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.

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Grimshade is a single-player Turn Based Strategy game with an interesting plot. In Grimshade, players lead a company of heroes trying to save their city, Brann, from numerous dreadful monsters and an invading army. As they explore the varied world, players uncover secrets, meet new characters, and unite heroes with diverse motives, all in the pursuit of discovering the causes of the chaos enveloping their world.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

61%

Audience ScoreBased on 45 reviews

story19 positive mentions

optimization4 negative mentions

The game features beautiful graphics and a unique art style that enhances the overall experience.
Engaging turn-based combat that requires strategic thinking, especially in later battles with various character abilities.
The story is interesting and has potential, with some humorous elements and a rich lore.

The game suffers from poor localization, with numerous translation errors and verbose dialogue that can be tedious to read.
Combat can feel repetitive and overly scripted, lacking the depth and variety expected from a true RPG.
There are significant technical issues, including bugs, crashes, and performance problems that detract from the gameplay experience.

story
33 mentions
58 % positive mentions
33 % neutral mentions
9 % negative mentions
The game's story is generally well-received, with many players finding it interesting and engaging, particularly due to its surprising plot twists and rich world-building. However, some critiques highlight that the narrative can be somewhat linear and lengthy, with occasional issues like crashes during cutscenes. Overall, while the story may not be deeply complex, it captivates players with its humor, character development, and nostalgic RPG elements.
- “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
55 % positive mentions
30 % neutral mentions
15 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received positive feedback for their high quality and artistic style, with many 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 gameplay. Overall, the visuals are considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's appeal.
- “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
19 % positive mentions
63 % neutral mentions
19 % negative mentions
Gameplay in the game is a mixed bag; while many players appreciate the unique fighting mechanics and variety of enemies, there are significant issues with clarity and optimization. Players have noted poorly explained mechanics, frustrating healing systems, and performance problems during larger battles, which detract from the overall experience. With some balancing and clearer tutorials, the gameplay could potentially elevate from "okay" to great.
- “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
33 % positive mentions
33 % neutral mentions
33 % 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.”
- “Music has a metal-piano-ambient thing going on, but it's a bit vanilla, like game music generally is.”
- “Has no battle music.”
- “The music feels generic and fails to stand out in any meaningful way.”
optimization
6 mentions
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, mountains of dry writing, numerous translation errors, bugs, performance issues, and the overall lack of depth to the combat make the experience drag.”
- “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.”
stability
5 mentions
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
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. The constant need to engage in battles and farm for loot, which ultimately feels unrewarding, contributes to a frustrating experience, especially with mechanics that prolong encounters unnecessarily.
- “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
4 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The humor in this indie CRPG is well-received, with players enjoying witty dialogue, amusing tooltips, and quirky character interactions. The game's blend of dark themes and lighthearted moments, such as a mad scientist and civilized humanoid animals, adds to its charm, making the evolving relationships between characters particularly entertaining. Overall, the humor enhances the engaging story, leaving players eager for the next chapter.
- “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 :)”
- “It also has a wacky and funny side with a mad scientist experimenting on people, humanoid animals who are very civilized, and the dark demon faction. They also make fun of the main hero a bit :)”
replayability
1 mentions
0 % positive mentions
-200 % neutral mentions
300 % negative mentions
The game has been criticized for lacking replayability, with users indicating that there is little incentive to play it multiple times.
- “There is no replayability in this game.”
- “The game lacks any incentive to play again.”
- “Once you finish the game, there's little reason to return.”