TL,DR: It’s a singleplayer focused Diablo-like ARPG that features extensive loot, a robust class system that allows you to mix 2 different classes and some other cool twists to the ARPG formula, like a Faction System, quests with branching choices and consequences, and much, much more. A must-have for fans of the genre and people that love Theorycrafting.


It took me way too long to even start to write down a review for Grim Dawn, but finally, here it is.
For me, Grim Dawn is the Isometric ARPG formula near-perfected. It is a insanely detailed, varied, and well-made game, truly showing the passion and love that Crate Entertainment (the developers, formed from some ex-devs on Iron Lore Studios, the creators of Titan Quest) have put into crafting this world.
It’s a game that I fondly remember the day that the Kickstarter campaign was announced, and I was super happy when it not only reached all of its goals, but later went into Steam Early Access (which was when I was finally able to buy it). I own Grim Dawn for 6 years now, and I’ve seen it change so much, it has improved a lot over the years, and so far this is not only my favorite ARPG but one of my favorite games of all times.

Heads up: this review is based on both the Base Game and its two Expansions, you should really get both!

WORLD BUILDING

The game is set into the Victorian Post-Apocalyptic world of Cairn, after a huge event known as the Grim Dawn and features a very dark (even unsettling) atmosphere. You will explore war-thorn and claustrophobic cities, traverse through swamps filled with very dangerous critters, gaze upon the ruins of old and once glorious empires, and many, many other incredible locations.
It is important know that the game’s world is static, unlike other ARPGs, meaning that it will not be randomly generated each time you reopen it. This presents to the player a very detailed world, specially when combined with the great graphics, lightning and models. The screenshots on this Steam Page are outdated and don’t do justice to the actual state of graphics.
Taking inspiration from CRPGs, there are some quests with choices and consequences.

SOUND DESIGN

The soundtrack is incredible, ranging from the more atmospheric tracks used on exploration of the dark and post-apocalyptic world of Cairn that will fill you with hopelessness, to the blood-pumping boss fights that will get you on your edge, hoping to deal just a little bit more of damage before running for your life. Combat sounds are nice and carry a real weight to them, then, there are the sound effects linked to certain damage types, making them easy to recognize. Ambient sounds also are very atmospheric and complement the game world even more.

GAMEPLAY

It features 7 Acts, each with several quests, dungeon, bosses, and secret areas to discover, that you can do on 3 difficulties: Normal, Elite and Ultimate.
While you explore the world and brave its dangers, you can level your character up to 100. It’s worth mentioning that there is no infinite progression post-max level.
You also have the Devotion System: a extensive passive skill tree split in form of different constellations that can be distributed regardless of your class. You’re limited to 55 Points though, which can be earned by cleansing shrines found across the world.
And talking about pacing: In overall it’s a much slower game than Diablo III and Path of Exile. You’re not expected to clear full screens of monsters in a blink of an eye.

CLASSES/MASTERIES

The game has 9 different Masteries/Classes, each with dozens of unique skills, and like Titan Quest, you can pick two classes, allowing a lot of customization in your build.
On top of that, there are several different Damage Types that you can focus in, with each class having a different mix of them on their skills.
In case you end up not liking a Skill or a Devotion that you got, you can easily refund those in town by talking to a Spirit Guide. So, do not be afraid to test different builds!
And if you want to choose 2 classes that their skill damage types don’t fit very well, don’t worry. There’s hundreds of different pieces of gear that can convert types of damage to another one, enabling even the crazier combinations to work flawlessly!
It’s no exaggeration when I say that all combinations are possible (to a degree, of course). This game is a Theorycrafter’s dream!


LOOT/CRAFTING

Talking more about loot, there are 5 different gear qualities: Normal (white), Magic (yellow), Rare (green), Epic (blue) and Legendary (purple), with both Epic and Legendary having gear Sets.
Many pieces of gear can have new skills on themselves, further enhancing the amount of customization you have available.
Then, there are Monster Infrequents, powerful pieces of loot that drop from specific enemies or bosses. Those can give huge bonuses to certain builds.
It is important to note too that Rare pieces of gear can be rolled with Double Affixes/Stats, making them much more powerful being called “Double Rares”.
On top of all the gear affixes/, you also have Components (crafting items that can be applied on gear to give more attributes and even skills) and Auguments (consumables tied to the Faction System, which can be applied on your gear to give even more bonuses).
There are some rare crafting materials dropped from specific enemies that can be used in conjunction to Components to craft exclusive gear. Lastly on loot, we get access to a Loot Filter, allowing you to reduce the amount of clutter on the screen!

