My Absolute Favorite Hack & Slash ARPG! - Grim Dawn

Get Grim Dawn on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/21...
Enter an apocalyptic fantasy world where humanity is on the brink of extinction, iron is valued above gold and trust is hard earned. This ARPG features complex character development, hundreds of unique items, crafting and quests with choice & consequence.
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[@iteststuff3854]

Hey. I've sunk 8000+ hours into Grim Dawn, was one of its playtesters, got a lot of its world firsts, etc. Every now and then I come across another video like yours of someone who truly appreciates this masterpiece. For my taste, power creep has pushed too far. Its "golden age" for me was around midway between AoM's release and FG's. Mid Ashes of Malmouth balance patches were perfect for me. After many hours of play, many hours of giving feedback, and pushing for some balance changes and features, I got to spend a fuckton of time in what literally felt like my perfect ARPG. It fulfilled me as a gamer on a level that will probably never be felt again. And I am not salty about the further balance changes. I'm glad the lifetime of this beautiful game has offered different levels of difficulty to different gamers. The lore in this game is really well-written, and there are so many secrets. There are literally secrets within secrets to find in this game... that is to say, secrets that require finding other secrets even though the previous secrets might make you feel like you've reached the end. I have gleefully built over one hundred level 100 characters. Some were variations of the same type of build, but there was enough diversity between the playstyles. I can definitely argue that Grim Dawn offers at least 40 end-game builds that feel different enough from each other in flavor. And despite my gripes with FG speeding up the game, it is by far the most beautiful and diverse "desert-setting" I've seen in gaming. That's saying something for a ARPG. Grim Dawn holds a special place in my heart, forever cemented in my top 5 no matter my mood, and certainly my top ARPG. It may very well be my #1. I sincerely hope you still enjoy this game for many many hours to come. I'm adoomgod on steam. Hit me up any time!

[@ghostface_7]

diablo 3 is better

[@user-zw6rq9pp7p]

Sounds like me talking about Diablo 2 patches 1.05 and 1.09.

[@KimParkkinen]

I adore GD! Love to see you play it! Hopefully there will be more videos! ♥ Some tips I can give to folks who may try the game after seeing this video: -That pistol you found always spawns there, there is also a two handed sword and one handed axe in the houses around the area. All of them can literally carry you until like early act 3! -When levelling up, it is a good habit to get into putting points on the actual track. I personally tend to put 1 skill point to actual skills and 2 on the track, since more often than not you want to get to the point where you unlock your more powerful skills and passives even if you use earlier skill as your main skill. They scale well enough with gear and components that putting points into them little slower is not going to noticeably hurt the damage. -Keep your gear components up. Stuff like emeralds drop like candy and you pretty much never run out of them and the stats they give are always nice. Crafting some antivenom salve when you unlock the blacksmith is also very useful and cheap component one can use! Using the fireball/ice shard/lightning nova component on weapons and shields will give some nice base damage boost and a skill to help with clear. -Put components that give armour (like the antivenom salve I mentioned earlier) on your belt. Every piece of gear has their own armour value you can increase with components, but since belt doesn't have its own armour value, components that increase it and can go to belts actually increase the armour value of every piece of gear -For devotions, I highly recommend, no matter the build, going for the first two points Jackal first (red crossroad -> Jackal 1 -> Jackal 2) that gives a global speed bonus, which is nice while levelling. Later on that can be very easily respecced when needed. -Just like what bots did, there really is no reason to show normal items (and honestly, not even magic items) that drop, so I recommend just hiding both of them on the item filter. You'll get greens and blues quickly enough and especially if you pick up some of the static items (like the weapons mentioned earlier) or a static shoulder armour (Isaac's Spaulders) found in Wigthmire! -This is mentioned in the loading screen tips, but most of the monsters drop items called Monster Infrequents. These green items are more often than not build defining and something one can farm from the start. These items scale with player and monster levels and get more modifiers, but even on their lowest stages they're very useful for whatever build you're going for. I recommend looking up grim dawn tools (a website with build planner etc.) which has list of all the items and their drop sources. And lastly, I highly recommend the DLC. Outside of Crucible which is pretty much only useful for levelling alts quickly early on and getting some early devotion points, which definitely is not necessary, Ashes of Malmuth and Lost Gods add insane amounts of content and multiple classes. They're definitely worth it! Hopefully this wall of text helped. I'll try to answer more questions and edit this message if I come up with anything else!

