Grim Dawn previews the upcoming changes in its next major patch, version 1.2.0.0 that modernizes the game.

Grim Dawn Version 1.2.0.0 Modernizes the ARPG Classic

Fans of Crate Entertainment’s grimmest and the most Victorian ARPG, Grim Dawn, are in for a treat this November. Announced way back in July of this year was the game’s version 1.2.0.0 update, a beefy patch that will bring upon tons and tons of improvements ahead of its next expansion, The Fangs of Asterkarn.

It is very refreshing to see how the developers are still supporting the action RPG, despite it being released way back in 2016. Since then, it has received two major expansions alongside a host of minor updates. The developer’s support is even more welcome, considering that Grim Dawn can be played offline, and does not follow the “games as a service” live model. 

So what can we look forward to this coming November 16th, when Grim Dawn’s biggest patch arrives? Let’s find out! 

A Revamped Experience

Most ARPG players would consider a game’s leveling experience as one of the “chores” that they need to tackle to get into the true meat: the endgame. This usually has players just blitzing through early game content, without a care in the world, to rush to the good parts. That isn’t to say that Grim Dawn’s early game experience was bad per se, but of course, improvements are always welcome. 

To combat this, Grim Dawn’s 1.2 update will improve the leveling experience significantly by offering more rewarding rewards, better-paced pacing, and more engaging engagements. The game’s difficulty system will also be getting an overhaul. Players will now be able to start with any difficulty level that they’ve already unlocked – no more going through Normal, Elite, and Ultimate in that specific order. 

But the way it currently works is that monsters have a minimum and maximum level per difficulty. Crate Entertainment will change that by introducing a form of Level Scaling, especially on the Normal and Elite difficulties. Most enemies in Normal will scale up to level 100, while everyone can do so in Elite. Of course, the loot drop and experience rates will be higher the harder your difficulty level. This also means that players can casually play on their chosen difficulty and reach max level… eventually. 

Time to Dodge! 

Another huge update to Grim Dawn is the addition of a dedicated dodge ability that all characters will receive. Most ARPGs only had movement skills paired with frantic clicking to be able to properly evade attacks. This all changed with the addition of a roll/dodge mechanic in Diablo 3 for consoles, and Wolcen, with Diablo IV following suit later on. The simple addition of a Dodge button should make combat feel much more responsive, which is a critical feeling for any successful ARPG. 

Grim Dawn will also be implementing several features from the Grim Internals mod so that they are now built-in and available to everyone right out of the box. These include the disabling of weather effects, such as toggling the day and night cycle or disabling fog entirely. 

Accessibility-wise, the Grim Internals mod will allow the option for players to display Cooldowns in a numerical format (instead of just a line ticking towards completion). There will now be more visual alerts to signify when rarer monsters spawn, and they will also be marked on the map. Perfect for those bloodthirsty loot hunters who want guaranteed goodies! Lastly, players will be able to customize the features of monster health bars, which weren’t a thing in the original game (but patched in much later). Options will include the health bar thickness as well as display active effects like buffs and debuffs. 

Grim Dawn Again

Grim Dawn is an action RPG developed and published by Crate Entertainment for PC initially in February 2016 and later on for Xbox One in December 2021. The game features fast-paced real-time combat and emphasizes collecting loot and slaying Lovecraftian horrors.

The game also builds upon systems from Titan Quest, most notably skill unlock and dual classing systems. There are nine distinct character classes in the game, each player character can combine two of these classes and their various skills and modifiers. 

Grim Dawn will also be receiving a fourth expansion, Fangs of Asterkarn, about 4 years after the previous one. This expansion will be released “sometime” in 2024 for an undetermined price.

In other news, check out Soulslinger: Envoy of Death A Roguelite Shooter Enters Early Access December, and Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox Series Version Could Be Getting an Announcement This Week.