My very first story came when I was 15. My brother and I had just played Diablo on a Playstation 1. I came home and wrote a short story about a real human becoming a player character and getting stuck in an infinite loop of stock dialog with the NPCs. Over time, I'll get engrossed in Warcraft III but Diablo will always remain one of my favorite memories from that time. Can I relive it with Grim Dawn?
As Grim Dawn starts, you see yourself phasing into a dark world, one where a "Grim Dawn" happened, an apocalyptic event that ravaged the world by ushering in unspeakable monstrosities and zombies. You have amnesia and are only referred to as "The Taken", with people wanting to hang you because you might be possessed by one of the enemies.
Luckily, you're strung to the brink of death and the possession leaves you, with villagers of Devil's Crossing deciding that's good enough, allowing you to live and freely move about (!). What follows is you doing a whole bunch of fetch quests and inventory sell-offs to amass millions of currency known as "iron bits" to buy slightly more powerful items for yourself.
When I grind in real life, I slowly amass money that lets me buy something cool, like a new smartphone or a new bike. In Grim Dawn, there's the same grind to get iron bits but never that "WOW!" moment where I actually spend money to buy something cool. In essence, everything you can buy in Grim Dawn sucks. All the upgrades are minute and there's never anything you can make a build around. When you do make a build, better hope it's not a ranged one because you'll sorely regret it.
Basically, I was screwed, with little to no recourse. The UI is clunky and the camera is positioned in such a way that you have barely any overview of the field. Also, enemies move so quickly that they essentially warp in on top of you and start tearing you apart.
I guess the game is optimized for multiplayer, where a few melee players tank the damage while the others pelt the enemies from the back seat, but playing it solo is a nightmare.
This is the ultimate horror story, a player character that thinks he can win against a Lovecraftian invasion but he dies a gruesome death a thousand times and is reborn, over and over again. Cool concept for a story but a terrible one for a Diablo clone.