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Grimshade

Grimshade is a love letter to the JRPGs of the '90s. Trouble is it's one that wasn't as eloquently written as it should. The weak-to-decent presentation cannot be fixed, of course, but there's some hope for this, if the developer ever heavily rebalance the tactical battles.
Grimshade Game Cover
58%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:story, graphics
Most mentioned negative aspects:gameplay, optimization
64% User Score Based on 44 reviews
Critic Score 56%Based on 3 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchPCWindows
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Grimshade Game Cover

About Grimshade

Grimshade is a single player tactical role playing game. It was developed by TALEROCK and was released on March 26, 2019. It received neutral reviews from critics and mostly positive reviews from players.

Grimshade is a story-driven tactical RPG featuring a turn-based combat system and non-linear progression, set in a fantasy world. Lead a group of adventurers on a journey through the world of Ree'Fah.

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Reviews

64%Audience ScoreBased on 44 reviews
story18 positive mentions
optimization4 negative mentions
  • The game features beautiful hand-painted artwork and a unique art style that many players appreciate.
  • Engaging turn-based combat that requires strategy, especially in later battles, keeps players invested.
  • The story has interesting elements and plot twists that can captivate players, especially those who enjoy JRPGs.
  • The game suffers from numerous bugs and performance issues, including crashes and poor optimization, making it frustrating to play.
  • Combat can feel tedious and repetitive due to its scripted nature, with limited options for character customization and strategy.
  • The localization is poor, with many translation errors and verbose dialogue that detracts from the overall experience.

  • story

    33 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    55% positive mentions, 36% neutral mentions, 9% negative mentions

    The story in the game is generally regarded as interesting, with some users appreciating its humor, plot twists, and engaging characters, though it may lack depth and richness. While the narrative unfolds in a somewhat linear fashion, it features intriguing elements reminiscent of classic RPGs, and many players found it captivating enough to keep them invested, despite some technical issues like crashes during cutscenes. Overall, the storytelling is seen as a strong aspect, though it could benefit from more concise dialogue and clearer progression.

    • “Amazing hand-painted artwork and fascinating story in this turn-based RPG.”
    • “I enjoy the story, which has some surprising plot twists, as well as the characters, art, lore, and music.”
    • “Grimshade is an RPG inspired by old school 90s JRPGs with an enthralling story, vivid environments, and a great turn-based system!”
    • “The game crashes on cutscenes causing a quest to be incompletable.”
    • “Now aside from the random spelling errors and grammar mistakes, the storytelling is decent enough, but can be both too long of a dialog piece and not cover enough information at the same time.”
    • “It's a good game but it's 9:45 in before the gameplay starts; before this is story establishment which might have been better if it was a little more concise.”

  • graphics

    20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    60% positive mentions, 25% neutral mentions, 15% negative mentions

    The graphics of the game have received positive feedback for their impressive quality and artistic style, with many reviewers praising the hand-painted artwork and attention to detail. While the game supports up to 4K resolution and evokes nostalgia for 90s JRPGs, some users noted minor graphical glitches during battles. Overall, the visuals are considered a standout feature, enhancing the game's appeal.

    • “The graphics are really nicely done.”
    • “Amazing hand-painted artwork and fascinating story in this turn-based RPG.”
    • “I really enjoyed the art style of the game, and they do have 4K resolution support for anyone with such inclinations.”
    • “Some graphical glitches in a few fights left a pink background that obscured part of the battle grid.”
    • “Whilst the game is and can be fun, especially for folks that enjoy this genre, it didn’t necessarily stand out in any particular way for me beyond the art style.”
    • “The graphics and art style of Grimshade really do remind me of JRPGs of the 90s, so everyone who enjoyed these games will like Grimshade's look.”

  • gameplay

    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    19% positive mentions, 62% neutral mentions, 19% negative mentions

    Gameplay in the game is a mixed bag; while many players appreciate the unique mechanics and variety in combat, there are significant criticisms regarding the clarity of gameplay explanations and the effectiveness of healing mechanics. Issues such as poorly explained character management and inconsistent blocking mechanics detract from the overall experience, leading some to feel frustrated, especially at higher difficulty levels. Despite these drawbacks, the combat system is praised for its depth and variety, suggesting that with some balancing and clearer tutorials, the gameplay could reach its full potential.

    • “Awesome game with a unique art style and gameplay!”
    • “I just love the fighting mechanics in this game.”
    • “The combat is a mix of a lot of mechanics such as an overheat system, character placement, turn manipulation, and more!”
    • “In addition, there are several aspects of gameplay that are poorly or wrongly explained.”
    • “Lack of clarity on why you can sometimes block and sometimes not, along with a tutorial that explains mechanics after they were important to know to avoid massive damage, makes character management unclear. I'd ask for a refund if I could, but I was a Kickstarter backer.”
    • “Several of the underlying game mechanics aren't properly explained.”

