tl;dr version: My first character is a Witch Hunter who can teleport between large groups of enemies and explode little blades that explode surrounding monsters into meat chunks and blood sprays. My second character is a Demolitionist who gave me short-sightedness because every time he does his default attack, he procs 3 different additional effects. Still tl;dr version: I hated Titan Quest but Grim Dawn is one of my favourite games of all time. Long version: Grim Dawn is the pinnacle of ARPGs, alongside Path of Exile and Diablo 2. I love the latter two, but just like how there's nothing that can replicate PoEx's insane skill customisation system, so does the same apply to GD. Let's see what makes this game a potential GOTY contender. - Near limitless build options. Not as flexible as Path of Exile's, but way more than any other ARPG I've tried. There are 6 masteries (classes), and you can either choose to focus on one or dual-spec. You also have a subsystem called Devotion which gives you passive bonuses, but more importantly grants procs that you can attach to skills, so you can actually have your Aether Ray drop freaking Blizzard from the sky on crit. - Wicked itemisation and crafting system. So if you've read the above, it sounds like that's all there is to character builds, but no, items grant skills too, thereby allowing room for further character customisation. Apply augments and crafting mats to add more modifiers; find dynamite and dismantle your items to try and acquire rare crafting mats. Options, options, options. There's also never a dull moment when you open a chest. Stuff just pours out of it. - Things to do, galore! Quests, Nemesis farming, boss farming, Steps/Bastion farming, etc. - Choices and consequences. There are some, but arguably fairly minor ones, i.e. nothing that changes the story. Still, they affect which NPCs get to remain in the game world. Hit the character limit, so I'll stop. I hope you all enjoy the game as much as I did!
