Grim Dawn is an action role-playing game, in a thematically dark fictional world loosely based on the Victorian era. Released on February 25, 2016, developed and published by Crate Entertainment. Crate Entertainment announced on July 27, 2009 that they had licensed the Titan Quest engine from Iron Lore and announced Grim Dawn's 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.
Plot
The game takes place in Cairn, a dark, war-torn world where a once proud 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 and Chthonians, one seeking to use human bodies as a resource, the other intent upon destroying the human race 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. Naturally, being paranoid of the unknown as humans often are, they also devised a way to imprison it once it came through. 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. Naturally, this research got out of control as such things always do. The researchers brought over more aetherials, they got loose, the aetherials were able 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 world of Cairn can never be fully restored to the way it once was. 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
Like other prominent action role-playing games, the majority of the gameplay in Grim Dawn centers around fast-paced combat and the collection of loot - armor, potions, weapons, and money. Crate confirmed in an interview that Grim Dawn will feature a crafting system similar to that used in 's popular mod Defense of the Ancients. Grim Dawn will also build upon existing systems present in Titan Quest, such as improved physics, location specific damage effects, dismemberment, and a completely redesigned quest system. In redesigning the quest system, Crate confirmed that Grim Dawn will feature factions.
Development
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 webcomic 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 Dawn's 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 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.
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
Grim Dawn sold over 1million units worldwide and its DLC, Crucible, over 200,000. In a live dev stream on 19th April 2019 Crate announced that the "Forgotten Gods" expansion had sold over 100,000 copies and the combined figure collectively, between all of the DLCs and the base game, was over 3 million. On May 31, 2020, Art Bruno stated the following regarding sales in the official Crate Entertainment forums "Also, we’re nearing 5m copies sold now for GD and all DLC. ; )"
