This reviewer’s playthrough was completed on a PC with Windows 10, an nVidia GTX 780 and 16 GB of RAM
In an age of big-budget games trying to push the envelope on graphics, certain elements of gameplay tend to suffer. The higher the quality of models, the more performance starts to dip. The more it dips, fewer and fewer enemies can be on screen at once.
If this sounds familiar and you’ve been aching to mow down hundreds of foes at once with flaming bullets that also call lightning down from the sky while a murder of crows eats your enemies, look no further than Grim Dawn by Crate Entertainment. A team of ten game industry veterans from Blizzard North, Harmonix, Iron Lore, and 38 studios bring you a Diablo-style action role-playing game with plenty of options to dish out damage.
The world of Cairn
Grim Dawn thrusts you right into a land suffering from a global catastrophe: the eponymous “Grim Dawn.” From there, you’re tasked with helping the survivors in fighting back the otherworldly beings attacking the world of Cairn. Ultimately the plot is rather simplistic gothic fantasy with a predictable ending. That being said, the game presents itself well. Going from act to act takes you through a multitude of environments different than the last, while unified just enough to give you the idea that you’re traveling through an entire country. Dark, ambient acoustic tracks help build a strong atmosphere as you explore through any burned-down villages and dark dungeons, picking up notes that build the lore of Cairn.
With how strong of an atmosphere Grim Dawn builds, it is a shame when it is broken. The main menu of the game shows the player character up close and personal, with less than stellar modeling on display. The first zone of the game can be jarring as well, with multiple NPCs giving rather wooden delivery. Thankfully, the gameplay is well worth any player’s time. In zones, the idea that you’re stuck in the middle of an interdimensional war is strongly hammered in with enemies from different factions battling, and the battleground looks like something off of a heavy metal cover.
Demons, undead, and beasts! (Oh my!)
Despite its fame in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, the ARPG genre has seen little popularity in the current game industry. With this perspective, Crate Entertainment does their best to provide a familiar experience for long-time fans of the genre, and immersing any new players.
At first glance, Grim Dawn looks like any other “click n’ loot” game. As you progress, there is a lot more to it than it seems. Within the starting zone, beset by the Aetherial undead, Grim Dawn presents each core gameplay element in a logical progression and displays tutorial notifications without being obstructive. Your first quest leads you to a nearby cave with the task of slaying a creature resurrecting the starting town’s dead. This monster introduces Grim Dawn’s “Heroic Monster” system that you’ll run in to throughout the game. Certain enemies, indicated by a star over their head, will be stronger and have more abilities than others but tend to drop high quality gear.
The simple club and shield you start off with can quickly be replaced by a massive greatsword that chains lighting to nearby enemies. Each swing brings the satisfying sound of enemy simultaneously shocked and cleaved, while their model either flies backwards or explodes grotesquely. Within this same cave lies the first Devotion Shrine: my favorite feature offered in Grim Dawn.
The Devotion map is a massive system of constellations separated by elements of nature that provide different stat bonuses and abilities depending on where you put your points, and you’re never locked into one element.
Devotions complement any of the five combinable classes available to the player. If you’re playing single-player, the Shaman class can summon an obscene amount of pets that swarm your enemies while receiving buffs from the armor you wear, your abilities, and your Devotion. As you gain levels, enemies in certain areas tend to scale with your level, give or take three levels. Normally this makes the idea of leveling pointless. Crate Entertainment took a different, much-welcomed philosophy, with your strength depending on how you personally build your character.
Beyond those, I’d often be surprised at the subtle nuances that Crate Entertainment added to their game. In a game that’s very generous with the loot dropped from enemies, it is very easy for the screen to be cluttered with swords stacked on rifles stacked on battle axes stacked on leather witch-hunter hats. Combined with all the bodies, your graphics card isn’t going to feel the love. Thankfully, Grim Dawn allows you to not only increase the corpse decay rate, but also filter the minimum rarity of gear you come across. The game’s economy seems to be designed around this, since there is surprisingly little to do with the currency. The strongest weapons are found out in the wilds, and you’ll be hanging onto that special gear for quite some time.
Playing as a Pyromancer, much of my time consisted of throwing as much fire and lead around as I could. Using a rifle, I noticed that my projectiles could shoot enemy bombs midair. The environment is filled with physics objects that react to explosions, and some animals were even warded off as I would light the trees around me on fire. Even when there’s a million particle effects splashing about on the screen, it’s pleasant to see developers pay attention to details.
Each system in Grim Dawn plays off of another, and veterans of the genre will enjoy how much they have to work with. Newcomers to the genre will continuously be surprised with all that Grim Dawn has to offer.
TL;DR
+Varied and colorful environments contrast well with the game’s gothic art style.
+ Class diversity and spell combinations allow for multiple, unique builds and play-throughs.
+ Multiple quality-of-life elements ensure smooth gameplay and optimization.
+Enemy reaction and particle effects provide satisfying combat.
- Story provides interesting conflict within the world of Cairn, but the climax feels abrupt and is not reflected well in-game.
- Despite its art style, character models look rather rough and low-quality.
- While the amount of voiced NPCs is surprising considering the number of staff, voice acting is wooden.
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