Mindless Fun

After finishing up a fairly long Mass Effect:  Andromeda playthrough I felt the soul crushing reality of a game hole--you know, that feeling where you have nothing to play while you are staring at your 149 game Steam library.  Luckily, before the real mania set in, I remembered that I had bought the ARPG Grim Dawn while it was on sale right before Andromeda dropped.  Since most ARPG's share almost identical mechanics and controls it was easy to dive right back in.  There's something highly enjoyable about ARPG's that I don't really understand--maybe it's the concept of effortlessly slaying armies of evil or maybe it's the mountain o' loot that you collect along the way...or possibly the enjoyment of gearing up a character to make them into an almost invincible wrecking ball of destruction--ARPG's are their own special kind of fun.

At first glance Grim Dawn felt extremely similar to Diablo III--a great calamity has befallen the world and threatens to destroy it.  You play as the hero who is tasked with figuring out how to prevent the world from being taken over by the forces of evil.  It's a tale as old as time (sorry Beauty and the Beast--you lose).  Now that I've played more than a couple of hours I've realized that even with plot similarities that there are some intriguing mechanics present in Grim Dawn.  I'm positive that I have no idea how these mechanics work and that I am probably stumbling around blindly whacking things with my shaman stick.

My shaman taking on the Cthonian blood cult.

The class system in Grim Dawn offers several standard choices--you can sword and board as a soldier; opt for some dual-wielding stabby action as a nightblade; or fling spells as an arcanist (there are several others too).  Because I am the most boring person on the planet I opted for my standard "carry a big stick and whack things" class, which oddly happens to be a shaman.  The shaman class offers the ability to wield a two-handed weapons and to unleash the powers of nature.  You might be thinking...that doesn't sound like anything special..but, it gets even weirder (or better depending on your perspective).  Somewhere around level 10-15 players are given the ability to pick a second class.  Once you pick that second class you can choose to put talent points in abilities for either class.  This allows for the creation of very unique hybridized classes.  My shaman could feasibly take arcanist talents and not only give a mad beatdown, but fling fireballs at groups of zombies.  Even though I am a coward and haven't been brave enough to put points into the non-shaman trees, the versatility of talents and builds is very unique.

Along with the talent points there is also the "devotion" system which allows players to put points into specific constellations and add damage or stat bonuses.  Scattered around the map are shrines where players can either make offerings of one of the many item enhancements that drop or they can cleanse a desecrated shrine and fight a large group of baddies.  Once those actions have been completed points can be allocated to the deity/constellation of choice.  Completing entire constellations offers larger bonuses than scattering points over many different ones and can also offer unique abilities.  One constellation I picked will randomly pop up a cluster of poisoned spines that can damage clusters of enemies.  I've mainly put my points in the constellations that offer more physical and lightning damage since that is the meat and potatoes of the shaman class.  Like the talent system, the devotion system also gives players the option to create a very unique build for whatever style of play they choose.

One part of Grim Dawn that I am enjoying is the large variety of settings within the game.  My hero has wandered through ruined villages fighting hordes of the undead, traversed across ruined fields infested by giant, poisonous insects; and trekked through the blood-filled corridors of the sinister, Cthonian cult.  At no time have I had the feeling that I had seen a particular area, cave, or pattern before--maybe it's the fact that I've played a boatload of Diablo III, but I am enjoying the fact that things feel fresh and not like cave #43 which is being repopulated with enemies.

A few pointers--#1 Make sure that your hero eats any food or food rations that they find.  I learned the hard way that the transparent yellow bar over the health bar represents how recently you've eaten and is tied to your health regeneration.  If you don't eat and that yellow bar goes away you will find that your health regenerates at a cripplingly slow rate.  Finding food while in the field is not usually difficult--it's when you enter a cave, fort, dungeon, or other blue glowy entranced place that food can be scarce.

#2--There's no shame in running away and letting your health regenerate.  Many of the bosses you find around the map hit like Mack trucks.  Rather than just stepping up and getting whacked around, try to plan out attacks where you can dart in, land a few blows, and then dart out to let your health regen or to pop a health potion.  Unless you're playing on veteran or elite difficulty, bosses won't regenerate health.

#3--It's a good idea to pop a rift every few minutes.  I'm really bad about doing this and as a result I've had to run the equivalent of a video game marathon to get my character back to where I died.  Opening rifts when you are in the aforementioned blue glowy places is a must.  I would also recommend popping a rift whenever you see an enemy boss.  This is me admitting that I die all the time.

Even though every ARPG feels a little familiar I still love the accompanying carpal tunnel from mindless button mashing.  Grim Dawn adds some new elements and mechanics to the genre while maintaining the recognizable features that we all know and love.  Keep on mashin'.