Grim Dawn - Fangs of Asterkarn

It's pretty hard to believe that this is made by the same devs that made Ashes of Malmouth. Empty, poorly written and worst of all, just boring :/

I've been playing Grim Dawn since the early alpha, and I've seen many changes and many problems throughout the game's development. I was active on the forums, and my friends and I used to play absolutely crazy, trash-tier builds in Shattered Realm 114–116. I think I have enough experience to judge both what I'm playing now and what I've played in the past. I've seen that part of the community is very angry or even toxic about the release of the Fangs of Asterkarn DLC, while others are very happy with it. I'd like to share my own observations and opinions. Overall, my feelings about this DLC are mixed, but one thing is certain: it still has the same Grim Dawn atmosphere. It truly feels like a Crate Entertainment expansion, and considering the limitations of this old game engine, they've done an impressive amount of work. The Kurn campaign and its lore are definitely worth experiencing. I can't say that it reveals a huge amount of new lore, but it certainly expands the world of Cairn. While many people expected a DLC focused on places like the Erulan Empire capital or continuing the story of Ulgrim and Creed, Crate chose a different direction by making the world itself feel much larger, and I think that was a good decision. Many people say that the opening areas are too large and feel empty. I can understand that criticism, but I also think it serves the atmosphere well. As you progress deeper into the DLC, the locations become darker, denser, and much more dangerous. The pressure gradually builds, and the experience goes from a relatively calm journey to a challenging finale. That progression works very well for me. That said, I still feel that the early areas could use more interactions. In future updates, it would be great to see additional bounties, trials, or random events there, and I think Crate may very well expand those locations over time. As for the graphics, I don't think they're dramatically different from the previous expansions, and that's perfectly fine. The game still looks and feels like Grim Dawn. Some people say that a few locations are too colorful, but as you continue through the DLC, the atmosphere gradually becomes darker and more oppressive. Again, I think that works well. Overall, I really like the visual design, especially the boss encounters and their mechanics. One of the biggest strengths of Grim Dawn has always been its items, classes, skills, and build variety. I've seen people criticize the DLC for not adding enough content in this area, but I don't agree. Even one new mastery creates a huge number of new class combinations, and together with the new sets, MIs, and the additional items the developers have already promised, it easily adds hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of experimentation with different builds. Technically, they've achieved a lot, and I imagine that adding an entirely new mastery pushed this old engine close to its limits. It's true that some class combinations currently have only one or two dedicated support items, but Grim Dawn has always been a game where creative players find other ways to make a build work. The new Flask mechanics, Ascendancy difficulty, and the new factions are all great additions. Balance is probably the biggest issue right now, and I agree with much of the community on that point. However, this isn't anything new. The same thing happened with the original release, Ashes of Malmouth, and Forgotten Gods. Over time, the developers adjusted the balance and improved the overall experience, and I'm confident they'll do the same again. Some regular monsters and several Nemesis bosses clearly need health and damage adjustments. At the same time, playing on Ascendancy gives me a feeling I haven't experienced in a very long time—the feeling of being genuinely on the edge of survival. That's something I really enjoy. I do understand, however, that this is a serious problem for Hardcore players, especially average ones, and it could discourage many people from playing that mode. I hope future patches will address those concerns. Personally, I'm already happy with the recent changes to Beronath. The developers reduced the number of AoE pools, and the fight now feels much cleaner while still being worthy of a Celestial-level boss. Music is a very important part of Grim Dawn for me, and this time I would honestly give it a perfect 10/10. The ambient soundtrack fits every location beautifully and makes the entire adventure much more immersive. I also really like the rock music that plays during The Dread encounter. There are still a few issues with some sound effects being too loud, but I don't see that as a major problem since I'm confident the developers will continue polishing the audio. I'm a little disappointed that there wasn't an overall cinematic, and of course the bugs can sometimes be frustrating. I also wish there had been more lore and additional content in the base-game areas. Even so, I can't say this DLC is bad. I think it's a great expansion, and with future patches, it will become even better.

At the moment, it is difficult to recommend this DLC due to the tuning and overall new encounter design. While it is not a bad idea to populate the mob pool with Sunder (Massive defensive debuff!) + Shotguns and undodgeables as mechanics to enforce defensives, dodging and proper movement, there are simply not enough well designed telegraphs to accommodate them. Perhaps it is because their engine is really old. Therefore, go into FoA with your reputations all maxed so that you can meet and overcap resistance checks. You'll also require a thorough understanding of the game's defensives and character sheet. Nothing less otherwise your experience will sour. Depending on your build, it's even more fun to simulate in GrimTools than actually play at the moment. If you are an ARPG enjoyer looking to dip into Grim Dawn for the first time, get the DLC for Berserker only. The expansion feels very endgame and is designed for built rosters and characters. You will also need to backtrack very late into Forgotten Gods and somewhere in between Ashes of Malmouth to unlock the latter end of FoA's quests. Overall, while not all bad there is a lot to come to terms with.

