Grim Dawn 2023/2024 (1.2 and Expansion)

[rittchard]

One of the best ARPGs of all time recently released a huge (free) update. A lot of great QoL features and re-balancing, etc. An already great game made even better. So nice to see a fairly old game like this still so well (and meaningfully) supported.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... ?l=english

…and coming next year, another expansion! Fangs of Asterkarn!!!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... ?l=english

[Carpet_pissr]

Oooh, thanks. I put dozens of hours in this but never finished for whatever reason.

Excellent game, this will be a good impetus to get me to finish maybe.

[Baroquen]

Same here. I was enjoying it, but I think it got edged out by some other games. It would be interesting to give this one another spin with this update.

[YellowKing]

Thanks for the heads up on this. I finished the base game way back, but never beat the expansion. It's one of those games that I circle back around to every couple of years or so. I did try out the first few minutes with the patch and it's evident that they dropped the loot rate WAY down (which is a good thing - I think half the game was inventory management).

Looking forward to giving it another go with the patch.

[GreenGoo]

Great game that I never finished, despite having 47 different alts and having finished Diablo II hundreds of times (or run end game anyway).

It really was a great game with extremely well done character build/design.

[YellowKing]

Just an update that I've been cracked out on Grim Dawn over Thanksgiving break. The three big quality of life improvements I immediately noticed were:

1. Reduced item drop - as I noted in my previous post, the item drop rate has been greatly reduced but it's a welcome change. The frequency of my "loot runs" back to the vendor dropped considerably. There's still some inventory management to be had if you're a pack rat like me, but it no longer feels like such a timesink.

2. They got rid of potions! All potions are bound to the hotbar on a cooldown, so you don't have to juggle that anymore. HUGE improvement.

3. All buffs now just auto-apply. Another huge improvement. Unlock it and forget it, buffs function just like passives. Now you can just focus on your offensive skills the way the good Lord intended.

I wasn't hardcore enough of a player to understand the nuances of the gameplay rebalancing they did, but I can say my journey from 1 - 50 on this current playthrough has been silky smooth in terms of natural progression through areas. Have never had a need to grind, nor have I had to do much if any backtracking through areas too low for me. Everything has fit perfectly in the 2 levels below to 2 levels higher range for my character.

As a fan of the game even in its previous state, I'm extremely happy with the updates. It's a great time to jump back in.

[Carpet_pissr]

Well, shit, I guess I’ll just start over then if it’s changed that much.

I hate potion management in any game like this, so anyone offering a new take on that slog, I’m all for it.