I have been asked by several people to rewrite my review, as my initial review (written several months ago) inspired some to buy the game and so they wanted me to stay up to date with the times and offer my insights therein. I will first offer my thoughts on what has changed between then and now, and then introduce the game as a whole to those who have never seen it before.

At its core, Grim Dawn has not changed vastly so in the last several months; I do not mean to say that there have not been updates, as there have and the game is certainly better for them, but the gameplay is very much the same as it was at release (in February 2016). This implies more than it seems; it means that Crate, the developing studio for the game, is not keen on upsetting the way players play the game. Sure, some balancing tweaks have been made here and there, and some builds have been nerfed or buffed more than others, but it does not seem as though Crate has ever intended to force its playerbase into a particular playstyle. Some may suggest that this means the gameplay is stale, as over the span of 10 months the meta has only shifted ever so slightly. I can't claim to see it that way; I see it as meaning that the gameplay is stable (see what I did there?) and does not need to change. Following Grim Dawn's release, a world-sprawling quest containing a multitude of very tough bosses has been added (completable in all three of the game's difficulties) for free, as has the paid DLC of the Crucible, which is an ultra-difficult arena-style survival game mode. We will soon be receiving the third of the "roguelike" dungeons for free, increasing the explorable world further with yet more content. We've also received several 'endgame sets' (and I use the phrase lightly, so as not to instill fear to newcomers that sets behave anything as they disastrously do in D3 - they don't) to promote some alternative, niche builds. Still on the horizon is Grim Dawn's first expansion...

But what is Grim Dawn? For that, I turn to a (slightly altered) version of my former review for the game:

Grim Dawn is a hack-and-slash ARPG that does everything it needs to and so much more. It presents a nitty-gritty world ravaged both my man's mistakes as much as otherworldly invasion. The feel of this world is perpetuated in every facet of the design of the game. Skills and attacks - player and enemy alike - are brutal and satisfying. The UI is precisely what it needs to be to get the points of its contents across to the player; it is no fancier than that. The quests have a purpose to them - 'We feel threatened by X, fix that for us by slaying him/her/it' - but they do not go out of their way in their descriptions to make their completion any easier than a rough idea of where to go. This game is designed to be played solely by you, your inclinations, and you intuition, not to help you play it with omniscient developer input and assistance. But you get what you give, and then a little more. You'll hunt across beautiful hand-crafted landscapes for terrifyingly monstrous entities, read immersive and haunting texts scattered throughout the world, and develop a character of your own design, one of your own play-style and skill choices.

OK, so that's all the RPG stuff out of the way. So how does Grim Dawn put the Action in Action-RPG? At the beginning of the game, it does not do so wildly. Nor should it; if you started a god then any godly things you did throughout the game would feel all the same. But eventually the combat of Grim Dawn picks up to be fast paced and as brutal as the world around you. Every enemy in Grim Dawn is designed to kill you with merciless potency, and you'll have in your arsenal an array of spells, skills, and items to decimate you foes with terrific effect. Rarely will you ever feel truly immortal; the world of Grim Dawn has more than a handful of foes tough enough to go toe-to-toe with the most dedicated players.

Grim Dawn is not a trading simulator, as its loot system favors self-found play. Grim Dawn is not made solely for endgame; that is not to say it does not have one (I've spent 9 days on one character alone), but the game's focus is on the journey to that endgame. It is, ultimately, a game, and so realizes that it must keep things fun throughout the experience, and does just that.

Prospective players are always quick to ask something along the lines of "Would you recommend this over PoE/D3?" I would do so, yes, but I would caution them to say that Grim Dawn has no intention of replacing either title, as there are vast differences in their respective approaches to the ARPG genre. I would argue that without a doubt Grim Dawn is the superior title, however; if there is any ARPG in existence better than Grim Dawn, it would be Diablo II, but the veracity of such a statement may be tested. Indeed, Grim Dawn may well be in a league of its own, which the ARPG market has so very much needed. Perhaps, yes, I am a fanboy in that regard; I've spent over $200 on the game/its DLC in purchasing it for myself and some of my friends. But I can solidly and unquestioningly say I have no regrets in that regard. If you've read this far and still have your doubts about the game, then there's likely nothing one could write in a review to sway your opinion, and I wish you the best; otherwise, do yourself the favor and pick up Grim Dawn for $25. You'll almost certainly love it.