Grim Dawn

''Grim Dawn'' is an action role-playing game (ARPG), developed and published by Crate Entertainment for Microsoft Windows in February 2016 and released for Xbox One in December 2021. Developed using the ''Titan Quest'' engine, it is set in a thematically dark fictional world loosely based on the Victorian era, and received generally favorable reviews from critics.

Plot

Grim Dawn takes place in Cairn, a dark and war-torn world where a once grand empire has been brought to ruin and the human race driven to the edge of extinction. Cairn has become ground zero of an eternal war between two otherworldly powers, the Aetherials, who view human bodies as a resource to use, and the Chthonians, who are intent on destroying humanity before that can happen.

Humans at some point had come into communication with extra-dimensional beings. They learned things from the whisperings of these otherworldly entities and eventually attempted to open a portal to bring one across and imprison it. Through experimentation, they learned that these beings, made of aether, a sort of spiritual energy, could fuse themselves with the human mind, possessing and controlling their host if they were able to subvert the human's will. The researchers discovered that a human, once possessed, retained heightened abilities after the aetherial being was purged from them. Following this discovery, researchers brought over more aetherials which broke free, allowing the aetherials to then open more portals into their own world, bringing over large numbers of their brethren.

While the Aetherials were seeking to use human bodies as a resource, the Chthonians appeared to destroy the human race before that could happen. This cataclysmic war not only decimated human civilization but warped the very fabric of reality and, in its wake, gave life to new horrors.

The story of ''Grim Dawn'' is about survival and adaptation to the grim new reality. Small enclaves of human survivors exist scattered throughout the world, holed up in hidden refuges. These humans have quietly watched the warring invaders destroy one another and have become wise to the strengths and vulnerabilities of their otherworldly foes. A few survivors have begun to exhibit strange new abilities after surviving possession or exposure to the warp. These unnatural powers are feared by some but give many new hope of launching a resistance to fight the "outsiders" and reclaim what's left of their world.

Gameplay

Grim Dawn is an action role-playing game that features fast-paced combat and an emphasis on collecting loot such as armor, potions, weapons, and money. The game's crafting system is similar to the one used in Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos's popular mod Defense of the Ancients. Grim Dawn also builds upon systems from Titan Quest, including improved physics, location-specific damage effects, dismemberment, the addition of factions, and a completely redesigned quest system.

Development

Crate Entertainment announced on July 27, 2009 that they had licensed the ''Titan Quest'' engine from Iron Lore and announced ''Grim Dawn'' development on January 21, 2010. Initially, few details were revealed, with Crate Entertainment simply stating that ''Grim Dawn'' is set in a thematically dark fictional world loosely based on the Victorian era.

''Grim Dawn'''s development is notable for Crate Entertainment's open appeal to their fans for financial support. In a posting on the game's official website, the developers announced that after a period of increased email activity from fans wishing to donate to Crate to support the project that they had added a pre-order page to the game's official website to allow fans to contribute to the project in an official manner. Fifteen days later in another posting on the game's official website, Crate stated that they had received financial support from gaming website Gamebanshee and one of the authors of the gaming related web comic '' Penny Arcade''. Despite this support from their fans and various websites, Crate manager Arthur Bruno stated in an interview with '' The Escapist'' that pre-orders made for only a very small percentage of ''Grim Dawns total budget. In a later interview with gaming website Big Download, Bruno again confirmed that donations and pre-orders alone were not enough to completely fund the project. Additionally, Bruno revealed that Crate intended to provide new gameplay content for ''Grim Dawn'' in the way of expansions every six to ten months.

On April 17, 2012, Crate Entertainment opened a project page on Kickstarter, setting a funding goal of $280,000, with the halfway point of this goal being reached in four days. It finished up with $537,515, well exceeding its initial funding goal. Crate released an alpha version of the game (Build 8) through the Steam Early Access program on May 15, 2013.

Release

On February 25, 2016, the game entered full release with v1.0.0.0 (build 31 hotfix 1). The version for Xbox One, featuring all previous DLC and expansions, was released on December 3, 2021.

Downloadable content and expansions

The Crucible

On August 3, 2016, a new game mode called The Crucible was released as downloadable content.

Ashes of Malmouth

On October 11, 2017 ''Grim Dawns first expansion, ''Ashes of Malmouth'', was released

The Forgotten Gods

On March 5, 2018, a second expansion was announced, called ''Forgotten Gods'', and was released on March 27, 2019''.''

Reception

Critical reception

''Grim Dawn'' received generally favorable reviews from 29 critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.

Leif Johnson of ''PC Gamer'' wrote: "If anything, ''Grim Dawn'' is both empowered and chained down by its retro stylings, preventing, say, the randomized levels of Diablo III and thus its endless potential for replay. But on the upside, none of its recent competitors deliver that old-style hack-and-slash experience so purely and so satisfyingly, and its hybrid class system makes each new jaunt a little different. More than once it found me playing until dawn, and my appreciation for any game that manages to do that is anything but grim."

Sales

As of May 2017, ''Grim Dawn'' had sold over 1million units worldwide and its DLC, ''Crucible'', over 200,000.

In a live stream on April 19, 2019, Crate announced that the ''Forgotten Gods'' expansion had sold over 100,000 copies, bringing the total number of copies sold between the base game and its DLC to over 3 million.

On May 31, 2020, one of the game's designers stated in a forum post that the game and its DLC were approaching a total of 5 million copies sold.

On 25 February 2022 Crate announced that the game and DLC's had sold 7 million copies.

References

External links

*{{Official Website, https://forums.crateentertainment.com/

2016 video games
Action role-playing video games
Crowdfunded video games
Dark fantasy video games
Early access video games
Hack and slash role-playing games
Kickstarter-funded video games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Role-playing video games
Video games developed in the United States
Video games featuring protagonists of selectable gender
Windows games
Xbox One games