[@Gamers_RiseUp]

One of all-time best games.

[@fendelphi]

A very cool thing about Grim Dawn is the exploration. Just in the first 10 minutes of this video, you moved next to 2 "hidden" areas. One being a breakable bookshelf that leads to a different area "off map", the other being a rowboat that takes you to a small island with a hidden lab. Such locations sometimes have special enemies, optional quests or hidden chests with good loot. Another thing is that each area "tells a story". These areas are handcrafted and as you explore, you slowly piece together what kind of world this used to be, various cultures, how the invasion came to be and much more. Sometimes this is done through notes you find at various locations(or even as drop from breaking bookshelves or from enemies), and at other times, the environment makes it clear that "something happened here".

[@zaurhasanov5458]

Great description! I often lose myself just exploring and finding new area or going through rifts and dungeons

[@maximhebert-gareau4461]

Well said!

[@MD-yd8lh]

absolutely. I personally think that in arpg exploration and lore could be very interesting.

[@Draliseth]

Where do you get the key for that hidden lab?

[@bz-sama8271]

Just like Titan quest, a game I adore, I love that you show more games in this genre!

[@knightofvirtue613]

I tried to like Titan quest, but it didn't grab me. Maybe I picked the wrong class? (Frost sorceror)

[@purplefanta7142]

This game is legendary. The atmosphere is actually awesome. The story ACTUALLY hooked me and I ended out re-playing the game and reading all of the text as well. Good LORD this game is a gem. I've made so many characters. Arcanist/Soldier with mace + shield. Heavy focus on ice nova and blocking was my first main. Then I saw how cool the lore was, made a Oathkeeper/demolitionist and went for the devotion that was about holy light. Felt so much cooler fighting the "Eldritch Sun" later in the game as a fire focused paladin. This game EVEN HAS GOOD MODS. Someone did a total conversion to diablo 2. You can pick 2 classes from BOTH GAMES. I made a Grim dawn Necromancer + Diablo 2 paladin for auras.

[@juhanipolvi4729]

Double necromancer might also be interesting. LOTS of skellies and exploding corpses...

[@ExeErdna]

I'll say it, this is THE best ARPG. This was a world full of tragic lore and the monsters being as common as farming equipment.

[@alexgoldbar]

One of the best ARPGS of all times. Can't wait for Grim Dawn 2!!!

[@Daniel-xv3nw]

they work on gd2?

[@patches_]

@@Daniel-xv3nw No. They have a survival colony builder game in the works at the moment. It's currently in early access and pretty good if you like those kinds of games. It's called "Farthest Frontier" if you are interested. I hope that they start working on GD2 after they are done with that.

[@docgolden3y399]

I love that you've played Grim Dawn on this video. I really enjoyed the depth of this game, the darkness of the world, and the deep building aspect to the various class combos you can do on this. i've put in 200 hours, and i come back to it from time to time. the dlcs they made are so good too. its a well made ARPG, and its compared when i look at other ARPGs for its standard of quality.

[@HeavensTaint]

The maps are handmade, but there's still things that are different between runs. Sometimes a boulder blocks a path, other times it blocks a different one. The dungeon you mentioned can appear in different locations and the same goes for other dungeons.

[@dernachtschattenfresser1376]

Love it! Thy for playing it!

