Score: 7/10 – Great time sink but can get dull at points
ARPG | Kill stuff to get better loot to kill bigger stuff
| Hours Played: 140 | Platform Played On: PC |
| When I played it: Currently Playing | Price I paid: $25 (base game) & $40 (3 core DLCs) |
Positives
- Basic gameplay is easy to learn
- Great Co-op
- Lots of customizing of your character
- Respecing skill points whenever you want
Negatives
- Doesn’t make is super clear what to do beyond basic level for inexperienced
- Quests can be unclear
- Can get boring if you don’t know about the deeper level stuff
After losing my job, I found myself with a lot of time on my hands. How should I spend it? Learn a new skill? Become healthier? Use all my time searching for a new job? No way, let’s play this ARPG from 2016.
All jokes aside, I am having a great time with this game. While I do often describe myself as someone who does not like “grindy games”, I am having a great time with Grim Dawn. Several years ago, probably around the time this game came out, I did play through this game with a friend. Grim Dawn was really fun, but I think it was more fun because I was playing with someone I enjoyed spending time with. At the time, Grim Dawn felt a little bland. Moving from area to area killing enemies that all felt like they came in 2 flavors, ranged damage dealers and in your face beefy boys, starts to get pretty dry. The monotony is only broken up when you find a new piece of loot or when you finally level up and get to spend some skill points. The excitement of new skills was able to carry us to the late game, but eventually we would move on to other games. Several months later, I would finish up the campaign just to put a bow on our gaming experience.
This year, looking for something to play and not wanting to spend money I did not have, I returned to Grim Dawn. I started a new character and got to work. As I was playing, I started to have questions about quests that I was doing and about how certain stats interacted with each other. What I found after falling down the rabbit hole is how much more there is going on for character customization. What I thought was just skills and devotion points was actually much more. I also found several tools that would help streamline some of Grim Dawn’s short comings. Grimtools and Grim Internals helped in figuring out where to go in a quest, planning out my character, and picking up loot automatically when it falls on the ground. It’s amazing how much more fun I was having when these wrinkles are ironed out.
With my new found information, I am actually building a character I am having fun with and not just running through the motions (most of the time.) There have been several times where I find myself thinking about my build while away from my computer.
Frankly, I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys looking at stats to build a good character, mowing through enemies, or spending time with friends.
OfficialMaxwell.Com 