The different levels of hostile factions btw also does affect the game, if you get one hostile faction from hostile > despised > hated > NEMESIS, the faction will send a nemesis boss after you. It's kinda like a super boss bounty hunter from that faction. :)

The fact that it feels slower is in my opion one of the strenghts to the game. It takes me back to a time when games made you invest in them, feel them, just not as,many modern games are,, mostly about fast paced action all the time.

As someone who has 1000 Hours and more than XX Lvl 100 Chars, I have to say that this is my favourite game of all time, not only of the ARPG's. I actually had one issue, when I started playing GD in 2016 when it came out. It really took some time until I really learned to love this game. It really grows on you over the time. Its like a flower that just gets more beautiful and meaningful the more you look at it. There are so many aspects, which make this game an absolute masterpiece, the complexity of building your character, the little details about the world and especially the lore notes. The whole game concerning combat/masteries etc is perfectly balanced, everything works with everyting if you really invest a little bit of time into theorycrafting. It enables some really smart ways to play the game, which is pure fun. Also: Crate Entertainment might be one of the best Developement Teams of all time. They really listen to their community and understand their own game really well, which is a rarity nowadays... I mean... look at Bethesda, or EA, or Blizzard...etc. I could go on and on about what I love about this game, but in conclusion: Its a milestone in ARPG history.

I have a few thousand hours in this game over the years and still have extremely fond memories of it. It’s the game that got me into my love of theorycrafting and playing HC.

Just a quick correction / FYI: You can actually respec the mastery bar as well, you are just required to clear all spell above the mastery level first. So if your mastery is at 40, you'll need to remove all level 40 spells first before you can remove mastery points.

My vote is 100% for Grim Dawn...best one I've ever played...and I'm 60 yrs old...The second is Titan Quest.

The rotating camera actually does have practical uses. If you have a movement skill that requires a target you can angle the cameras corner to get some further range. It also allows you to see whats ahead using the same method and walk into single mobs aggro range to kite more dangerous enemies or bosses from their location. Not having it in other arpgs is my biggest hurdle to get over to be honest.

Yesss, I LOVE Grim Dawn. It was my first ARPG after getting a taste with Diablo 3 and the complexity of the builds, the world, the story and the amazing loot made me just fall in love with it. No TQ or D2 nostalgia on my side either, and coming from D3 I just craved something to get my brain gears going. I'm so looking forward to the next expansion. This game got me through the pandemic and I'm so glad you finally connected with it!

One thing i found is that shoot cupboards and shelf for more lore notes so more exp

It's still my favorite top down ARPG. I'll be playing yet again when the new expansion comes out, for sure. Another thing that's so great about the camera is replayability. Orient it with South (or east or west) "up" all the time, and it's almost like playing a new map.

Fair review, young aspirant. The pace can be quickened substantially using the DLCs for newer PCs once the old ones have pioneered certain things. Potions of clarity can be purchased from the Malmouth faction which grant +100% experience for 1 real time hour. Merits can be purchased from a vendor in the Conclave of the Three which will unlock Elite or Ultimate difficulties. When I start a new PC, I typically play 1 round of crucible, use 1 merit and within half an hour the PC is about 24th level. Then back to crucible for 12 more rounds to unlock tributes which can be traded for devotion points. I then use normal just to jump to shrines to unlock (usually about 18 to 20). I then start the real play through on Elite with nearly 30 devotion points and level 27. You can see the pace can be much quicker. When you feel you have mastered the mechanix, try hardcore. It is my preferred way to play. When the smith says "Don't get killed out there" it means something.

The greatest ARPG of all time, nothing comes close IMO. You can't deny the brilliance of Diablo 1 & 2 (as well as their historical significance), Path Of Exile, Titan Quest and I'd even include Torchlight 1 & 2 but GD trumps them all. For very low budget yet surprisingly complex and dynamic affairs, I'd highly recommend Din's Curse, Zombasite and Din's Legacy - they're all very low-fi but are wholly unique and (for me) very enjoyable.