[@SorenMaelstrom]

The best thing of this game is the Factions. The world is doomed and humanity would be extinct, if not the invading factions fight against themselves for domination. Nature adapts, Etherials want to dominate, Chthonians want to devour, Undead are pissed, and human factions bicker around each other just because they do not like each other. And in this whole mess is the protagonist. Have FUN!

[@PainRack]

For a bit more details Nature is going wild and primal forces unleashed and corruption has created monsters or wild beasts. Undead can be either the result of possession by angelic beings cast out into the void and now trying to get back in or tormented souls now torturing the living. This includes an entire population who pissed off a human being who's ascended to being a demi god. Atherials were the god servants/angels who got cast out into the void after the god war. They found a way back into the world by exploiting magicians attempt to explore the aether for power. Your end boss is a dead god who was murdered by his children to create the world. As a result of humanity sins, he's gone insane. Think lovecraftian horrors. The last remnant of the Empire, fighting for the survival of all humanity is a penal legion made up of the Empire criminals, outcast or even political prisoners. This includes cultists of gods who were once humans and ascended into immortality. Along the way, you meet desperate people, factions who are begging for help and those who turned fully into despair , boosting a lovecraftian cult whose goal is to destroy the world/all humans and living beings so as to resurrect the broken god. The lore is very interesting even as it's revealed in snippets, such as how the occultists gods were missing and has gone silent (the DLC reveals why and where .) There's also some.... Interesting RPG snippets which suggests that if you choose powers/skills that absorb other people health to restore yours, you are exhibiting ghoulish behaviours which ultimately led to cannibalism and also part of dark primal powers opposed to "natural" stuff.... .so, feel free to put that in the Shaman tree (guy who lives with nature ) or with the Necromancer (guy who's fighting for the balance.... But by placating/abusing the dead )

[@dIABadBoy]

One of very few non-mmo games I have a four digit playtime %). It's a masterpiece.

[@TirelessGaming]

1300 hours here :)

[@TirelessGaming]

This is my favorite ARPG so far. I have over 1200 hours on Steam, plus quite a few hours offline and playing the game before buying it on Steam. The funny thing is I tried the beta of this game at some point during early access and wasn't impressed at all, but ended up buying it at some point and just fell in love with it. And using guns is fun, yes. Also, the mods available are great. You can turn it into Diablo 2, for example. I currently have done all achievements except 5, the grindiest ones. Killing 200k and 250k mobs, craft 1000 items and two more achievements I can't remember off the top of my head. But they require hours of grinding on ONE character to earn. I actually did the HC achievements at 3 times game speed with Grim Internals using a Blitz Death Knight with lots of resist reduction, after losing a bunch of HC characters over the span of the last years, playing on and off. There are 3 Monster Infrequents that seriously lower the CD of Blitz, got mine down to 1.7 sec. Having played that many hours, I still haven't played most builds that you can do. The game offers so many customization options for builds, it's crazy. Basically Titan Quest 2.0, but with a much better quality of life and a very different setting. I would really recommend not running Veteran Mode, monsters become HP damage sponges without any real change to their tactics. It really doesn't matter whether you play Normal or Veteran, since you'll eventually enter Elite anyway. The only thing you'll notice is that you will finish Normal at level 38-40 while Veteran you will probably get to 41-43, depending on how much stuff you do, of course.

[@grimrevan4660]

This has been my favorite since I stumbled across it's Kickstarter. I found out about Titan Quest learning about this and then went to the Steam store to get that only to be surprised that it was already in my library from buying a bundle months before. This game has mastered interesting tiered loot. Diablo should take notes.

[@maximhebert-gareau4461]

Same! I am a huge fan of D1 & D2 since my childhood. Then later in life I stumbled on Titan Quest, which I had a blast. And then I found that kickstarter for Grim Dawn and wow. Played the earliest build until now. I think I sank more than 100 hours just in the first few builds that only had act 1.

