Well I have finally played through the game from start to finish. Honestly I can’t say I have ever played an ARPG with this much to offer. Let’s take a look at where GD excels:
Enjoyable campaign and story. Lore notes are very well done.
Best character development system ever. Devotion, TQ classes, etc.
Setting. The levels and art style are all AAA.
Combat. Has solid punch and feels gratifying.
Loot. Gear with skills that can be enchanted and augmented. Or exploded.
Factions. Adds further reward for killing specific monsters.
Devotion Shrines. Haven’t seen something comparable in other ARPGs.
Crafting. Relics, gear, components, skeleton keys, etc.
Music. It’s good and fits the setting.
Mod Tools!!! No better way to extend a game’s life.
I just want to express to the devs that you guys really made a masterpiece. The positive word of mouth this excellent game is rightfully experiencing (#5 on the Steam chart almost a week after release) is well deserved.
Agree, I’m only 15 hours in and not out of act one but I’m very much enjoying the game. I bought it last year but waited for the full release (have done the early access thing a bunch and too many times games I was looking forward to I burnt out on playing pre release builds). I was also worried since I’ve played Path of Exile for 1000+ hours over the last couple years I’d be burnt out on ARPGs in general and GD would just be more of the same. That’s not even close to the case. Other than being an ARPG, Grim Dawn and PoE are VERY different games and it’s fantastic that people can enjoy both because of how much they differ from each other.
Thank you very much Crate and also a huge thanks to all the people that originally backed this project so it had a chance to get developed. They have something very special here and I hope they are rewarded with great sales so they can continue to develop the game comfortably. $25 is great value for this game and I’ve been recommending it to all my steam friends.
Game excels in many ways but falls over when you cut through the ‘same skill but looks a bit different’ mentality
Just play a bit more and then update this post, also thats simply your opinion about character development. Its not very broad at all in actual fact. Almost anyone who knows how high incoming damage is in later difficulties generally choose the same Devotions on EVERY class. I know I do…(Giants Blood? Chariot?)
Many builds wont work in later difficulties without insane gear and the cost to find out you just made another fairly shit character can be up to 30-40 hours a pop, leading some to believe you need to have a whole set of 75 gear before you bother to see if something works.
Grim Dawn is the perfect game to play for a few hours when you need a break from other more serious games imo
The game just released. I’m sure they will be balancing and adding new things. It took PoE awhile to get into its sweet spot with skills and balancing, no reason Grim Dawn can’t do the same with patches and an expansion or two. Also same thing with PoE where you could get your first couple characters to merciless and realize your build sucked and wasn’t going to cut it and unless you ripped off someone else’s build online. The only way to figure it out was trial and error, getting characters to the end game and learning the mechanics and what was needed to survive and progress. A lot of people play these types of games for the journey, not the destination so rerolling tons of characters isn’t really a problem and frankly it’s expected and welcomed:D.
I hate to keep giving PoE as my example, I just loved that game and played/still play it a lot. Didn’t play Diablo 3 other than at launch I ran through normal with a barbarian on hardcore without dying. Soon as I completed the story, I washed my hands clean of that massive disappointment. I’ve heard it’s fun now, but with tons of games in my backlog and tons of games consistently coming out, if a game doesn’t grab me at the beginning that pretty much it. And since I was looking forward to D3 for 10+ years, the let down of how badly that game sucked at launch was just too much and I don’t care to revisit it. So PoE is the recent ARPG I have to compare Grim Dawn to. For me, comparing GD to PoE and liking them equally in their own way is a compliment. The fact that PoE just released an expansion and I haven’t touched it because of Grim Dawn blows my own mind. I’m really just enjoying GD and taking my time leveling up a Commando on hardcore/normal/veteran.
To each their own though you are certainly entitled to your opinion. Out of curiosity though, what do you consider a more serious game? I’m not asking so I can mock whatever choices you give, I really am just curious because of what you said.
It is an amazing game. I’m only around 14 hours in at level 36 but it is definitely one of the best ARPGs I have ever played, and I’m putting that with Path of Exile and Diablo II LoD as contenders.