As someone with, as you said, thousands of hours in Grim Dawn I agree with pretty much everything you said! I love going back to GD every time there is a lull in PoE leagues and just blast through. My only gripe with the game is that it really does not have a good endgame. Shattered Realm from The Forgotten Gods DLC is pretty much only thing (outside of Crucible mode, which is its own DLC.) you can really push after you've killed all the superbosses in the game. But that honestly is enough to give me content to play until new PoE league or something happens in other games I play. There are actually (very minor) gameplay tricks you can do by moving the camera around. For example, literally the moment you create a new character, you can rotate the camera a bit before the bridge out of town to pick up the lore node inside Devil's Crossing for like 100 early exp before even killing one zombie. Not very useful in a long run, but a fun little camera trick. Just like PoE, this game also has its own third party lootfilter known as the rainbow filter. It recolors the tooltips to be more easily readable by coloring certain keywords differently and doing some other small QOL changes. Some people really like it, some, mostly those who've played the game before Rainbowfilter was developed, are so used to the jungle of words in the item tooltips that they probably spot what's what on glance. For new players, I do highly recommend both of the story DLC's. Crucible is fully optional, though it can be used to powerlevel a new character up 'till like level 10 or so without too many problems. But the story DLC's (Ashes of Malmuth and The Forgotten Gods) add a ton of content and in my opinion offer the "complete" GD experience with the things they bring in to the basegame alone. I'm very happy to see you jumping into the game and making a video! GD needs more eyes on it, love the game to bits! Hopefully you'll make videos if you decide to try the story DLC's and the new expansion coming later this year, can't wait to hear your opinions on those!

the atmosphere in this game is *CHEF KISS* i was so immersed in my first playthrough, the transitions between the various hostile landscapes is so flawless, i loved it !

TBH one of the few games where from the get go you can make a summoner build and the minions actually do the job for you. Not many games know how to make summoner builds feel like they should feel. I get that a game has to have a sense of difficulty but when I am running around with a group of skeletons or zombies they need to have an impact otherwise why play the build or the game if I have to wait till lvl 25 to be good.

Great review. I never got into GD but I'm honestly considering giving it another chance - you made it sound delightful. Maybe if and when I get bored of Last Epoch 😊

Greatings from DoM HC👊We really need that new expansion,im bored after 8k hours in game😉

Im always pleasantly surprised every time i see a new patch or update post from Grim Dawn. I remember back after the 2nd expansion the devs were winding down, the game looked like it was going to be done with no more development, with the team moving on to other games...and yet here we are 8 years later and they are STILL pumping out content for it. I absolutely LOVE these passionate "forever" games. Games like Grim Dawn, and Dont Starve, and Terraria even though they are on teir last, final definitely never going to be another Patch

I love this game. Started playing it about a month ago and got a character to 100 to try and farm my endgame build. There’s so much too it, and playing like SSF works great for me since I like playing alone.

I've played grim dawn since late 2016. The problem when i started was act 1. It reminded my of act 3 in d2. It's raining and you go through a swamp like area until burrwitch. I didn't know to watch for in stats so it made it harder. But when i finally got to homestead i got to like the game even more. And when i hit 50 and got my first legendary i was completely sold. After a while i really put time in trying to build alot of different devotion trees. I also found grim tools that helped ALOT. Now i level up characters in 2 nights (8-10 hours) i don't play hardcore though.

Somehow this hasn't been on my radar but it is now. Recently quit playing D4 and started Last Epoch. Saw someone mention playing this while waiting for the LE release next week. Looks like this a game worth trying.

I was playing path of exile before, but when started to get the hang of Grim Dawn, it is amazing, the proper pace, not overly complicated, and i dont need trade with players to play the game.

Yeah, TQ, and GD are more slow paced than other ARPGs, and have the exploration element in it. I would say from a mechanics point, Grim Dawn while hugely complex, they dedicated an absurd amount of time to make the game as balanced as possible.

You can't skip the reputation grind if you want to get into the end-game, as it's the only source of a certain armor and weapon enhancing item. It's required to reach maxed out resistances and not get one-shot. But you also don't really have to "grind" reputation, if you got that far in the game then you got the reps unlocked already.

