When I picked up this game, I did so with curiosity. After all, before Game's Workshop got around to it, this game instantly looked like it could be an action RPG take on their dark fantasy game with cover art suggesting you might play an inquisitor in such a scenario. And while I certainly called the world this game builds, everything else came as a surprise, and an absolute joy. So stick around and read!
You were not yourself. I do not mean that in that you felt funny or sick or even were mentally ill, but rather literally. You were not you anymore. What you were is possessed and captured by a small team of humans in this cursed world of monsters. You were also a dead-man walking as to try to kill the thing within you, these people were ready to hang you. But you were also lucky as they chose to spare your life when the spirit left you rather then feel your execution.
If this sounds like a lot to unpack, don't worry too much about it. This all happens in front of you when you first begin playing via painted scenes that set the darker mood of this game quite nicely. And even as you understand what just happened and that it's part of a bigger invasion, you are still in the dark on the bigger picture. Rather, all you know in the immediate is that hell has come to the world in the form of an event called simply the Grim Dawn. Since then, mankind has been scattered and now small groups exist in a dire attempt to just hold on and survive.
You find yourself at one of these enclaves which has taken shelter in an old jail called Devil's Crossing, but you are not exactly welcome. Between your condition when you got here and yourself being a completely unknown, there is not a lot of spare trust to send your way. So you are going to have to earn your place before you are even let inside. To that end, you are sent into the nearby town that is overrun with the undead to find and, if you can, eliminate their source.
And with this first adventure, the masterpiece of world-building begins, letting you explore the desolation these beings (called Aetherials) from beyond reality have wrought in the nearby town as you wander through decayed and decrepit remains of buildings and fields, slaughtering the hoards who now only exist to feed on the living. And then you start to see other things... creatures of flesh not of this world with forms not of an earthly means. But as the world's invaders get more messed up, you begin finding notebooks from the previously human world painting how things were and what people saw as it all began, letting the world paint itself and how it got to this wretched state before your exploring eyes. Such masterful world assembly is rarely seen in video game form, and I will admit I absolutely relished the lore as I stumbled upon it, both at this early point and as the game progressed filling in holes between the urgent events of the now and what happened before you got here.
In addition, the main story will also give you a nice window on the fate of the world as you meet people from different groups and see the troubles they face off with. This world is hurting far deeper then you can imagine, and the grand picture is amazing in it's bleakness requiring you to stand up against all the odds and multiple threats both against you and the humans you help as well as each other! It's a fully fleshed out world of factions, events, and cosmic horror to delve yourself into. But if you don't care about any of that, it also has the added benefit that you can ignore a large chunk of it and just go kill things as you move through world completing the missions you are given by those still living.
And that world is absolutely gorgeous. You will play from a bird's eye view of with your character in the center of the screen with the world around you lovingly and fully 3D rendered to show off all the dirt and grit of this new reality brilliantly. And if you need to see things better that are obscured by these surroundings (or even just want a better vantage point), you can rotate that view as you see fit. Your map will turn with you, keeping north marked so you can put it back when you are ready so feel free to look at anything (including with a zoom) and not worry about completely ruining your ability to keep track of where you are.
Most of the time, however, you will find yourself relying on your mouse for your main controls. Want to go somewhere, click there. Want to attack something, click them, and either you will get in range to shoot or go start swinging. In addition if you want to hold your position and attack, just hold the shift button while holding that left mouse button down. But that is only the very basics of the controls, for in addition you will gain abilities throughout the game you can assign to either mouse button (thought I recommend leaving the left click alone) or any of the to numerical buttons across the top of your keyboard, both through equipment and progression. Allow me to explain.
When you start the game, you only have a few healing potions on the right mouse button and your attack on the left. You do not have a class, you do not have abilities, you have nothing. But that all changes when you climb your first level, as you gain access to your first and primary class. The game gives you 5 classes you can choose at this time, each granting you access to their skill tree and a small amount of points you can spend on it. Each part of this tree is self-explanatory except for access. You get that by spending points on the "mastery bar" which is wise to do as this will also increase your base stats as well. When you get a power, you can right click on any of the numbered slots at the bottom of your screen or the L and R buttons to assign a power there. You can also get powers by either equipment carrying the ability or by material you add to it, but these tend to be minor in comparison and can not be leveled up like most of your class abilities can be. You will also further be able to expand your choices and add a second class to make a combined one, allowing for a lot of extra customization before the adventure is over.
This becomes even more advantageous if you choose to have your adventure out into the world with friends since the game has the option to play online or on a LAN with your friends. You can play to compliment each other quite well. But that does not mean it's prefect at it. This game uses a host to play which can come with it's own complications as anyone who has played games connecting this way can attest to from time to time. In my case, me and Max Powers tried to play with him hosting since he was only just beginning, but the game wouldn't let me see his game, forcing me to start him a bit ahead. And on top of that, when a player talks to an non-player character, the game only shows that player the conversation, including any details that either start or progress a quest. It now becomes that player's job to inform everyone else what happened, taking away from the progression for the group, so this might be a better choice for a LAN game with speakers then one over the internet.
In addition, however, there is one major issue with the quests if you play single player too. Do not get me wrong, it flows great, but it doesn't really have an ending. In fact the main campaign ended with so little fanfare, I actually had to look up the name of the last quest to confirm it was indeed the last mission. And I understand the game clearly has the expansions to continue the story in mind, but it was confusing at the end to say the least... especially after how epic and amazing that last boss fight actually was.
Bugs: The entire time I was playing this game, it ran perfectly outside of one issue trying to start a multiplayer game. Even when we got going, Max and I had absolutely zero issues once the game started, but getting it started was awkward. For whatever reason, he could not start a game I could find in the game list. We could not find why this was happening, but I was able to start and host the game instead, so it we could continue. But this is a semi-major issue we could not get past, so I needed to include it here.
Overall: I absolutely had a blast playing this game from start to finish. From the first time I swung a club at a zombie and watched it gib in front of my character to the absolute insanity that is the final boss, I looked forward to every time I would start this game up on my PC. It offered plenty to do over the about 30 hours I played and while the main game was linear, it left plenty to discover on the way if you wanted a break, from findable quests to bounties (once you get a high enough respect level from a faction to offer it). This is just a very well playing package with more then enough to sink your teeth into. If I have any complaint, it's that the game clearly is made with the DLC continuing your story in mind... enough so the game really feels like it's not over when you finish with no real way to communicate to the player that indeed it's over. But if you like me, loved this game, that's not a huge deal as you will be ready for and tempted to put the cash down on the spot.
Score:
8/10
System Requirements:
- x86 compatible 2.3 Ghz processor (intel 2nd gen Core i series or equivalent)
- 2 GB RAM
- GeForce 6800 or ATi Radeon X800 with at least 512 MB VRAM
- WindowsXP/Vista/7/8/10
- 5 GB hard drive space
- Ryzen 7 (2700) 3.2 Ghz
- 16 GB RAM
- Nvidia Geforce 1660 (6GB VRAM)
- Windows 10 (64 Bit)
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