Weirdly Beautiful
I never played the original Grime but I was aware of it. The original is a metroidvania style game but with a heavy dose of soulsbourne style combat. You all know how much I love that; ugh. But when I was asked to take a look at the sequel, I was curious because I have previously played Blasphemous 2 for review; which itself is a Metroidvania with soulsbourne combat that I enjoyed. I started my journey with Grime 2 and thankfully I didn’t have to have played the original to understand what was going on.
One of the things I did know about the original Grime was that it was also kind of a horror game. It leaned heavily into body horror with weird multi-limb creatures. Grime 2 still has its share of weird but it feels a lot more artistic in its weirdness and less horror. I enjoyed the look of the levels and the abstract monsters, although there was more than one occasion where I was killed because the enemies can blend in with the environment. The environments also lead into the storytelling, in typical ‘souls’ fashion there isn’t much of a narrative presented; instead, its pieced together by meeting NPC’s and various lore drops.
MSRP: $27.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, PC
Price I’d Pay: $27.99
Combat in Grime 2 was actually more enjoyable than I initially thought it would be. Yes they are using the bumpers for combat which is a pet peeve but the star of this is the Mold system. As players fight enemies, they can absorb them allowing players to utilize their attacks. The weird long finger looking monsters once absorbed allows players to flick an enemy of their own; thus, tossing them into the environment setting up a combo kill. Each enemy can be absorbed in this manner and each give a one use before players will need to absorb another but they can have up to 4 different creatures absorbed at a time.
In addition, there are quite a few weapons from slow hammer types to the faster dual blades, Grime 2 allows players to find their own playstyle which is nice. Indeed, one of the nice things I loved about Grime 2 was just how forgiving the parry system was. There were more than a few times when I felt like my timing was off but the attack as deflected just the same. What also helps with the accessibility for this game is the addition of a difficulty selector at the beginning of the game, so if you just want to experience this beautifully weird game without needing to ‘git gud’, well you can.
Like any good Metroidvania, Grime 2 is a maze that slowly unfolds. New abilities unlock new paths, and backtracking becomes part of the rhythm. There is an included fast travel system that helps with backtracking. The map is HUGE for this game, so anything that saves time in navigated is more than welcomed. There is a lack of guidance at times that makes things frustrating when you feel like you have explored the area only to have been help back by a small corner. There is also some repetition that will creep up on players over time, enemy encounters and all the backtracking will begin to wear thin over extended play sessions.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Grime 2, for those that are fans of the genre this is a weirdly, beautiful game. The move from the more horror focus of the original to the artistic surrealism that developer Clover Bite has embraced is really a sight to behold and one I think helps make Grime 2 stand out. While I would have preferred a more, straight forward narrative the combat, creatures and world presented here are all interesting enough but the game is held back by some technical issues and a lot of repetitive backtracking.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
