For me (an avid player of ARPGs), the holy trinity is Diablo 2, Path of Exile, and Grim Dawn. It's basically Titan Quest, but grimdark and a lot more polished. Things that stand out: -GD has a completely hand-crafted overworld and dungeon maps with few loading screens. -So many secrets! Seriously, every dungeon has at least one breakable wall, and there are hidden quests and treasure everywhere. The game truly rewards exporing every nook and cranny. -Building a character with two classes give so many options and synergies. -Mod support, and a thriving mod community. You can play a remake of Diablo 2 completely within Grim Dawn. It's actually good, too. -Graphics are dated, but charming, and the art direction is great. -It's still being supported, updated, and there's a new expansion coming. If you like old school offline moddable top down ARPGs, and don't own Grim Dawn yet, you should probably fix that. If you don't like the genre, it won't change your mind...And if you require your top down ARPGs to be super fast and MMO-lites, you also won't like it. It's not Diablo 4 or Lost Ark at all.
As a fan of "Diablo-likes", I really enjoyed this one. Totally worth picking up if you like the genre and it's on sale for 80-90% off (which is how I got it for $5 about a year ago).
I think it's better than the reviews would indicate. It's not top tier in the genre like Diablo 2, Torchlight 2, Grim Dawn, PoE, or Titan Quest. I'd compare the Slayer Edition to Diablo 3. The visuals are good, controls are good, and gameplay is decent. I do really like how you can always respec with no penalty, so there's never a worry about making a bad build. I wish there was more loot variety, and more enemy variety though. Mobs are all quite same-y. The bosses and mini bosses are nicely done for the most part. I'd say it's worth it if you like top down ARPGs and you catch a sale. 15-20 USD is a fair price for what you get.
This "walking sim" AKA story-based puzzle adventure doesn't redefine the genre or anything, but it is an excellent example of the genre done right. Visually, it is stunning. Period. Just beautiful to look at. I have a screen cap as my phone background, lol. The puzzles are right in the sweet spot for me, not too easy, not illogical, pixel hunt-y, or loaded with moon logic either. I didn't need a walkthrough and didn't get frustrated. The audio is excellent too. The voice actress, Cissy Jones, is great (some may recognize her from Firewatch, another excellent walking sim). The music is minimal but swells as needed to add emotion and awe to pivotal points in the game. The ambience/sound fx are well done too. Nothing sounds off or harsh. The story is nothing new if you've read a lot of wierd fiction along the lines of HP Lovecraft and other writers of the 1920's-1930's, but it's told well. What I really like here is that CotS doesn't try to be a modern horror game, or a modern Cthulhu Mythos game. There's no green filter over everything, no jump scares, and no unnecessary tentacles. It's an uncanny tale, for sure, but it's much more like an actual short story written by a Weird Tales Magazine contributor than most 'Lovecraftian' games. Overall, a great 8-10 hour experience if you like this sort of thing. I have an i7 10700/RTX 3060ti and ran this at 1440p with max settings. It was buttery smooth with no stutters, crashes, screen tearing, or framerate issues. It is hardware intesive, which is a shame, as that will keep a lot of people from playing it.
It's just good, and totally worth the price, nearly any price really. I'm in my 40's now, and it's rare for me to put 50 hours into one game. I've put about 260 into Grim Dawn. If you like PoE, Diablo 2/3, Torchlight, Titan Quest, etc. just get it. It's nearly flawless, runs well on even a 5 year old PC, and has so many build options... It'll probably still be getting updates and expansions 10 years from now too, if Titan Quest (same devs) is any indecation.