[@AEGISDEFENSE]

Witchhunter (Occultist/Nightblade) poison Acid build. Scorpion spine and abomination erruptions and heavy use of buffs, regular nightblade attack passives, and the blink strike makes it a proc beast. Survivability with the Nightblade skills makes it a glass cannon melee character that can get in and out quick and have some staying power.

[@LiqnLag]

Acid Poison Dervish (Oathkeeper/Nightblade) is REALLY strong though I go Nightblade first. At level 20 you put Vitriolic Gallstones on each weapon, activate the buffs from each weapon (the buffs stack!) and that's it, you mow everything down shadow striking into every fight.

[@dernachtschattenfresser1376]

@Wanderbots Not sure if they fixed it, but: 23:24 - Background FPS --> For some reason the default was not turned off. Therefore when I tab out of the game, the whole PC starts firing up like a rocket. Recommend it to check it offline between the recordings.

[@maddermax74]

i come back to this game last week im running it with Grimarillion mod pack so got diablo and titan quest classes and few other classes not to mention a ton of new weapons and armour and loving it

[@joewilson3393]

i'm going to be adding a power strip under my desk to help me with my standing desk cord problem. Attached to the underside with a long cable for the wall.

[@MusicHaven1636]

Nice, back to this game! Will you try out any of the big mods? Like Dawn of Masteries, Reign of Terror, rtc.

[@grecoocerg8178]

If you do find a way that allows you to do series again despite the algorithm, I think many people (myself included) would love to see another grim dawn playthrough

[@torinux4980]

Despite Grim Dawn being too slow at the beginning, I recommend everyone to play it at least one time. Mods are a huge game changer because most of them, re-order skills and put the most important first, a bigger inventory helps a lot too. Some mods are recommended for when you have a better grasp of the game because those make the game more difficult. I like the mod that adds the Titan Quest classes into Grim Dawn.

[@krudeddie]

This is by far one of the best Hack and Slash ARPG imo. I have just over 2800 hr in the game and I'm all most sure there will not be anymore DLC for it but I still check about once a week just in hope for more.

[@dernachtschattenfresser1376]

For all... this game is a lot more than it seems. There is a lot of hidden things... speaking of quests, paths, items... riddles. And don't get discouraged. It can be hard. This game is a lot about ballance. Know your weakness, know your strenght. Work with your ressistances and most important thing is. Play with what you want to try. I must have created over 100 characters each and everyone individual. For a good progress, focuse on one attack. Have fun and enjoy :)

[@Draliseth]

After burning through my first five characters in HC mode I started a SC and focused on one attack, one class. Then at almost level 40 realized I could replace my default attack and get the buffs from skills that I thought would only proc off weapon attacks. I'm also playing on console so it's.. not exactly clear.. but I'm now a lightning badass!

[@geipnir6623]

Funny i came back to this game recently, and seems that not only me

[@darrkzun]

Just an FYI - the beginning cinematic didn't play because you were running a game in 'Custom' mode. Cinematics don't play when in Custom.

[@barozzbaro3283]

I've read almost all in game notes and the game lore is beautiful to say the least

[@cookingwithelia1]

which is the best combo for ranged damage?

[@tiggidytex7322]

"Whatchu want me do." I swear that's from one of the RTS Warcrafts. Maybe #2.

[@anothernate3302]

Very first one, troll axe thrower

[@MagpieMcGraw]

I'm 20 minutes in and you made several remarks about how easy the game is. You really need to try Veteran mode. When you get to Elite and Ultimate, you can also buy these things called merits at the Forgotten Gods town. They let you skip a new character straight to those higher difficulties. I've tried the Elite merit recently and it was so much fun.

[@Kolopaper]

Love this game so much.

[@Arshay]

Still probably my favorite ARPG ever made. I feel like Diablo 4 has definitely drawn some influence from this development teams approach, and for the better imo.

[@Verechter]

u can just do it in your private time and edit it into highlight videos(no need for breaks or freetime anyway :D)

[@iam-geoffreytheelite5275]

I don’t like how awkward the navigation is in the world tbh. One of those old games where it says to go to an area and you just gotta find the area blind with no help.