I've said a similar gist on many GD videos, but I adore this game. Also as a Diablo refugee, this game brought just the right balance of tone and complexity for me. I love the background story of the Cthonics vs the Aether and it's a fun backdrop to roleplay in as you make up a story for your own character. And that roleplaying is reinforced splendidly by the dual mastery system. Like, if you're on Occultist, and you also pair that up with a Necomancer or a Shaman, you might come up with a nice story in your mind as to why your character has that common or unlikely combination of classes. I love the engine and the feel of the combat. It's easy to complain that the game feels dated, but I think it still looks and feels great. I have over 800 hours in this game. I could gush about it for nearly as long a time.

Totally agree on the negative side of loot. I started the game twice and both times i left it just thinking about drops. "oh no i`m going to play and the monsters will drop gear and i`ll have to read aaaalllll those stats" or something like that was my thinking.

Game is amazing. I have over 1k hours on it. Waiting for the upcoming expansion now.

GD is the best ARPG I have ever played. And that includes LE and PoE, which are absolutely top-notch contenders. The way that GD rewards exploring, the crafting systems, the grinds and targeted farms simply feel different. Even the endgame feels unique, almost a bit MMO-RPG-ish, compared to other ARPGs. And the choices you do with talent-trees hits hard and feels so damn impactful. My only critique is that levling can be a slow and dreary ordeal, especially if you pick the wrong class, so here is a short list of skills which make the levelling fast: Necromancer's skellyboys, Demolitionist's blackwater cocktail, Soldier's force-wave, Occultists bloody pox, Inquisitor has an elemental seal, and shaman have thunder-strikes. Arcanist and nightblade are generally well balanced, but oathbreaker should sadly be avoided until level 50.

DLCs are must have, they bring those big bosses, new quests areas, dungeons, items, everything.

Grim Dawn is the GOAT. Specific stats doesn't matter, just get some res and as much OA/DA as possible

and within a multiclass, you can also make completely different versions. i have the said Warder ( soldier shaman), with a retaliation build. basically mobs destroy themselves when they attack me. And being a Tank with huge hp. Or make a caster that blasts a continuous beam, while freezing enemies. Or a dual wielding pistol user, or dual swords. etc etc etc. do get the DLC's, it makes the game so much better

Grim dawn is the giga chad arpg. The only negative thing is the absence of official seasons. The atmosphere, the world, the music, the combat...all are great. The boss fights are not as awesome as in Poe or Last Epoch, they remind me of the bosses in diablo 2. Just give this game a chance all of you seriously. The dlcs are absolutely worthy. Also pay attention to the story and lore, try to read the lore pages you find throughout the game. I also play Last Epoch but i don't really like the world, the atmosphere and the overall feeling. LE has also been greatly inspired by Grim Dawn in a lot of ways. It saddens me that everyone is hyped about last epoch(including me), but Grim Dawn does not get the recognition it deserves.

Last time I played this game I was lost. I am new to ARPG style games but own a few. Last Epoch was my recent purchase and I am hooked. Maybe I will give it another try.

Normal is "enjoy at your own pace" mode. You rarely have to refine your gear or skill setups as almost anything will get you through will minimal potential for enemies to faceroll you. As you climb difficulties you start accessing more epic and true legendary items with sets becoming more apparent. Honestly, normal is an introduction and once youve played through it once and become familiar with the game, you'll want to skip it entirely through use of difficulty runes purchased by your higher level characters.

knew you would love it!!

For the Crafting system one you unlock that item from on your main toon you actually get to craft it on all toons very rewarding system if your willing to be the work in.. Grind Hard to make future runs easier

I've put 1800+ hours on Grim Dawn, and I think its best characteristic is replayability, you can start a game with the same class everytime but choosing different skills, change everything Another interesting aspect is mono-class, either you never choose a second class or, you choose a second class to fill the mastery bar but never choose any skills on it The devs are still taking care of the game, and buffs are automatic now which is good or bad depending on what you think of it. I like it but it takes away a little of the thrill in my opinion as before, reaching that zone where is that mage type boss which not only nullify all the buffs on my hardcore character but made it with a big ominous message on screen, was a thing of nightmares

You should look at the stats of mythical legendary augmented gear. Aside from that, grim dawn got some neat hidden bosse

This is my favorite game of all time, hands down. I will say you need some QoL mods like rainbow filter which assigns colors to stats like vitality or burn so its easier to identifiy on the wall of text.

