffs and the helmet, he only takes a short time to collect himself and returns to his rage mode. I love the moment when he reaches the third phase and is so excited that the unleshes streams of flames from where the eldritch energies have coalesced into fire blades and wings.
In the voicelines he tries to keep him composure as we approch the Throne of the Three, but even there I can hear his rage going through the cracks and Korvaak cannot control it. The voicelines have special sounds effects that make the voice more echo-ey and omnipresent, as if the sound came from every side and wasn’t merely a source of a single being. Korvaak’s can bend reality in his realm and this proves it, it adds a lot of intimidation factor to his speech. Once we fight him, he will mostly scream his phrase enraged and in a demanding tone. He treats you like many of his servants and describes himself as something that cannot be undone, even while nearing his defeat. The final voicelines hints that there are even more disturbing events that are coming to the world of Cairn, I can’t wait to see what that will be in the sequel (or next expansion).
Sounds
Beronath, Corruptor of Asterkarn
Enemy Entry
A different take on the final boss fight. Normally the big bad of the campaign is either a leader or a power being of the enemy faction, but in Beronath’s case, we are attempting to cure the beast’s chthonic corruption. Beronath looks like a mythological creature, something that one could find descriptions of in the texts of ancient cultures and their religions. It is a mythological beast of legends to the Kurn people, after all. The Progenitor of Beasts a chimera, using various beast designs for itself. A bear-like head and body, wings of a bat or a dragon, horns similar to something like a ram and a tail ending with a stinger, like of a venomous creature or something like Grim Dawn’s manticore. It makes sense that a demigod of beasts, one that has created them, would share its appearance with a multitude of animals. It is covered by thick fur which looks coarse and it is kinda messy, but it does make sense considering the state Beronath is in when we encounter it. The chtonic corruption within the beast slowly reshapes it to have design elements of other chthonics. The lower jaw is split open and the teeth are growing wildly. The chest is split open too, revealing a row of ribcage bones and a long tentacle spike. The bones resemble sharp teeth and the tentacle may be a tongue. It looks like to me that whatever corruption is inside Beronath, it is consuming on its own selfishly, leaving Beronath to grow weaker and not able to regain its strength in order to fight the corruption. The nails and spikes on the wings and tail are also growing past their usual side, which could display lack of control, no desire to take care of the body and slowly succumbing to the madness inside.
In the second pahse the corruption grows even more rapidly, with additional spikes at the tail and even longer nails. The split chest is now open completely and reveals a giant worm living inside of Beronath. It looks like a parasaite, with rows of teeth the creature being able to burst out of the beast’s body. The worm’s mouth is filled with teeth and it looks gross, it represents the void hungering for more power until the host’s body is completely destroyed. There is also a detail of Beronath’s entrails hanging out of its belly, a display of the chthonic corruption reaching further parts of its body. The chest part of Beronath is some of the most painfully and unpleasant looking part of any creature design in the game. The head also grows a bunch of void tentacles, which look very similar to the dreadlocks of Korvaak. They are both godlike beings and it looks like being related to the Dying God is what causes this piece of design to be shared by both of them.
The animations bring light to a more psychological side of this corruption. Beronath has a lot of animations where it will flail its hands wildly around its head. It looks to me that the beast still tries to fight the intrusive thoughts of the corruption, but ultimately fails. It’s like it is slowly embracing itself to the madness and loses control of its body. Even in the second phase transition the beast appears initially confused, as if it regains some of its thought, but then it starts clawing at its chest because it feels that something is moving inside of it, then the giant worm parasite is revealed and Beronath’s condition worsens. The animation of Beronath walking on fours is fascinating to me. It is capabale on walking on its legs, but being weakened and controlled by the corruption makes it takes a more animalistic stance. It also flails its head in confusion. It’s a great animation that shows how a revered and majestic beast has fallen to be a show of its former self, now crawling like a mindless beast. The double scrape attack just looks cool in game, with the claw marks expanding to deny large area and exploding afer a short delay. The worm parasite also has an attack in the second phase, where it bursts out of Beronath and attempts to bite the player, it will also vomit out the black ichor. With these animations in mind, Beronath makes for a very saddening fight. There is a lot of pain and madness in it. The fight is also very challenging, especially in ascendant mode and with a weaker build. But man… after all of the fighting is done, the Beronath finally being cured and it taking a well desrved rest, it does create one of the most memorable boss fights.
