Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 389 sampled Steam reviews (349 positive / 40 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
- Story & writing22% mention it
- Progression & loot16% mention it
- Difficulty & balance9% mention it
- Controls & UI6% mention it
- World & exploration5% mention it
What negative reviews complain about
- Story & writing35% mention it
- Progression & loot33% mention it
- Difficulty & balance28% mention it
- Combat18% mention it
- Grind & repetition15% mention it
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
91%
11 reviews
5-15h
85%
34 reviews
15-40h
91%
64 reviews
40-100h
95%
88 reviews
100h+
88%
192 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 82 | 7 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 93% | 88 | 1039 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 87 | 52 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 84% | 77 | 1042 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: since the last significant patch (Aug 19, 2026) · 269 reviews sampled · 1042 total reviews in window · weighted 209.5 up / 33.4 down · computed 3h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (42)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 80
“How do you make a great aRPG? Just take everything fans love about the genre, gather core developers from Iron Lore Entertainment, take a pinch of Diablo and a hefty amount of Lovecraft, Barker and King. This is how you'll get Grim Dawn, a must-have game for every true dungeon-crawl fan.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Grim Dawn is a game that fulfills promises made by the developers and is one of the best entries in the hack'n'slash genre. The game is to be expanded and updated in the future: if dawn is so exciting, what will happen at dusk? And even if the multiplayer mode needs tweaking and beating the same storyline with different characters can become a bit boring, the game is simply very good and worth your money.”
read full review ↗ - 60
“Grim Dawn is sadly an ARPG that can be described as "hack-and-slash monsters/collect loot." This applies to pretty much all games of its kind, but this has a severe lack of personality, to the point that you can spend 50 hours and still not feel immersed into the world. And while the progression system is the best thing on offer, it's also where the main flaw can be found, which is how, although there are a bazillion ways to craft your build, it all ends up feeling pretty much the same when on the battlefield.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Grim Dawn is still a fantastic game that any fan of the action RPG style will enjoy. There are tons of customization options not only with the game mechanics, but with the character builds as well. It’s a beefy game and with all the expansions added in, this is a complete package that any RPG fan will enjoy and get a ton of time in and while the menu navigations aren’t the best in the world, it’s something that now Xbox fans can enjoy.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Launching at a great time of the year right before the holidays where people may not still be getting together because of the latest twists and turns of the pandemic, Grim Dawn is a great excuse to get together with others for some online co-op to tackle the forces of evil from the safety and comfort of your own living rooms. With plenty of classes to try and combine and loads of content between Grim Dawn, the Ashes of Malmouth and the Forgotten Gods, the console edition of Grim Dawn: Definitive Edition is a good choice. Score: 8 / 10 ---- Grim Dawn: Ashes of Malmouth, PC Review https://chalgyr.com/2017/11/grim-dawn-ashes-of-malmouth-pc-review.html 2017-11-29 Overall, Ashes of Malmouth is a great addition to Grim Dawn and the care that Crate Entertainment have put in since the beginning of their Early Access is still there. They still listen to feedback, they still improve the core content all the while adding in new adventures to that map that still has some space that looks like it could be explored later down the line. Score 8 / 10 ---- Grim Dawn - Better with a Partner - PC Review http://www.chalgyr.com/2016/07/grim-dawn-better-with-partner-pc-review.html 2016-07-19 Crate Entertainment has put enormous effort into Grim Dawn since they've started which was clear to see throughout the various stages of its Early Access development. As it stands now there are still constant updates and the Crucible or even Custom Game option have yet to be implemented*. With a great game already in place for a solo or coop experience, it's entirely possible to see more added as a quick look at the world map shows that only a portion has thus far been used. Regardless of the case, Grim Dawn is up there for Hack and Slash RPGs. Score 8.5 / 10”
read full review ↗ - 75
- 80
“Despite the technical shortcomings, Crate Entertainment managed to develop a worthy spiritual successor for the Titan Quest series. Grim Dawn is extremely rich in content, providing hundreds of hours of hack'n'slash fun.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Grim Dawn can be like pulling the lever on a slot machine, the only difference being that the reward here isn’t cash but the gory explosion of beasts and the clink of loot-drops. I know from personal experience that this game has that certain something, and even if you think that you've grown tired of games of its ilk, Grim Dawn has enough tricks up its sleeve to charm even the most grizzled veteran.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“If you yearn for the days of Divine Divinity, Sacred, or Diablo II, then Grim Dawn will offer everything you ever wanted in an old school action RPG.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“A little daunting at first, but with some theorycrafting Grim Dawn proves to be an extremely enjoyable bit of hack and slash. [Issue#249, p.56]”
- 90
“While I would have loved a post-game and perhaps some real community options built within it (such as what you find with Path of Exile and Diablo III), I still feel that there is no ARPG on the market that can touch Grim Dawn's pace of combat or build creation depth. If you're like me and those two things appeal the most to you, then you owe it to yourself to get Grim Dawn and see why it has such a large and devoted community.”
read full review ↗ - 83
“It's a little hobbled by old-school stylings and the story could be better, but few modern hack-and-slash RPGs are quite so fun.”
read full review ↗
PLAY Zine
GRYOnline.pl
Cubed3
ZTGD
Chalgyr's Game Room
Games Freezer
Eurogamer
GameSpot
GameSkinny
Niche Gamer
PC Gamer…and 30 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- Grim Dawn v1.3.0.8 and MOAR!Aug 19, 2026significant · resets scoring window
- Grim Dawn v1.3.0.5 is now available!Aug 3, 2026
- Grim Dawn v1.3.0.1 Hotfix 1 is now liveJul 25, 2026significant · resets scoring window
- GrimTools Fangs of Asterkarn UpdateJul 17, 2026
- Grim Dawn Version v1.2.1.6 is now available!Jun 26, 2025
- Grim Dawn Version v1.2.1.3 is now available!Dec 17, 2024
- Grim Dawn Version v1.2.1.0 is now available!Jun 19, 2024
- Grim Dawn Version v1.2.0.4 is now available!Feb 27, 2024
- Grim Dawn Version v1.2.0.0 is now available!Nov 16, 2023
- Grim Dawn Version v1.2.0.0 coming November 16th!Nov 11, 2023
- Grim Dawn V1.1.9.8 is now live!Jun 9, 2023
- Grim Dawn V1.1.9.7 is now live!Dec 6, 2022
- Grim Dawn V1.1.9.6 is now live!Jun 21, 2022
- Grim Dawn V1.1.9.2 is now live!Oct 29, 2021
- (April Fools!) Imminent April AnnouncementApr 1, 2021
- Grim Dawn V1.1.9.0 is now live!Jan 26, 2021
- Grim Dawn V1.1.8.0 is now live!Sep 21, 2020
- Grim Dawn V1.1.7.0 is now live!Jun 4, 2020
- April Fools 2020!Apr 1, 2020
- Grim Dawn V1.1.6.0 is now live!Feb 27, 2020
- Patch V1.1.4.1 is now live!Aug 7, 2019
- V1.1.4.0 PreviewJul 10, 2019
- Grim Dawn V1.1.3.0 is now live!Jun 20, 2019
- Grim Dawn V1.1.2.0 is now live!May 7, 2019
- (April Fools!) Urgent April NewsApr 1, 2019
- Grim Dawn V1.1.1.0 is now live!Mar 25, 2019
- Grim Dawn V1.1.0.0 is now live!Mar 13, 2019
- Grim Dawn V1.0.7.0 is now live!Dec 12, 2018
- Unleash the Kraken in Grim Dawn's Latest Content Update!May 10, 2018significant · resets scoring window