izigame.me

“I spent a lot of last night being moody and grim.”
~Garon Whited

Even though it feels like it was only yesterday, it was in 2006 when Iron Lore Entertainment, a young studio from Maynard, Massachusetts, released their first (and last, since the studio closed down two years later due to financial difficulties) game – Titan Quest. And if you were a gamer back in the days, you sure remember it. See, even though technically, it was just yet another Diablo variant (and boy, we had a lot of those back in 2000s), Titan Quest was one of those games that actually made difference. Why? Well, for two reasons. First – it looked gorgeous. Sure, we had some really good-looking Diablo-like games before (take Dungeon Siege series for example), but neither of them were that charming and hardware demanding. The grass in Titan Quest looked stunning and I remember my PC being barely able to deal with it.
But of course, great visuals were not the only reason why people loved the game. See, there was a certain something that used to make gameplay in Titan Quest's very special. The thing is – unlike the other Diablo-like games that used to make you pick up one class and stick with it for the entire game, Titan Quest allowed us to combine classes. Players were still able to stick with one class (which were defined by picking up certain masteries) if they really wanted to, but to get some really juicy results, we were supposed to pick up another one and then use benefits from both, therefore creating a whole new class. With its own unique name. For example, combining Rogue mastery with Defense used to give you Corsair. And with nine masteries to choose from? You can imagine just how many combinations there were. Thanks to that, Titan Quest was, like, a paradise to those of us who loved making and testing the new builds.
Unfortunately, with Iron Lore gone and GameSpy service (which Titan Quest used for multiplayer) going offline (thanks again, IGN, you f*ckers), the future looked... Well, grim. Thankfully, Arthur Bruno (Titan Quest's lead gameplay designer) and some other ex-Iron Lore guys, decided to save the day. They formed a new team, called Crate Entertainment, acquired the rights for Black Legion (the game, which was in development at Iron Lore when company went out of money), licensed the original Titan Quest engine and... Well, here we are. Ladies and gentlemen, please, welcome – Grim Dawn.
And you know what? It's an incredibly interesting project to talk about. For many reasons. Because first of all, Crate Entertainment is a tiny little studio. At the moment I write this, it employs only thirteen people. That's right, y'all. Only thirteen people made a new Titan Quest for us. Mind-blowing sh*t, right? Especially since there are no “buts” here. Grim Dawn is the Titan Quest II we all wanted. It's pretty big (especially if we'll count the expansions that are sold separately), there are many optional quests and man, there are tons of equipment and classes! So, that's it then? This game is the next big thing? Well... No. Not really. I mean, it's not that simple.
See, there was a tiny little problem with Grim Dawn – the fact that it wasn't 2006 anymore. When the game finally entered full release after a long and complicated crowdfunding path, it was already 2016. While technically, the game still looked a lot like the original Titan Quest. It wasn't even NeverWinter Nights / The Witcher difference. Sure, Grim Down looked better than Titan Quest, but not that better. If you know what I mean. And to make things even worse? All the Titan Quest mechanics that became archaic with time, went directly from there to Grim Dawn. If you're a young person who don't remember 2000s and expect 2016 game to feel... you know, 2016, then you're in for one heck of a WTF moment.
Despite the fact that this game came out four years after Diablo III, it's just way too rough around corners. The map alone is a royal pain in the butt. It constantly stays between you and the game, the fog of war prevents you from seeing your destination points (not really a good combination with terrible journal and confusing goals) and so on. And it's not just a map. That's just how this game works. And it sucks. But not because what we have here is a bad game (I'll return to that a little bit later). Just because it's... an old game. And not in a good way. I mean, I love the old games. Nothing wrong with those. It's just there's a good reason why people don't use hearths for cooking anymore. Technically, they still can, but honestly, dem modern stoves are bitchin'. Why making your life more miserable when there's literally no need for that? That's the biggest problem with Grim Dawn. Even when Crate started to work on it, it was already old. And at the point of 2016? It was archaic. Some of the mechanics here? Totally obsolete sh*t. Crate did try to fix some things (for example, you can scale most of the UI elements here according to your resolution), but it only makes it look like we're playing an ages-old game with some community patches installed.
Like I said, though, it doesn't mean that Grim Dawn is a bad game. Exactly the opposite. For what it is? It's totally brilliant. It comes with a charming dark design (fun fact - Eric Sexton who worked on Diablo I and II was involved) there are tons of juicy loot to find and, the best of all, the class system from Titan Quest is back. And that's exactly why Grim Dawn is worth playing. Not for everybody, though. See, the first thing you should do here is to ask yourself a question – why do you like this kind of games? What exactly do you want from them? If your thing is story-driven experience with nice visuals and spectacular presentation (Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr), then there's nothing for you here. The original Titan Quest's WOW effect is long gone and it's hard to be impressed by slightly improved 2006 game. If your answer is online-oriented endgame from Diablo III and Path of Exile? There isn't much for you here either. Because honestly, endless dungeon and some arenas is far from being enough nowadays. Multiplayer-wise, Grim Dawn isn't any better than Titan Quest and even back in 2006, Titan Quest wasn't known for its progressive online features. But if you're a build-making person? Well, hello, my friend. Stay awhile and listen.
Like Titan Quest before it, Grim Dawn offers us nine masteries to choose from. And, again, we're free to combine them for different results. You can spend a lot of hours in this game just trying to find your own perfect build, while, unlike the Anniversary re-release of Titan Quest (which I do not recommend, by the way), the loot system here is anything but broken. You'll get a lot of interesting equipment dropping all the time. Which, obviously, would keep you occupied for a very long time. Trying different builds, comparing loot and how it works with your current character... That's what Grim Dawn is all about. And it does its job perfectly well. The problem is – it fails to please everybody. Heck, it doesn't even try. Like, at all. Grim Dawn is a very niche product for a very specific audience. And if you're not part of it? At very best you'll see this game as one of those products that spent too much time in the development hell. And if you'll ever expect it to be a modern product with proper online mechanics? Man, you'll be disappointed. You've been warned.