Love everything about Grim Dawn up until midway through this expansion where it is forcing me to go through old content in order to progress the latest expansion is annoying as hell. Having to progress to Fort Ikon just to start the campaign is manageable but why not make it like Forgotten Gods where I can jump straight in and play the content I paid for? Yes I'm starting a new ultimate run but that should not be punishing with it being the last expansion for the game. P.S - this is the best ARPG I've played but this has put me of finishing what could be the last bit of content we get.

Unpolished, unbalanced, not particularly fun. Devs who appear to be so far up their own arses that they can't even deal with the community in a reasonable way. What a bad taste.

[spoiler] Beronath [/spoiler] is the best boss in the game. Yet, the DLC is only it so far. Areas are vast and empty. Lore is barely interesting and doesn't answer previous questions. Factions are hard to level. More ways to instantly die. New nemesis bosses also reuse normal enemies models and animations. Altar that buffs content doesn't persists through the sessions and enemies do not respawn. So if you want to use it to farm green items you are spending a ton of resources. For now.... Not great.

Well for a long time grim dawn was pretty much the last Diablo2 like. A traditional hack and slay and while over complicated in it's mechanics, it delivered a fun sandbox for a monstrous amounts of builds to play. Unfortunately the game shifted quite a bit to the main stream. It is now in my oppinion just the Darksouls Looting game and for me it sucks. The learning of a boss mechanics is now more important than the character build. This appears to satisfy the majority of players but it aint for me. There are pros obviously: - You get camera rotation, which is amazing. - You get the best inventory system of all Darksouls Looting games, including a ressource stash you can fill from any time and anywhere. Your inventory is large enough to let you decide when you want to take care of it, instead of wasting your time every few moments to teleport back to town. However especially the last expansion makes one thing crystal clear to me. They waste their time building a world no one really needs. Over complicated quest designs which ends up pretending to be in a deep rpg, like the bird, which you need to search some clues, which wont make any sense even after you randomly stumble over the next hint. Every region must be Maggot lair, with small paths you cant just walk through, but need to navigate every time. These areas should be a minority. At least two quests are basically unsolveable, unless you are really lucky or watch a guide for it, as the goal is so well hidden in the world and not on your map at all. It dosnt help, that these quests will be shown on your questlog each time you log in. Making it needlessly difficult to read your quests and often they wont even fit all on the screen. They introduce a snowstorm mechanic, which will probably cause your eyes to suffer. It is so dense that it is even harder to see what is actually happening. They got an option to turn off weather, but it seems to important to them to include it. I mean they are aware that weather is an annoyance and put in that option. Why would they make an exception? No idea probably, because you get some neglectable ice damage permanently in those areas. Permanent slow damage is probably the worst difficulty mechanic except for a time limit. And oh yes, apparently there is a greater riftlike feature which introduce exactly that. People are complaining on the forum that the game is too difficult. I died like 50 times in veteran, which I dont consider a problem. But you know beeing oneshot just isnt fun, even if it only happens three times for some bosses. Last but definitely not least: When developers start to flick off players who were complaining about the changing nature of the game, you know something is off. https://steamcommunity.com/app/219990/discussions/0/583929583674360102/ Zantai [developer] 27 Jul @ 12:05am  „Sorry, I don't have the tiny violin emoji.“ I personally cant trust crate entertainment no longer for future purchases, as I cant really neglect the chance they change their next Darksouls looting game into a super mario clone, just because it is popular that a future date when I want to return to the original experience.

Aight this DLC its worth but not really good. its very empty, gives lackluster vibe. wasn't very satisfied id get this just to get the completeness of grim dawn. but, my rating goes 1.) AoM 2.) the desert one 3.) asterkarn this theme had so much more potential but it feels like they didnt want to work on it. they use the same chlothonians and ogres and swamp mobs and boars and birds not enough cool items that are GREEN. not enough devotion shrines no new constellations which was very disappointing since it plays a major role in builds the map was very scattered and empty and not enough dungeons, or not even a single one the quests were just too much, lost track of which ones which and where potion modding is eh berserker class is eh i give it 6/10. but yeah get it, sure, for completeness.

垃圾中的垃圾，这数值你们自己玩过吗，除了某些职业其他BD都像吃屎，还有内部测试别找一些所谓的远古遗老，什么阿猫阿狗都参加测试，测试完就这结果，你不如不发布。而且某些国人玩家好像在你们那话语权很大啊，想削弱什么削弱什么，你们制作组有脑子吗

不建议现在入手，地图，怪的难度这些问题不谈，你招的内测人员都是什么妖魔鬼怪，DLC的问题这么久一点没发现吗。作为一个单机游戏，人家现在研究出来一个厉害的BD你就要急着修改，你知道一个成型BD刷出来要多久吗，就在这削削的，你让萌新怎么玩。建议新手暂时不要购买这个DLC，追求强度直接玩本体的召唤，首先成型简单强度高，而且不会有内鬼举报导致削弱，等你有一个成型号了想玩其他职业再酌情购买该DLC，有一个能改特绿词条的功能还是能减少不少肝度的。