The sounds and the music also sell the idea of a maddened beast. If you let the fight go for longer, the soundtrack gets insane as it slowly succumbs into the madness of the fight itself. I like the sound of the horn and Beronath being drawn to it, it sounds like it is being summoned, but it could also be that the corruption grows angry and crashes right into the horn, destroying it and starting the fight. What an amazing intro to the fight that is.
Sounds
The Dread
Enemy Entry
Now that’s a fantastic monster design! With the amount of tentacles and how much details there are in this model, this must have been quite a challenge to the artist, but I can assure you that it was worth it because this one of the coolest looking monster designs in general. The Dread stays in the shadow and the texture is very dark, outside of the bright red details. The light reflections do help me see the amount of crazy detail though, with the skin being wrinkled and looking like both organic but also machine like. This design takes inspiration from the works of H. R. Giger, with the use of many tube like elements (tentacles) and the overall feel of the fusion of living tissue with machine like designs. The Dread also resembles the Xenomorph Queen, further making it an amazing reference.
The Dread’s design does a lot of its own things too. The multiple arms makes the side view more interesting. The back is covered in long tentacles and they look like something that helps the Dread swim through the black ichor it appears and retreats from. It also makes the character take much more space on the screen while keeping the slim body shape, making it appear bigger and therefore more dangerous. There are two tentacles in the front, with teeth and a little eye. With how they are presented in the animations, these tentacles appear to be separate beings attached to the Dread. The chest, even though impossible to see in game, also has some nice details on it. Like with many chthonics, the chest appears to be split open, but not to such a degree that it is easily noticeable. The arms and leg joints have a bit of skin extending to the back and ending in a spiked end, making the design look more menacing and also a bit more mechanical, something like a mecha would have. It does push it further into the design being a mix of organic and mechanical fusion. The hands have very long and thin fingers, it looks like the creature really want to take grasp of whatever its target is or to claw at it. There are only three fingers on each hand as well, which is not something seen in nature, it makes the enemy feel more alien or something that is not natural. The head is an elaborate piece, almost looking like a ceremonial crown. It has many tube like pieces pokingout and the many red dots could be the Dread’s eyes. There is no nose, only a hollowing going through the middle of its head which does give an illusion of a nose. The lower jaw is split open and the inside is glowing crimson, making it look more unnatural and as if there power void energies flowing through the inside of the mouth. It also looks like the mouth tissue is transparent, giving us a look into the bright red inside of the creature.
Animations are a joy to look at and they do some fun things as well. The walk showcases just how amazing the design looks like in motion. The Dread is usually very fast, so seeing a more calm movement is interesting. There is some fun stuff going on with the idle animation and a reason of why I said the tentacles are separate beings to the Dread. One of the tentacles starts annoying the other one and it breaks into a fight between them, but the Dread grows tried of it and yells at them to establish order. For such a menacing creature deasin and a boss fight that is supposed to invoke, well, dread, this animation gives character of the Dread being an annoyed mom that has to discipline her children. I love this animation as it adds some humor that contrasts with the rest of the design, when used rarely fun bits like that are a welcome additon. The sunder attack combo I like as well, since I am a fan of longer, more advanced enemy attacks. There is also an attack that makes the Dread get low and use its front tentacles to bite at the target from sides, quite a shame that it is unused because of I really like the stance the Dread takes. The animation of us succeeding to delay our doom is also fun to watch and satisfying to experience in game. The Dread gets stunned for a short moment, screams at the player with annoyance and leaves by jumping into the black ichor. The two tentacles in the front are also given some character in this animation. One tentacle remains focused at the player as if it was still in combat, even though the Dread itself is being knocked out. The other tentacle loses its focus for a long time, long enough that the Dread’s head is already turned at the player. Only a moment later the tentacle matches the looking direction of the other two. So much character in just one animation, I love that a lot.