After playing a lot of Diablo 4, I find the exploration of this game very refreshing. Dungeon crawling feels meaningful. Thanks for the video.

I am playing this game now! It is indeed good fun.

Grim Dawn is one of a kind game, the play is slower then PoE and Last Epoch. And this is a good thing. The unique thing in GD is the world, the amosphere and the connection that you have with the game environment.

I've owned this game for a while now and it's very underrated. Great game.

I finally finished the game/all expansions on Ultimate last night. WooHoo! PS, I skipped Epic, went straight from Veteran to Ultimate.

I have a little over 4K hours in Grim Dawn. For me, it is the gold standard for ARPGs. The "drawback" of it not being a live service game is actually a bonus for me. I always play solo, and I really don't like organized trade like POE has. I started long ago with Diablo 1, then went to 2 and eventually 3 with Torchlight thrown in. I got so fed up with D3s lack of build diversity that I decided to try Grim Dawn and it was exactly what the doctor ordered. I eventually went on to play POE and LE. I play POE, but I hate POE. I am a semi-casual, older gamer and POE takes too much time and effort...and their combat feels like Sonic the Hedgehog on crack! Up to this point, Grim Dawn is the only ARPG that got combat exactly right. You will have to do boss mechanics. There is no one-shotting or insta-phasing bosses. And any decently built character will also not get one-shot by the bosses. There is actual counterplay in boss fights and other encounters. Nobody does this worse than POE. Constant one-shots and on death effects for cheap-cheesy character kills. GD's combat feels measured and fair. When you die, you will almost always know why you died. Character deaths feel fair, unlike in POE. One last comment. The base game of Grim Dawn is good, but the two expansions make it great...especially The Forgotten Gods expansion. My biggest issue with the game at base level and with the first expansion is that you could not target farm sets. I had played for thousands of hours and never put a set together. The Forgotten Gods expansion fixed that issue, making set helms craftable and the recipes farmable. Then, they have a transmute ability that lets you transmute one set piece to a random different set piece, like in D3. After that, all my end game characters were rocking full sets. Can't recommend any other ARPG higher than Grim Dawn. I have been playing Last Epoch for about 2 years and it runs a close second.

my favorite in this game is "shared stash", to swap items between characters

It was the single game ever at which, after aprox 10hrs, I threw my card at devs as hard as I could. They unironically released soundtrack DLCs at comunity request, to have a way to pay them more. The only ever case where I have zero shame in being a fanboy, but first of the devs and then of the game. I'm 44 and these guys are a guarantee that gaming, as I knew it when I was a teenager, ain't getting lost in the toxic dev/marketing/monetization combo of these days. The 2nd which really shows promise is Greg/Slavic Magic, the 1-person dev of a completely different genre game, Manor Lords.

Cannot wait to get into it but for now I'm swimming in Inquisitor Martyr

Great video, but couple nitpicks... Aetherials don't want to destroy world, they want to get it back since they consider it theirs ( and they have rights to think so). Chthonian don't care about world, but their goal(bringing back Ch'thon) will destroy world hence why they are final enemy in base game. You don't need to grind faction rep at all. On normal you just want all of them unlocked, and by the time you in ultimate and level 70+ you will get max rep anyway. You can't even use their best things in normal anyway since they locked behind level 70+. Bosses are weak in normal, but if you turn on veteran...well from character sheets i saw in video, you would probably instantly die since veteran stop holding back. For example : -9% poison resist means that you take 89% more poison damage so 1 poison DOT will probably instantly kill you. Minor spoiler - First hidden boss you can find right next to first starting area (dreeg's guardian) does...poison damage. As well as every mob in his area. Considering that even with 80% poison resist he still does respectable damage, having negative resist is yikes.

im addicted to last epoch is this worth trying to cure my addiction

There is much for you to discover with this Legendary game. Best ARPG ever IMO ;)

This game is a GEM! Btw, read all pages that you find, very intresting.