MULTIPLAYER

Since this a singleplayer oriented ARPG, you won’t need an internet connection to play it, but also there are no dedicated servers for multiplayer, and nothing like leagues/seasons. There is multiplayer, but it’s P2P (LAN is also available).
For me, the multiplayer aspects aren’t very well polished. I’ve had many issues like lag spikes, crashes, random disconnects, and desyncs, having a hard time to enjoy many of my MP matches. By far they’re the weakest part of the game, and the only big downside of my experience.

ENDGAME

For endgame, Grim Dawn features a nice amount of activities to do like Faction Reputation/Infamy and Nemesis Farming, hunting for crafting materials on the world, farming Monster Totems, doing the high risk/high reward Roguelike Dungeons, seeing how far can you go on the Shattered Realm, and even searching for more secrets out there.
And while you do that, you’ll always be rewarded with lots of loot to equip, hoard or sell!

EXTRAS

Two other small things that are worthwhile mentioning is that the game has both Ultrawide support and has a plethora of different mods, even including a remake of Diablo II! Be sure to check out the official forums to see this and many other mods!

SUMMARY

I’m terribly sorry if this review was way too long or confusing to read. I have wanted to write it for so very long, but only now I was finally able to do it. And also, I’ve had to reduce the amount of words due to Steam’s character limit.
So, to finish this up, I’d say that this game is a gem, one of the most supported, updated, and loved pieces of entertainment I’ve ever had the honor to play. Crate Entertainment keeps updating the game even to this day, launching new and exciting content for all the players out there, and they deserve all the recognition they get.
All I can say is that if you want to play an incredible singleplayer focused isometric ARPG, give Grim Dawn a go. It goes on sale frequently, and it’s worth every penny.
Thank you so much for your time, and I hope you enjoy playing this game as much as I do!

