Grim Dawn - Fangs of Asterkarn

For an expansion that was never supposed to happen, it's actually fantastic (and there's more to come). As expected, Fangs of Asterkarn doesn't build on the main plot, so you won't see more of Ulgrim or Creed, unfortunately. It's more of a side plot in the way that Forgotten Gods was, and should be approached as such. It probably would've been better received if it came between Ashes of Malmouth and Forgotten Gods since it fits better there from a continuity standpoint. The best way to appreciate the expansion is likely with a new character, approaching the content by doing the main campaign, Ashes of Malmouth, Fangs of Asterkarn and finishing with Forgotten Gods. The content offered at launch is roughly comparable to what is offered in Forgotten Gods. While Fangs of Asterkarn also offers a great deal of additional customization through item manipulation, potion customization and the Ascension Altar, these features seem better suited for progression or min/maxing while working on endgame content. The new features are more supplemental to existing endgame content than endgame content itself. The real endgame feature offered by Fangs of Asterkarn is Ascendant Mode. While endgame in Grim Dawn was previously limited to either running the Crucible or Shattered Realm--which isn't something everyone found particularly appealing, Ascendant Mode allows players to continue playing the core game past Ultimate difficulty for greater rewards (and a higher challenge). Simply put, Fangs of Asterkarn is a great expansion, and with two additional rogue-like dungeons coming to it in the future as free content updates, it's bound to get even better. Many of the player criticisms are rooted in unrealistic or uninformed individual expectations, not the content itself.

10/10, the best expansion by far. The main story and the other 2 expansions have some problems that simply aren't in Fangs of Asterkarn. The main story has an issue with focus, there is none here. There is a threat in Asterkarn, and you are solely devoted to taking care of it. Ashes of Malmouth has the issue of not fleshing out the titular city enough, Malmouth feels a bit like an afterthought. Asterkarn is the focus of Fangs of Asterkarn. The people, wildlife, and conflicts of the region make it feel alive. Forgotten Gods has an issue of a story that seems to come out of nowhere that seems like a filler episode in a show, Fangs of Asterkarn is a direct conflict with one of the main antagonists of the base game's story, and expands on their origins and lore greatly. If you are going to play Grim Dawn, you SHOULD have Fangs of Asterkarn.

A solid DLC that adds a fun, new transformation class in the Berserker. The new area is larger than the others but there's a lot of empty space traveling around. The new quest line is alright but having to go to other areas of the game to complete pivotal quests feels weird. Throughout my journey I found tons of items for Wereraven builds and Chaos Werewolf but hardly any for the Pierce/Bleed Werewolf build that I was running. I made the build work through masteries and devotions but it was strange that I was having so much trouble finding gear for the brand new class. Overall a good DLC that was worth the wait. Haven't utilized the new crafting systems yet but they seem to add even more complexity to the game.

Grim Dawn has received a lot of beutification and modernization over the 10 years bringing it up to the same standards modern ARPG's while retaining its classic feel. Fangs of Asterkarn is probably the weakest actual DLC of the three, but all of the mechanical, graphical, and itemization improvements more than makeup for it. I thoroughly enjoyed returning to the world and hunting down secrets. I played as a Berserker/Arcanist caster all the way to 100, and the new class fit seamlessly with the others. Progressing up through the new Ascended difficulty felt very satisfying, and there's still some tough challenges I don't plan on tackling in the form of superbosses. I do wish they released the new "one-shot" dungeon on release, because I don't think I'll have it in me to return when it releases later this year. I was looking forward to the new boss, as the final boss of Fangs of Asterkarn was very mechanically satisfying to fight.

10/10

Una ultima expansión para el mejor arpg de la historia, le agrega otra capa mas de profundidad a la itemizacion, las nuevas areas son inmensas, la cantidad de ítems y posibilidades de distintas builds suben a un numero incalculable, la nueva maestría del berserker en lo personal entra en mi top 3 de mejores clases, la nueva dificultad ascendant hace que mimaxies tu build si o si para pasarte el jeugo en tal dificultad, los nuevos celestiales, las misiones secretas, todo en esta expansion esta buenisimo. Algo que quiero destacar es el arte y diseño tanto de los bosses como el de las zonas, en lo personal el boss final me parece que tiene el mejor diseño que vi en un Arpg, te cagas encima, la zona de los picos de Aurora y Techo del mundo es hermosa, la banda sonora y el sonido ambiente es increible. SInceramente esta expansion es la cereza sobre la torta, con esta expansion el juego queda como el ARPG mas completo del mercado, les pasa el trapo a diablo 2 3 y 4, last epoch, Poe y a su predecesor Titan quest. Esta expansion merece la pena a precio completo, que la verdad en latam esta un regalo. Me despido de esta review con mas de 3500 horas metidas en este juego a lo largo de 6 años desde que lo comence a jugar en 2020 siendo mi primer arpg y hizo que me enamore del genero , me acompaño en un monton de etapas de mi vida y fue mi escapatoria a los problemas de la realidad y lo seguirá siendo en un futuro hasta que salga Grim Dawn 2. Muchas gracias a crate por esta pedazo de obra maestra.

the gift that keeps on giving

I'd recommend it even just for the ascendant mode. I used to grind, exit, start, exit etc. Now rerolling ability for items affixes suffixes stops being it chore. Yes, you need to grind for other stuff but you don't need to do repetitive same boss farming. It's also not that hard, just need to be more attentive. New class is also good,