Grim Dawn Hands-on Impressions
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The folks at Rock, Paper, Shotgun have cranked out some relatively extensive hands-on impressions of Crate Entertainment's Grim Dawn, which are no doubt based upon the latest alpha build of the action RPG. A sampling to follow:
It's the combat and the skill tree that the Grim Dawn's most grabbed me and refused to let me go, to the point that this piece is running two days later than intended due to the cheerful curse of Just One More Go. I suspect I'll be proven wrong in this by more long-term devotees of the game, but I'm finding that levelling seems more geared towards building a character and skillset that I personally enjoy than it is unwavering fealty to specific builds. Clearly I'm referencing Diablo III again, and the constant comparison is a little rude to Grim Dawn, but I do think it's appropriate rather than lazy. Torchlight 2 was one alternative, going full throttle for excess, whereas this seems like the other other option more focused on tinkering and self-specialising than either of its rivals-apparent.
I don't want to rip all the fun out of the skilltree by painstakingly describing it, but I think it hits a complexity sweetspot, neither falling into exhausting overload of choice or essentially forcing you down one route or another if you mean to remain effective. My character's a Witchblade, which, as well as meaning she looks like a member of a biker gang trying to do Warhammer cosplay, involves her having a few skills from the Occultist tree and a few skills from the Soldier tree, thanks to the option to dual-class come level 12.
This in layman's terms means she can twat stuff that with a big club that does mega-damage every third strike, while a summoned raven and a summoned hellhound perform crowd control and heal her. Also she can throw a giant poison eyeball at things. It's probably a right old mess when it comes to efficiency, but it's such a thrilling way to be a lazy bugger all I really need to do is hit stuff over and over and over again, but the presence of my bestial chums and a few tricsky black magic spells means it never feels like a game in which one character hits stuff over and over and over again. I've got all kinds of scope to be more tactical or more specialised if I want, but as it is I am completely free from both the worry that I'm not building The Right Character and that I'm coasting through. Moreover, the aforementioned use of sound has all the right melodic thumps and squidgy noises that it feels so satisfyingly physical. The personality that's a little lacking on the art and description side of things is unquestionably present and correct where it arguably most counts.