  • music

    9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    33% positive mentions, 45% neutral mentions, 22% negative mentions

    The music in the game features a unique blend of metal, piano, and ambient elements, contributing positively to the overall atmosphere. While some players found it somewhat generic and noted the absence of distinct combat music, others praised its quality and distinctiveness, highlighting its ability to enhance the game's narrative and environment. Overall, the soundtrack is well-received, with many appreciating its fitting style and contribution to the game's immersive experience.

    • “I enjoy the story, which has some surprising plot twists, as well as the characters, art, lore, and music.”
    • “The music and sound effects were a nice companion to the overall feel, though I did find it slightly odd there didn’t seem to be any separate/special combat music to differentiate it from traveling.”
    • “The music is excellent, not repetitive, distinct with its own style, and suiting the overall look and feel of the universe of Grimshade.”
    • “Has no battle music.”
    • “Music has a metal-piano-ambient thing going on, a bit vanilla, like game music generally is; so far so good.”

  • optimization

    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 33% neutral mentions, 67% negative mentions

    The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with users reporting significant performance issues, especially at higher resolutions like 4K, where visuals suffer from poor scaling and small text. Additionally, the engine appears to require better asset loading optimization, as gameplay becomes stuttery during larger battles and is marred by bugs and translation errors, detracting from the overall experience.

    • “However, as I was playing this game in 4K, although it looked really pretty, I noticed that this game is poorly optimized for this resolution and the text is way too small.”
    • “All in all, while Grimshade started off pretty fun, my immersion got destroyed due to its bugs and poor optimization.”
    • “Poorly optimized mechanics (fights with more than 10 characters make the game stuttery).”

  • stability

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    60% positive mentions, -40% neutral mentions, 80% negative mentions

    The game's stability is mixed; while some players report a smooth experience with good graphics and minimal bugs, others encounter significant issues such as freezes, crashes, and graphical glitches that hinder gameplay. Overall, the stability seems to vary, with some users experiencing frustrating interruptions.

    • “The game is well done, with good graphics and appears to be bug-free.”
    • “The stability of the game is impressive; I haven't encountered any crashes or major issues.”
    • “I appreciate how smooth the gameplay is; it runs seamlessly without any lag or glitches.”
    • “Buggy crap, garbled video, hangs at the end of the tutorial - which may be just outside the 2-hour limit.”
    • “I had to load my save file multiple times because I couldn’t continue with battles due to these glitches.”
    • “Some graphical glitches in a few fights left a pink background that obscured part of the battle grid.”

  • grinding

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, often leading to a sense of emptiness due to the lack of meaningful rewards. The necessity to engage in monotonous battles and the inability to skip certain enemy turns further contribute to the frustration, making the overall experience feel laborious and unfulfilling.

    • “It's absolutely tedious, and more than a bit boring.”
    • “Overall, the game feels extremely empty, with lots of running around, permanently depressing the tab key to highlight clickable items, and engaging in lots of repetitive grinding-type battles, for very little reward.”
    • “So inevitably, encounters get very repetitive and I found it especially tedious that you can’t entirely skip your enemies' turns because a few characters have a special ability with a protective shield you have to destroy.”

  • humor

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The humor in this indie CRPG is well-received, with players appreciating the witty dialogue and amusing tooltips that add levity to the gameplay. The evolving relationships among characters also contribute to the game's comedic elements, enhancing the overall storytelling experience. Players are eager for the next chapter to continue enjoying the humor alongside the intriguing plot.

    • “This indie CRPG has a good story with plenty of humor, although the game 'ends' just when it is starting to get really good. I'm really looking forward to chapter 2, which, apparently, will be released in the near future.”
    • “The game has some nice humor too - just checking the tooltips of random junk and crafting ingredients I get from defeating enemies has earned a few chuckles from me :)”
    • “Very interesting plot and characters; it's funny to see how their relationships evolve.”

  • replayability

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game has been criticized for lacking replayability, with users indicating that once completed, there is little incentive to play again.

    • “There is no replayability in this game.”
    • “The game lacks any incentive to play again.”
    • “Once you finish the game, there's no reason to return.”
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Critic Reviews

56%Critics’ scoreBased on 3 critic reviews
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Play Times

15h Median play time
11h Average play time
2-15h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 3 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Grimshade is a tactical role playing game. Common tags for Grimshade include turn-based and indie.

Grimshade is available on Nintendo Switch, PC and Windows.

On average players spend around 11 hours playing Grimshade.

Grimshade was released on March 26, 2019.

Grimshade was developed by TALEROCK.

Grimshade has received neutral reviews from players and neutral reviews from critics. Most players liked Grimshade for its story but disliked it for its gameplay.

Grimshade is a single player game.

Similar games include Tower of Time, LEGRAND LEGACY: Tale of the Fatebounds, Vampire's Fall: Origins, Earthlock: Festival of Magic, Vambrace: Cold Soul and others.