[@scrubfive9239]

I had alot of fun with this game but by the time i was like level 35 i was getting exhausted looking through all the stats. theres like 10 different stats to go through on every piece of gear and i got exhausted comparing every piece

[@another1118]

ma urge to play tis game again when im watching ya -_-

[@purplefanta7142]

Wachu-wamme do is a troll headhunter from warcraft 3 I think.

[@Draliseth]

They finally ported it to Xbox and I regret not buying it sooner. It scratches my Diablo itch and then some.

[@casediedwell5094]

My 2nd most played game on Steam and def a Favorite. I'm a RABID aRPG fan and GD is aRPG GOLD!

[@evanstrong4064]

Hey I just played this vanilla.. definitely looks like an exp mod might be active based on my experience. anyway, onto the rest of the video!

[@evanstrong4064]

haha i see you fixed it immediately.. cheers

[@Dread-Gazebo]

I wasn't even considering getting this game until you enlarged the UI. My old man eyes can't read text that small.

[@trilogy10100]

There is a new update to increase the UI. now I can see the text as well as world map on xbox, maybe pc as well.

[@sailorgunsveteran5260]

There was a cut scene, you must have hit a key witch will bypass it.

[@danieljacob9717]

Had a lot of fun playing as a occultist/necromancer, overwhelming my enemy with an army of skeletons and elf ditch pets.

[@XoRandomGuyoX]

Ah, one of my favorite builds as well. Let the skeleton army run over 95% of my foes. I put a few points into the hellhound and blight fiend, and IIRC built up the raven with its lightning bolt for intermittent burst damage. Bit rough in the early moments though, as Crowley turns minions into possessed zombies.

[@Tylerbrave]

i have way too many hours in this game its amazing

[@TheJols]

Grim Dawn is awesome. Devs have been updating it, hopefully they are working on a new project. Last Epoch is already great, even in EA. Its a good time for ARPG fand imho.

[@me36391]

I totally agree, not even close.

[@tehol1]

Didnt even know about this game. Figured it was for PC only. To my Suprise its on Xbox. Going to give it a go when I get home.

[@Holmessucesser]

Can i play with mods on the Xbox series x

[@IkarosTypeAlpha]

this game is weird for me because I either get really into it, or I get bored really fast. I can't really pinpoint why as it's the only aRPG where my interest in it varies so much. Still, it is a great game and I hope they do a sequel

[@Yummymarshy]

Grim dawn I got into from your prime channels recommend games of 2021 never finished it cause my pc died then forgot about it.

[@proverbialking3452]

Most fun i had was the captain america build. Just me chucking my shield at hordes and watching them melt....

[@matthuck378]

Grim Dawn if probably my favorite overall too. But I've put about 500 hours into it since it released, and I'm tired of it for the moment. Last Epoch is good, but it has little things that annoy me, like how it doesn't even give the option to left click attack and move, like all the other games in the genre. It (in a clunky way) did before the .9 patch though.

[@ObscuriaDragunAed]

For me, GD is better than Last Epoch because the devs of Last Epoch seem to like to cultivate a toxic playerbase that does that stupid "Don't you dare cheese the game to progress" or "Don't you dare add a respec option because that's not my preferred playstyle and I'm too weak willed to avoid using the respec option and because I'm 'hardcore' my opinion on how the game develops is the only opinion despite the fact that adding a respec option affects me in no way if I was strong willed enough to ignore the damned button. wahhh wahhh boohoo." Sure, I probably came across a bit toxic with the way I just said the above, but, it's just because I get sick of devs catering to that crowd as if that crowd is the only group there is, and allowing that crowd to be assholes to everyone else as if they're better just because they can't not do a thing they don't like to do. which... makes me wonder, if cheat engine magically appeared on their computers... would they use it because it's on their computer, and therefore is ruining their gaming experience because it's present and they can't not use things that are present? 🤔

[@buc991]

i tried many times but for some reason can't get into it, even though i love titan quest

[@Langharig_Tuig]

Everything about this game is a straight up 10 out of 10. Everything? No... I personally think the theme of zombies and demons (let's face it, thats exactly what the Aetherials and Cthonians are) is such a boring theme. Diablo does that and it does it perfectly... And it stings even more knowing that they came from Titan Quest, an ARPG with a completely unique theme. But yeah, aside from that I absolutely love this game!