I love this game - it's in my top 10 games ever

This is the best arog right now. But not without it's flaws. I remember seeing a preview for Diablo 4 a long time ago. Where there was actual tactics involved along with get paced action. I avoided that game for other reasons. And it seems to have devolved into mindless blindfold tazmaniac play. Just like most Diablo 3 contemporaries. That are nothing like what the original Diablo was meant for - a dark fantasy. I remember during level 12 of Diablo 1 how happy I was when a white broadsword dropped. Because they didn't just throw piles of loot at you or make them easy to show up in the shop. Grim Dawn is also a dark fantasy. Which means it cannot by definition offer a power fantasy style arpg. Better referred to ss mindless inanity. While Grim Dawn does lack in the correct atmosphere and scarcity loot econ. It at least is a bit more tactical than mindless arpgs like Last Epoch.

Grim Dawn must be the most supported game Ive ever played. It has been so long they released it and it still receives updates.

In spite of the fact that I only play it a few months a year now, This is by far the best ARPG I've ever played. Sorcerer is a blast. literally, explosions everywhere! if you want a great setup, I have one built. It's my favorite class, just dropping bombs and fire and mortars all over the place, including calling down massive meteors from the sky! Also, quick note: most of the actual story is found in journals and mail you find as you explore. Think of the NPC interactions as the skeleton of the story, with all the journals, writings, and letters really round out the story and make it feel very real and connected. Like finding the journal pages of a woman in the mountains who steadily goes insane after the loss of her husband, and ends up using her daughter to entice men in and kill them for food. Grisly, and heart wrenching. And I love the possible options of classes and interclass builds. not many MMO's where you can play a mage, a warrior, a gunslinger (arcane gunslinger even), necromancer, and demolitions specialist in the same game. very cool lore and roleplay possibilities.

About f'ing time. Now to watching the video 😊

If you are going to get an expansion go with Forgotten Gods. Ashes is fine but has some issues mainly with pacing and map design. It took me a few playthroughs to appreciate Ashes of Malmouth but I got around to liking it.

best parts are that it is mostly a Singleplayer game with coop in Mind game and it runs great on the Steam Deck. It is also on Xbox but sadly not on PS4/5. I love PoE, Last Epoch and D3/4 but for me they are feeling mostly like MMOs then ARPGs. It is hard to describe but in Grim dawn i just can play the way i want without the stress of Seasons or playing "worthless" standard Online mode

The sad part is not every class combination is a winner.

ive rolled a few characters and have played almost 30 hours here and there over the past few years. i like the game, but still waiting to get hooked. getting ready to to give it another go after bouncing off Last Epoch again.

Yeah and what can be criticized about the game could be argued against due to the fact that this was their start up game which is still being updated to this day and adding a couple new features here and there.

is a game for ever! play again and again...

Grim Dawn 2024 club here 🤠😎 A new release of this game with new quests and grafics would be very nice

My only issue, and maybe you can help with this, is I don't feel the dopamine points offer enough compared to Diablo 3/Last Epoch. POE has a similar problem for me. I don't feel like I'm making ANY headway on getting powerful and I've tried dozens of builds in both GD and POE. In D3/LE (especially the latter,) when I unlock a big changer be it passive or skill, it feels impactful. The devotion system in GD is better about that but with the skills especially, there feels like a lack of balance and every skill I like seems underpowered which simply can't be right. Whereas in LE and D3, it felt like I could take a skill and build around it. It helps that I have mobility problems so I can't go using a full bar of skills. Any advice?

it is an awesome game, I like it a lot. It's freaking huge. Well worth the time and money, even today. I can't imagine how Crate could top it but I'd like to see them try.

Which game : last epoch , diablo4, grim dawn? I need play one please , which?

