Grim Dawn

I play this game because I'm too old for Torchlight, too stupid for Path of Exile, and too much of an armchair activist to buy Diablo.

Grim Dawn - New Player Experience in 2025
I'll keep this review short, mostly because I believe a game of this magnitude really deserves to be reviewed by the players with 100's, if not 1000's, of hours of game tiime. However, I can tell I'm going to be one of those players. so for right now I'll do a quick stream of consciousness about my first 30 hours with this amazing game.
First off, the vibe is great. The music is beyond good and the setting has vibes of zombie apocalypse mixed with Lovecraft/Cthulu mixed with old west mixed with a certain classic arpg vibe it's hard to put your finger on, but you know it when you feel it. Great loot system, incredible class mixing system and in general I love how this game respects your time and your money. You buy this game, and then you own it. You can take it, disable Cloud saves (if you want) and then play offline with no DRM. There are no micro transactions and the decision to not have seasons/leagues means you are never going to experience FOMO.
This is a rock solid single player game (which, I understand, also supports multi player, though I haven't touched that). I am having a ton of fun, playing because I want to, not because I feel like I "need to" in order to check off some task before the game's "week" begins anew. There is no game week, there is simply the game, and it's very good.
I'll come back after 100 hours and update this. Most likely this review will get lost among all the others, and that's okay, but if you do read this and you're where I was just a few days, looking for a new (to you) game to play in 2025 and you like arpg's but you want something that isn't built around FOMO, you have found your new game. Enjoy!

This is my comfort game. I don’t think I’ve ever written a review on here for any game before, but felt compelled to write one for this game. I’ve been going back to it every year or so since 2016 and it never feels old or worn out. My absolute kudos to the devs for creating something truly special.
The atmosphere is just right, like a perfect middle point between Diablo 2 and more modern titles. The combat is always engaging and feels so satisfying, with tremendous ragdoll physics. The itemisation is likewise deep and interesting, with the item hunt always providing a satisfying reason to continue.
Builds are endless and fun to theory craft with. Every new character feels fresh. I have almost 900 hours in this game and I only have 5 characters, so the replayability is sensational.
The world is full of secrets and lore to discover. There is a hidden path or dungeon in so many corners of this world. The lore is deep for those that like that sort of thing.
Graphics are from an older engine but still look excellent, arguably better than a lot of modern games. Sound effects are so satisfying, even hundreds of hours in. I can listen to the soundtrack on loop.
No game is perfect, and this game is no different. There is a certain lack of randomised content that might put off some players from replaying this over and over, but not me personally.
I personally prefer to play solo but there is a bustling and friendly community for those that want to team up or trade items.
I’m not a videogame critic by any means, just a 38 year old oldschool gamer, and I just wanted to relay a little about what makes this game so special to me. My absolute compliments to the developers.

So remember back in middle/school high school, playing diablo 2 and its expansion which you installed off cds, maybe you had the diablo "battlechest" along with the starcraft and warcraft "battlechest" to go along with it. Those printed "premium" manuals filled with lore and backstories, those cd cases with one time use keys. Remember how simple things were and when you fired that game on up and could actually relax?

Well I cant promise you this game will be able to fix your adult problems in this dystopian hellscape we call 2025 but I can tell you this sure plays like old school diablo 2 and I mean in all the best ways.

I've been playing quite a bit of ARPG lately. Path of Exile II, Diablo 4, Last Epoch, Titan Quest II... and now I came back to the classic.

Grim Dawn is heads and shoulders above the rest. Only TQ II gets even close. The graphics are becoming quite dated, but a texture mod helps with that quite a bit.

The gameplay is solid. Builds are meaningful. The atmosphere is gloriously dark and fighting visceral. Everything feels meaningful and crafted, not generated by an algorithm to make it longer and "more engaging". No damn microtransactions, live events or other modern idiocy.

This is ARPG at it's finest, even in 2025.

I keep waiting for a better ARPG to come along. You'd think it wouldn't be that hard. Was looking at the D4 expansion today, and was completely unenthused. Last Epoch is okay. Ditto PoE1&2. For those last three, there is "So much customization!" but most of it is meaningless.
The only things against this one are that it's indie, and 10 years old. But it's good, and it's got an expansion coming out next year. Robust, but not over complicated. Lots of options without any of the built-in time sucks for games that are out for that sweet microtransactional $$$.
You'll play it a dozen times, and still think there are things that'll be interesting to try.

Great ARPG with the most free choice in skill tree combinations I have seen, combine trees and you can build pretty much whatever you want. Lots of unique items to specialise things even further. No seasonal slop, no "always online" garbage. There is so much build potential I keep coming back again and again. There's even secret stuff for you to find.

My only gripe is after playing so many hours, I wish I had a little more bank space to store things.

Looking forward to the coming Asterkarn expansion.