$20.99 (−25%)GRIME II Steal your enemies' shapes
Absorb foes with hand-made tendrils, summon them back as molds, and unravel a strange land obsessed with art.
Is GRIME II worth it?
GRIME II is worth it if…
- you like metroidvanias where the map is a maze and every unexplored path might hide a boss, a weapon or a whole biome
- you want punishing, deliberate combat where bosses take many attempts and parrying is a skill worth mastering
- you enjoy strange, hand-drawn worlds with their own cultures, characters and lore to piece together
- you like stealing your enemies' powers and building your own playstyle around what you have absorbed
Screenshots
Absorb your enemies and wear their shapes
Your main weapon is hunger. Send out tendrils made of hands to parry an attack or grasp an enemy and absorb it, and its shape becomes yours. Defeated creatures turn into molds: summons and special attacks that throw enemies, fire projectiles, stun, or fight alongside you. The enemy that kept killing you becomes the tool you use on the next one. Molds also help outside of combat, unlocking secret paths through the world, so every new shape you steal can open a door you walked past hours ago.
A world built from paint and strange things
This is a land where the architecture includes painted nails and giant vases, each region home to its own civilization and culture. The art is hand-drawn and surreal, full of living paint and disembodied hands, and the soundtrack carries a main theme that returns in different forms across the game. Characters have their own voices and good dialogue, and the world is dense with lore to piece together. It is a place that looks like a nightmare and behaves like a dream, and it rewards lingering.
Fights that demand you learn the lesson
Combat is deliberate and punishing, in the Souls-like tradition: dodge, parry or block at the right moment, and manage your stamina while you do it. Some bosses are built almost entirely around parrying, so you cannot brute-force them. The environment fights too, and so do enemies: hazards that damage them can damage you just as easily. Between over 30 weapons, 60 armours and 12 abilities, you can build a fast, fragile style, a slow heavy one, or a pure parry-and-dodge approach, and the bosses take real attempts to learn.
What should you know before starting?
Can you play it solo?
Yes, it is a singleplayer game. Everything, from the combat to the exploration to the multiple endings, is built around one player making their own way through the world.
Do you need to play the first GRIME first?
It helps. The game is a sequel set in the same universe, and the ending in particular lands better if you know the first game. Broadly, though, the story stays understandable on its own, and the world, combat and exploration stand up without that context.
How hard is it, really?
Hard in the way Souls-like games are: enemies can take you apart in a few hits, bosses need repeated attempts, and death sends you back to a checkpoint. The combat is fair once you learn it, but it asks for patience and a willingness to lose.
Is the exploration fun or just tedious?
The map is genuinely maze-like, dense with secrets that are telegraphed well, and there is almost always something left to check. The trade-off: one-way paths and long stretches of precision platforming mean backtracking can be a slog, so it suits people who like getting lost rather than people who want a straight line to the next boss.
Does the story make sense?
It is lore-rich and surreal, told through characters and a world that explain themselves slowly. Some players find the plot gripping, others find it baffling, so expect to piece meaning together rather than have it handed to you.