I spent quite some time in this game, it's really good. However, if I occasionally reinstall Titan Quest, I never reinstalled Grim Dawn (and so never bought any of its DLC) and probably never will. Maybe it's the settings, the lore, maybe the look and feel, I don't know.

i wish for Grim Dawn 2 this will be cool i rly loved the first one

Came from playing poe since the beta, I also fucking fell in love with grim dawn wtf, lvl 84 in elite run atm, I’m too much of a completionist and was way over leveled after leaving veteran lmfao, but man I fucking love this game

Playing it now necr/shaman build

i still play it. fantastic game

love the top-down graphics they've been serving us since Age of Empires

TITAN QUEST II is also coming out

Just came to prestige the video and give a like. This game is amazing in every aspect. I hoped d4 would be partially inspired by this one...

Over 1500+ hours in this game. Absolutely f'n fantastic experience and also some of the BEST soundtracks in any game ever.

Great Choice ^^ !!! Greetings from Germany.

Grim Dawn is amazing. For those that have already played, or find it a little too archaic in presentation, Last Epoch is a lot like what a Titan Quest/ GD 2 would be

May I ask where is the art of the barbarian female on the thumbnail of this video, from ? Looks nice.

are there more ppl who didn't touch the camera rotate throughout the entire gameplay?

its always a good sign when the only negative aspect someone finds in a game is an aspect that most others see as a big plus lol

I have played every kind of H&S Games since 2000 (Diablo 2).. and i have also played Grim Dawn since release for about 2yrs leveling up every available class. Overall i'd say it's one of my favorite H&S. The only thing that i would wish would be much better presentation of the lore. Something that let you imagine the epicness of the War going on. Only reading text is not what really impresses when playing the game. Other than that the Game is a true Gem in the genre.

You should check out the modding community. So many great ones. If you like Diablo 2 then you should download the Reign of Terror mod. It remakes diablo 2 with grim dawns engine. So much fun. Dawn of masteries is another amazing mod. Has like 62 classes and much, much more.

im now 400 hours into the game and i was born in '85. i just wish it had better graphics :( i hate myself for saying that as i grew up with doom 2, dungeon keeper and i generally prefer gameplay over visuals. right now im playing Last Epoch and enjoying it very much 👍

you haven't tried ashes of malmouth? It's superb

every cool kid knows that GD was superbly carried the torch of arpgs. I'm still surprised that this game isn't very popular, maybe bcs it's not released on many consoles?

good video

Did you seriously say that being able to rotate the camera makes it so you can see the eyes through the character? lol

Ive never even heard of this game

It has it’s flaws, but I agree it literally is almost perfect. It’s what I wish current Diablo was. I’m actually playing thru Titan Quest and Grim Dawn right now because I dropped D4, and the build variety in both games is amazing because of the dual classes, which all have their own unique names. My current Grim build is a magical explosives expert who wields fire infused rifles lol

I just starrted Grim dawn about 20 hours in this game is light years better then last epoch

Last time I checked over a year ago, the controls were not mappable or compatible with steam deck so I simple stopped playing it.

Grim Dawn is a great Arpg. The Devs have been supporting it for years and as a result its the best Arog on the market.

Love me some shrines

I. LOVE. GRIM. DAWN!

Grim Dawn is a great game and easily the best in the genre that I've played. I liked it right from the start and it only got better.

grim dawn is for a very niche and old players and it is i think the last game of its kind with an actual offline mode and pause function started it on 2020 and coming across more expansions and community mods i cannot play modern aprg like poe anymore so a heads up before u go deeper into this game to the endgame content as i said its probably the last diablo 2 style game ull like despise all modern games of this genre like last epoch, poe and such as for the drawbacks in this game like loot filter there is a filter mod which hope they add to the game in the next expansion this year and 1 negative from me is that it lacks sex appeal which it sorta makes up with the gameplay but i do miss the old sexy characters

D2R - PoE - GD my 3 best games cant wait for new GD Expansion soon !!

This is TQ 1.5 :)) epic game

gd just got another update! expansion 3 in development!