$24.99Is GRIME worth it?
GRIME is worth it if…
- you enjoy tough action games where parrying, not dodging, is the main defense
- you like metroidvanias that reward poking at walls and returning with new abilities
- you want a strange, bleak world that leaves you theorizing about what it all means
- you have patience for long boss attempts and long walks back to them
Screenshots
Absorb everything
The parry is the heart of GRIME. Instead of only dodging, you absorb incoming attacks with your black hole head, and a successful absorb leaves an enemy open to be swallowed whole. Every creature you consume counts toward a hunt for its kind, and filling the quota unlocks new passive abilities. So the game teaches you its rhythm without a tutorial: enemies with shields must be parried, and the fights that once felt impossible become a flow of absorb, strike, consume. Later you gain a pull that yanks enemies and objects toward you, opening up a third answer to any attack.
Weapons that are alive
Your arsenal is not forged, it is grown. Weapons are living creatures that mutate form and function during combat, from clawing swords to centipede whips. Each has its own swing, speed and special attack, and there is no strict ladder where later weapons beat earlier ones, so the one that fits your hands stays worth using. You upgrade them alongside your traits, and since you choose which traits to raise, two players can end up with very different builds from the same world. Strength, dexterity and stranger paths are all viable.
A world of stone and secrets
GRIME's world is an interconnected 2.5D expanse rendered in unearthly 3D, where everything from characters to mountains is made of rock. You explore weeping caves and face-covered deserts, meet the inhabitants of distinct civilizations, and piece together why the world went mad. New abilities double as keys: a dash, a glide or a pull opens routes that were walls before, and the map rewards curiosity with upgrades and hidden paths. The look is striking and morbid, and the music runs from quiet, lonely exploration to grandiose boss themes.
Bosses worth dying to
The bosses are the highlight. They are creatures dozens of times your size, each with its own mechanics to learn, and defeating one grants a game-changing ability that affects both combat and traversal. The loop is deliberate: meet a colossus, get flattened, learn which attacks can be absorbed and which must be dodged, then come back and take it apart. Death costs you a resource that multiplies your gains, so the longer your streak lasts the more you earn, but a run of deaths never leaves you too poor to recover. New Game Plus remixes old foes and adds a secret boss, with infinite progression on top.
Questions before you play?
Is there a story, and will you understand it?
There is a story, told indirectly through conversations, flavor text and the world itself, and it touches on creation, art and destruction. It stays deliberately obscure: some players piece together a fascinating picture, others finish without being sure what happened. Come for the world and the fights more than the plot.
Is it too difficult for you?
It is demanding but fair. The parry window is more forgiving than in many games of this kind, and regular enemies double as practice for the bosses. The real cost is time: everything from the stamina-style force bar to the distances between checkpoints asks for patience, so it suits players who like a slow, deliberate grind toward mastery.
Is there extra content after the ending?
Yes. New Game Plus changes how old enemies fight and adds a formidable secret boss, with infinite progression for weapons and traits. On top of that there are three DLC expansions that add new areas, bosses, abilities and weapons, including a large interconnected region called Childbed and a platforming challenge area above the Weeping Cavity.
