Well, this is it... the game that caused quite a political stir in the gaming community. I watched a couple of trailers, and was intriqued, Many player reviews at the time were warning of the content and ending, but the game did such a great job with the atmosphere that I thought to myself "How bad could it be?". I'm sure that you the dear reader know the outcome to such a statement! LOL! I'll be fair... the graphics are good, and the atmosphere was great! Great had the story revolved around something suitably spooky that is. Had this game involved a ghost, murder, or some kind of sinister mystery it might have been a smash hit. However the actual ending involves something quite a bit more mundane, and many of us in the gaming community felt that this game was being used as a vehicle to sell a political message and/or what happens when an SJWs are left to design games! Suppose it doesn't help either that the game can be solved in about 5 minutes if the player knows where to look. I'm giving it two stars because of the graphics and spooky atmosphere. The rest of it? Ummm... no thanks!
I've played a lot of games, and honestly I think this is the first that I truly am at a loss of words to describe this one. Then again I'm not sure it can even be described, only that it has to be experienced to understand how disturbing and frightening this game truly is. Is it a ghost story? Is it a mystery? Is it a nightmare? Is it a journey into madness? What makes the experience even more exceptional is that there is no blood and gore, and no monsters to confront. The one thing though that this game does... and perhaps why it is so frightening is that it almost seems to anticipate your moves as you work your way through this mind-screw. If you are looking for a game where your perceptions and perhaps sanity will be challenged, then this is definitely the game for you.
For gamers who have played any of the Van Helsing series, Diablo III, Victor Vran, Titan Quest, etc, Grim Dawn is more of the same. In other words, it is an isometric 3rd person ARPG. Overall, this game does many things well... graphics are amongst the best of the genre, excellent soundtrack, good UI and overall feel. Character development in this game allows for tremendous flexibility, and should allow any player to build something to suit their style. Unfortunately Grim Dawn does have some annoying details that keep it from being a truly great game. For example, as the player builds reputation with the various factions, the option to pursue bounties opens up... the problem is that often those bounties won't give credit if the character already completed said quest. Furthermore, there is no way to back out once the bounty is accepted. Other things I would like to have seen is the backstory being fleshed out a little better, in-game cursor not being so touchy when it comes to picking up items. Probably the greatest annoyance is that almost everything resets upon quitting and logging back in. This pretty much forces the player to have to make it from checkpoint to checkpoint during a gaming session if they don't wish to go back and repeat their efforts up to that point. Those issues aside, Grim Dawn does so much right that I would still highly recommend the game. 4 stars!