[@pureplay7071]

I don't remember Grim Dawn looking that good, have you done something to it ?

[@proverbialking3452]

Increased contrast maybe?

[@Odyssey636]

people always think it doesnt look good, it looks fine in person if u can run it on ultra

[@alfajoker92]

The quite, troll witch doctor, warcraft 3 , best fking lines the trolls be havin.

[@Luzarioth]

I never managed to get beyond Chapter 1... and I don't know why ^^

[@krisdabo-yh8bq]

❤

[@j.d.4697]

Really nice game, just wish it had multiplayer.

[@wanderbots]

It does though?

[@Dreadnote-pf7of]

It indeed have multiplayer, I played it multiple time

[@Dontess22]

i think you missed the point if side quest where random gen maid by ai would be endless gameplay....

[@wanderbots]

That sounds awful. If I want endless gameplay, I play roguelikes, not over-bloated Ubisoft games.

[@hellfire66683]

How do you not know that constitution equals health 99% of the time.

[@NoifPeck]

GD is great ! But Last Epoch is the new goat

[@Grandmastergav86]

I needed a good laugh, thanks

[@Freedom-kl8rt]

😂😂😂😂

[@WindHaze10]

Only games that warrant 300+ hours are the ARPG types that have lots of build variety + temporary league mechanics with new unique elements. Regular games should never overstay it's welcome, Metro Exodus for example. Quite short game but excellent one. Assassins Creed games on other hand way too long and I've been burned out by repetition of its gameplay.

[@pauljohnson1382]

Pistols in games with swords is a deal breaker for me. One or the other please, hard pass on grim dawn.

[@Grandmastergav86]

That's not the only build....You don't have to use them.

[@Freedom-kl8rt]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@instantkevlar4763]

Wait ... what? This is an OLD game

[@TirelessGaming]

Old but gold!

[@Freedom-kl8rt]

Best Arpg

[@neobscura]

Last Epoch is as good if not better (I've yet to reach endgame) but Grim Dawn is now my second favorite.

[@texteel]

Ill never get over calling diablo style games "hack and slash" Hack and slash is 3rd person view, using extensive movelists and selection of weapon to combo your enemies to death. Devil May Cry, Bayonetta, Nier games. Hell, there is a game titled "heart and slash"

[@sergioq94]

Hack and slash doesn’t mean 3rd person person over-the-shoulder, it can also be isometrics, and it refers to gameplays where you spam attacks

[@SiriusV23]

just another diablo game

[@Grandmastergav86]

....says the ignoramus

[@Freedom-kl8rt]

Not even close

[@Erligan]

Path of Exile lets you create Character, using shield as a weapon, Shield Charge has no cooldown, playing Pinball till mana runs out.

[@TirelessGaming]

My most successful PoE character has been a Bleed Shield Charge Gladiator, running through crowds of enemies and applying bleed on them from the support gem, then watch them explode when they die from bleeding, due to Gladiator ascendancy passive. The Boss clear rate was horrible but still a hilarious build. Really fun Delve build too.

[@anubisfox5765]

Ive never been able to put my finger on it but poe just bores me to death

[@80Mrblueeyes]

@@anubisfox5765 yeah me too

[@Hairashi696]

​@@anubisfox5765 i honestly just never feel like the character im playing is mine in POE

[@Draliseth]

You also have to pay more than double the base price of GD to not look like a murder hobo.