GRIME Preview: Dirty Evolution, Baby
Another day in paradise; Steam demo paradise. Now that the Steam Next Fest has finished, it’s a case of rounding up some of the best games played, such as GRIME – an upcoming Souls-like title.
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Though not explicitly advertised as a Souls-like game, it has a few traits which work in its favour. GRIME is an action-adventure RPG from Clover Bite, and published by Akupara Games (Darkside Detective 2, Mutazione).
After a beautiful opening sequence, the demo kicks off as you crawl yourself out of the gene pool, evolving as you go along. There are no explanations as such, other than the mechanics (which have a natural feel to them), and your character is learning about the environment at the same time as we are.
GRIME Preview
Initially, it’s the Miyagi way as you deflect your enemies rather than attack them, so timing is critical. As can be expected, when pulled off, a counter does excellent damage and, in this case, will likely kill the lesser enemies.
However, you can’t keep waxing on and off forever in GRIME, so before you know it, you’ll earn an axe, twin blades and more. As a side-scrolling adventure, it’s essential to get your timings right – first with the counters, the next with attacks. Despite the arcade feel, this isn’t a hack and slash, and neither is it a sluggish melee affair.
With each kill, you’ll earn XP to invest in your character with the usual abilities such as strength and dexterity builds. It’s also important to keep an eye on your force powers too. No, this isn’t a Star Wars tie-in, but your force powers help you adapt to this hostile environment and absorb new powers too.
Grotesque, But Beautiful, Too
Since viewing the screenshots some months back, I’ve been excited to see GRIME in action, and it didn’t disappoint. It was a pleasant surprise to see such a grand opening in a demo, and there was a good amount of gameplay to experience. Still, it’s a demo, and there’s been a lot to cover during the Steam Next Fest, so have a look at the gameplay footage.
This is primarily a teaser as it took me some time to concede that I needed to play this with a controller rather than on the keyboard.
GRIME’s planned release date is sometime in 2021.