The Dread’s theme is crazy good. The aliens like sounds also help with establishing the Dread as being otherworldly. They also feel… wet?, to me, which makes me think of an ocean creature. The dark depths of the ocean houses some of the weirdest looking life on Earth, so perhaps this is intentional.
Sounds
Obsidian Defiler and Glacial Defiler
Enemy Entry
Some of you have been waiting for this one, haven’t you? Or did you think that I would not include it? Hahaha, you FOOLS! Now that I have gotten into a flow state of writing and had a lot of practice of conveying my thoughts thanks to all of the previous entries, let me attempt to describe my favoruite character design… ever? A design so intriguing and so fascinating to me, that it has been used as my online avatar for many years now - so intertwined with me at this point, that in this community the character is mostly associated with me and vice versa.
The Obsidian Defiler is one of the chthonic creatures and while it shares some of its core design elements with them, it stands out among the other void enemies. The Defiler appears to be an artifical construct fueled by the powers of the void. While there is plentry of obsidian in various void rifts, the material is mostly used by the chthonics for weapons and armor. The Defiler could be an attempt to essentially build a mech, with void being used as a energy source. This makes the enemy stands out more in the aspect of worldbuilding, or the lore of the game. There is still so little we know about these creatures. The reason I think about the void energy being a power source is because of the the Defiler’s insides overflowing with the void. Some parts can be seen in the cracks of the obsidian golem, notably at the joints and its back, but it is most visible at its core. The stomach area of the enemy is open, with obsidian shards sligthly shielding it, these shards resembles an open ribcage, something which is shared with many chthonics. The glowing core adds contrast to the rest of the body’s texture, which is composed out of obsidan shards. Obsidian is a reflective material, one that looks slick but it also serrated and very sharp. This makes a character design that is both slick and also made out of hard edges and spikes. These elements makes the body of the Defiler look extremely pleasing to look at, there is so much detail in the obsidian material and looking from different angles result in the light being reflecting in a different way, hiding or revealing the many fractures and serrations in the material. The body of the Defiler is very thin, even more so with the stomach being exposed. This gives the creature an hourglass shape, which is pronounced even more with how thick the legs and arms are. The legs start wide, I like the piece that connects them to the torso too, adds some extra shapes to a very large piece of obsidian. The legs end with an ankle going backwards and the feet almost looking like hooves, it makes the enemy look less human while keeping the humanoid build and it also makes the design slightly more interesting to look at. The way the obsidian shards are connected at the joints also look nice. With the void energies being barely visible in there, the shards looks like pieces of an armor suit, the shapes are also similar of that. The Defiler has four arms, a design choice that I enjoy a lot in many character designs. The arms start thick, but they become more thinner as they arrive at the joint. Then the second piece of the arms is a big obsidian spike, with the previous segment being thin at the connection, the elbow stands out more and it gives the arm an interesting shape. The arm spikes also have a unique shape that gives the hands a lot of different shapes, depending on the viewing angle and posing. With the legs being thick and the arms being long, the Defiler has a very wide silhouette while the torso itself remains so thin. There is something in this combination of design elements that make me like this character design so much. The head of the Defiler is made out of two flat obsidian rocks that connect to the torso. The creature has multiple eyes, making it feel insectoid or alien. The eyes also looks like holes in a calcium rock, which could be a fun little nod to the stone theme of the enemy. The heads doesn’t cover the top of the golem, which lets us see the chthonic core in from the top view and it allows for more color to be on display. At the very top of the body there are obsidian pieces that do not end with a spike, they look like tubes instead. I always look at them as chimneys of the golem that can release the void energies stored inside the central part of the Defiler. The back is heavily detailed and another amazing piece of the design. The line of obsidian rocks that go through the middle resembles a spinal cord, that cord can also be spotted at the exposed stomach area. The rest of the back is made out of obsidian spikes that create a pleasing pattern to look at, with the void glow being seen between the spikes.
