Grime Review (Knocks (I BUY MICS))
***NOTE: I did read all the patch notes from right before the new free DLC and the free DLC notes themselves, and I gotta say, I probably wouldn't be singing it's praises had I played before the free DLC. They added so much well-done stuff like new enemies and a huge new area which is all fantastic, but it's the QoL changes that really make this game shine even more. They changed so many of the issues brought to light by the community, that I actually think it's fair to dismiss all reviews prior to the Color of Rot DLC that released this month (Dec of 2022), because the complaints have most likely been fixed or at least modified, and it's effectively a different game at this point***
I've been playing offline, so I'm at about 10 hours in, have a few hours left to go I believe EDIT: finished the game with 13 hours in and about 95% map completion.
I play most games I can find in this genre, that of side-scrolling souls or Metroidvania games. Honestly, this is one of the best, and I don't say that lightly.
Positives:
- Movement is very good. The game just feels great to play, a solid mixture of slower Souls-like combat and more fluid movement abilities found in games like HK, Ori, Blasphemous, etc...though it takes a few hours to start feeling the fluid movement. By mid-end game, you're sprinting and jumping and dashing and grappling all over the place and it feels great!
- Combat is more akin to Souls than most others in this genre; think Salt and Sanctuary rather than Hollow Knight. Very focused on timings and stamina management, which I personally like a lot. Also, weapon design is sick
- Level design is fantastic. Tons of interconnecting paths and shortcuts, and the atmosphere is always top notch. Plenty of ways to break intended sequence, though not as much as say, Super Metroid or HK. Lots of secrets to find, and plenty of backtracking rewards such as new armor sets and weapons.
- Mid to late game platforming feels great. Plenty of movement abilities that make traversing the world feel really good and offers plenty of fun platforming challenges that actually get quite hard near the end. This is a pro for me, but it may not be for you, if you don't like challenging platforming.
- Enemy design is great, LOTS of totally unique enemies, not re-skins, and they're all very well designed both in looks and in move set.
- The Prey system for traits is freaking sweet. The traits are usually very meaningful too, most are not "gain X percent damage", but are rather things that actually change the combat in fairly significant ways, which is great.
I don't know if I really have any major negatives to be honest, but some minor ones:
- When I first started the game, there was a bug with the controller but they fixed it in literally 2 days. At the time of this writing, they have already released two patches for the free DLC update that fixed a ton of issues and 10 hours in, I haven't encountered any bugs after the first patch; still, there may be some minor ones in the coming weeks that they're sure to fix quickly so be aware and read forums before purchasing.
- I think there's a few spots where enemies pop out at you and they're hidden in the environment so it feels a little cheap but it's not often.
- Some of the rewards for platforming or backtracking challenges are a bit lame, like usable items that I'm guessing most people don't use. I would say 70% of the rewards are good like armor or weapons, but considering the challenge on some of these parts, I wish it was more like 95%. This is a minor issue though, as I find the platforming challenges to be fun, so my time wasn't wasted regardless.
- A few traps in the game have hitboxes that are hard to judge, but you don't encounter them often outside of one area.
- Map is generally fine, and they let you place a few markers, but I think it would be beneficial to mark vendors on the map as well.
- I don't care that much about the story, but your mileage may vary, as I generally don't care about the story in these types of games, it's all about the gameplay for me.
Maybe this game was just made for people like me who love all the systems they implemented, slower, methodical combat, fluid movement, lots of parrying in combat, interesting enemy design...all things I love to death. It just happens to do them all very well. If you read my other reviews, you will see that I try to be as fair and objective as I can, and I am not afraid to explain my concerns with a game, so me giving this game a 9/10 is quite an impressive accomplishment for the devs.
I will be recommending this game in the same breath as Salt and Sanctuary and Blasphemous, and might just mention this one first.