TL,DR: It’s a singleplayer focused Diablo-like ARPG that features extensive loot, a robust class system that allows you to mix 2 different classes and some other cool twists to the ARPG formula, like a Faction System, quests with branching choices and consequences, and much, much more. A must-have for fans of the genre and people that love Theorycrafting. It took me way too long to even start to write down a review for Grim Dawn, but finally, here it is. For me, Grim Dawn is the Isometric ARPG formula near-perfected. It is a insanely detailed, varied, and well-made game, truly showing the passion and love that Crate Entertainment (the developers, formed from some ex-devs on Iron Lore Studios, the creators of Titan Quest) have put into crafting this world. It’s a game that I fondly remember the day that the Kickstarter campaign was announced, and I was super happy when it not only reached all of its goals, but later went into Steam Early Access (which was when I was finally able to buy it). I own Grim Dawn for 6 years now, and I’ve seen it change so much, it has improved a lot over the years, and so far this is not only my favorite ARPG but one of my favorite games of all times. Heads up: this review is based on both the Base Game and its two Expansions, you should really get both! [b]WORLD BUILDING[/b] The game is set into the Victorian Post-Apocalyptic world of Cairn, after a huge event known as the Grim Dawn and features a very dark (even unsettling) atmosphere. You will explore war-thorn and claustrophobic cities, traverse through swamps filled with very dangerous critters, gaze upon the ruins of old and once glorious empires, and many, many other incredible locations. It is important know that the game’s world is static, unlike other ARPGs, meaning that it will not be randomly generated each time you reopen it. This presents to the player a very detailed world, specially when combined with the great graphics, lightning and models. The screenshots on this Steam Page are outdated and don’t do justice to the actual state of graphics. Taking inspiration from CRPGs, there are some quests with choices and consequences. [b]SOUND DESIGN[/b] The soundtrack is incredible, ranging from the more atmospheric tracks used on exploration of the dark and post-apocalyptic world of Cairn that will fill you with hopelessness, to the blood-pumping boss fights that will get you on your edge, hoping to deal just a little bit more of damage before running for your life. Combat sounds are nice and carry a real weight to them, then, there are the sound effects linked to certain damage types, making them easy to recognize. Ambient sounds also are very atmospheric and complement the game world even more. [b]GAMEPLAY[/b] It features 7 Acts, each with several quests, dungeon, bosses, and secret areas to discover, that you can do on 3 difficulties: Normal, Elite and Ultimate. While you explore the world and brave its dangers, you can level your character up to 100. It’s worth mentioning that there is no infinite progression post-max level. You also have the Devotion System: a extensive passive skill tree split in form of different constellations that can be distributed regardless of your class. You’re limited to 55 Points though, which can be earned by cleansing shrines found across the world. And talking about pacing: In overall it’s a much slower game than Diablo III and Path of Exile. You’re not expected to clear full screens of monsters in a blink of an eye. [b]CLASSES/MASTERIES[/b] The game has 9 different Masteries/Classes, each with dozens of unique skills, and like Titan Quest, you can pick two classes, allowing a lot of customization in your build. On top of that, there are several different Damage Types that you can focus in, with each class having a different mix of them on their skills. In case you end up not liking a Skill or a Devotion that you got, you can easily refund those in town by talking to a Spirit Guide. So, do not be afraid to test different builds! And if you want to choose 2 classes that their skill damage types don’t fit very well, don’t worry. There’s hundreds of different pieces of gear that can convert types of damage to another one, enabling even the crazier combinations to work flawlessly! It’s no exaggeration when I say that all combinations are possible (to a degree, of course). This game is a Theorycrafter’s dream! [b]LOOT/CRAFTING[/b] Talking more about loot, there are 5 different gear qualities: Normal (white), Magic (yellow), Rare (green), Epic (blue) and Legendary (purple), with both Epic and Legendary having gear Sets. Many pieces of gear can have new skills on themselves, further enhancing the amount of customization you have available. Then, there are Monster Infrequents, powerful pieces of loot that drop from specific enemies or bosses. Those can give huge bonuses to certain builds. It is important to note too that Rare pieces of gear can be rolled with Double Affixes/Stats, making them much more powerful being called “Double Rares”. On top of all the gear affixes/, you also have Components (crafting items that can be applied on gear to give more attributes and even skills) and Auguments (consumables tied to the Faction System, which can be applied on your gear to give even more bonuses). There are some rare crafting materials dropped from specific enemies that can be used in conjunction to Components to craft exclusive gear. Lastly on loot, we get access to a Loot Filter, allowing you to reduce the amount of clutter on the screen! [b]MULTIPLAYER[/b] Since this a singleplayer oriented ARPG, you won’t need an internet connection to play it, but also there are no dedicated servers for multiplayer, and nothing like leagues/seasons. There is multiplayer, but it’s P2P (LAN is also available). For me, the multiplayer aspects aren’t very well polished. I’ve had many issues like lag spikes, crashes, random disconnects, and desyncs, having a hard time to enjoy many of my MP matches. By far they’re the weakest part of the game, and the only big downside of my experience. [b]ENDGAME[/b] For endgame, Grim Dawn features a nice amount of activities to do like Faction Reputation/Infamy and Nemesis Farming, hunting for crafting materials on the world, farming Monster Totems, doing the high risk/high reward Roguelike Dungeons, seeing how far can you go on the Shattered Realm, and even searching for more secrets out there. And while you do that, you’ll always be rewarded with lots of loot to equip, hoard or sell! [b]EXTRAS[/b] Two other small things that are worthwhile mentioning is that the game has both Ultrawide support and has a plethora of different mods, even including a remake of Diablo II! Be sure to check out the official forums to see this and many other mods! [b]SUMMARY[/b] I’m terribly sorry if this review was way too long or confusing to read. I have wanted to write it for so very long, but only now I was finally able to do it. And also, I’ve had to reduce the amount of words due to Steam’s character limit. So, to finish this up, I’d say that this game is a gem, one of the most supported, updated, and loved pieces of entertainment I’ve ever had the honor to play. Crate Entertainment keeps updating the game even to this day, launching new and exciting content for all the players out there, and they deserve all the recognition they get. All I can say is that if you want to play an incredible singleplayer focused isometric ARPG, give Grim Dawn a go. It goes on sale frequently, and it’s worth every penny. Thank you so much for your time, and I hope you enjoy playing this game as much as I do!