In Fangs of Asterkarn, there is a unique boss variant of the Defiler that recontextualizes the character’s design, with it becoming a construct made out of ice instead of obsidian. I may have been responsible for this enemy design as I was talking a lot about how interesting it would look on Discord, haha. Now that the Glacial Defiler is in game, I can confirm that it does look very interesting. The obsidian bits convert really well into glacier shards and the enemy has some extra details that makes it look even better. The texture has a flowing faint light attached to it to make it looks like the ice is melting and producing cold air. The chthonic energies are replaced with blue glow instead, although the enemy is still considered a chtonic in game. It is most likely that this creature is an actual Obsidian Defiler that has been frozen. There are some darker spots in some parts of the model, suggesting that under the layer of ice there is still the obsidian body.
The animations show the Defiler as being a massive and heavy construct. The walk is slow and taking a step move the upper body downwards, it shows the golem not being structually stiff and some of the segements having more freedom of movement. Also the downwards movement make the enemy appear bigger and heavy. The chest burst attack is a nice way to display the entire exposed front of the enemy and I like how the ribcage-like element opens up. The various impailing attacks look great too. With how the Defiler always look and aims down towards the ground, it further emphasizes the scale different between the player and the enemy. The Glacial Defiler also comes with a new attack. After a short windup it will release a flurry of stab attacks. I love combo attacks like that and the the stabs being more spread out instead of being a quadra-stab adds something new to the enemy design, overall I really like watching that animation.
I like the sounds of the Defiler too. Since it has no mouth, the many screams it makes sound artificial and to me, they sound like the creature cannot inhale air, so to produce sound the enemy pushes the air away from it’s core. It creates a sound similar to someone choking on something, trying to exhale air in order to move out the piece that causes choking.
Sounds
So far, this is the end of my list. Wow! This took a LOT of time. Few days of gathering hundreds of pictures and making tens of gifs. Few days of writing all of the entires. Few days of life being taken away due to the frustrations of making the Asset Manager work so that I can view all of the models in both Viewr and Editor, and also getting all of the sound files. In the end, this was very worth it. Writing about these amazing designs made me realise more things about them and in turn I appreciate some of them ever more than before. Many of the designs I have subconciously liked a lot, but only now that I have conveyed my thought about them on the screen made me understand what are the small things about them that make them click so well for me. This has been a lot of fun and some nice practice in understanding character design.
I will probably return to this post later on, in order to edit the text and add some additional thoughts. I probably should try more at making the parahraphs so the giant walls of text are more readable too., sorry about that! I was not expecting to write so much stuff about some of the enemies.
Of course, everyone here is welcome to discuss the contents of this post and to share their own favourite enemy designs and thought on them! I am sure there are more people like me who enjoy character deisgn and has a lot of interesting stuff to say about all of those enemies that we kill so quickly in the game. Taking a closer look at them is a fun way to grow even more appreciative of this game. We kill hundreds of enemies in the game at maximum zoom, most of them are geting killed in one hit or gibbed, it is nice to take a moment to observe them and see just how much love, details and quality the artists at Crate have put into them.
Let this be my token of appreciation towards the game I love and that has shaped me as a person I am today. This is me pouring my heart into the thread for everyone to see. I want to say that I have great love and passion towards the community and the developers of the game. Artists at Crate, I want to show you that your work on the enemies in this game is highly appreciated and there are so many fantastic character designs that invoke strong emotions in me, to the point where I will make my online persona become one of them. I love this game and I love the effort you have put into it, into all of its parts. 
, like a flying shark/manta-bat or something, very “slick” and basic predator and its rudimentary skin casing evolution then stopped/didnt’ need to advance further in the cycle for another 300mill years 
, it was such a cool first discovery to enter that cave and see that frosty blue model brought to fighting glory {insert “Cpt America i understood that reference”.gif}
