History VideoGame / GrimDawn

* CrapsackWorld: The world of Cairn is a very good place to avoid at all cost. Between invading eldritch abominations, [[ApocalypseCult apocalyptic cults]], [[RapePillageAndBurn raiders]], undead monstrosities, cannibals, [[BigCreepyCrawlies giants vermins]], mutated wild beasts and [[JerkassGods angry uncaring gods]], there are very little places where you can be safe [[EverythingTryingToKillYou from harm]]. And what of the defenders of this world? They are [[GoodIsNotNice fanatical armies]], [[FantasticRacism zealot orders]], amoral necromancers and coven of witches.

* CrapsackWorld: The world of Cairn is a very good place to avoid at all cost. Between invading eldritch abominations, [[ApocalypseCult apocalyptic cults]], [[RapePillageAndBurn raiders]], [[{{Undead}} monstrosities]], cannibals, [[BigCreepyCrawlies giants vermins]], mutated wild beasts and [[JerkassGods angry uncaring gods]], there are very little places where you can be safe [[EverythingTryingToKillYou from harm]]. And what of the defenders of this world? They are [[GoodIsNotNice fanatical armies]], [[FantasticRacism zealot orders]], amoral necromancers and coven of witches.

* CrapsackWorld: The world of Cairn is a very good place to avoid at all cost. Between invading eldritch abominations, [[ApocalypseCult apocalyptic cults]], [[RapePillageAndBurn raiders]], [[{{Undead}} monstrosities]], cannibals, [[BigCreepyCrawlies giants vermins]], mutated wild beasts and angry JerkassGods, there are very little places where you can be safe [[EverythingTryingToKillYou from harm]].

* PeekABangs: If you look at the constellation of Murmur, the goddess of rumors, part of her face is hidden by her hair.

''Grim Dawn'' is an ActionRPG game developed by Crate Entertainment, a company that includes veterans of Iron Lore Entertainment, the makers of ''[[VideoGame/TitanQuest Titan Quest]]''.

* TheLostWoods: The Blood Grove, the largest maze-like forest you'll ever encounter in the game. It's also home to monsters, cultists, demons, giant spiders, necromancers, overzealous templars and [[CameraScrew lots of dense foliage]].

** The Aetherials ruined humanity's world and the Cthonians are demonic void creatures who want to stack another apocalypse on top of what the Aetherials have already done. The two factions hate each other only slightly less than they hate you.

* EverythingBreaks: Some objects such as walls, furniture and barrels can be destroyed.

* ShootTheBullet: The Occultist skill "Dreeg's Evil Eye" fires an exploding magical eye that is both able to shoot down other projectiles and [[MutualDisadvantage vulnerable to being shot down itself]].

** The titular Grim Dawn was the first, the extredemensail AlienInvasion brought on by the Aetherials. This one also has dabs of HostileTerraforming and ZombieApocalypse as side flavors.

* VoidBetweenTheWorlds: Ironically not called the Void, which is instead the plane Cthonics come from. The place beyond worlds is instead called The Great Darkness or Yugol and it is the eternally hungering antithesis to literally all things. It primarily manifests in the Tomb of the Heritic and is color coded as PurpleIsPowerful and black. Yugol is the primordial enemy of exsisence itself and even the gods fear it.
--> "We may fight it, resist it, but in the end, we will all be consumed by it. The gods learned this truth long ago and even they must ultimately submit. Their stars will not defy their fate forever."

* WakeUpCallBoss: Salazar, Blade of Ct'thon. One of the first instances of a boss set to five levels above the player's own level. In particular he's one of the first enemies to regularly throw around spells that leave a lingering damaging effect on the ground, which deals high damage and has a LifeDrain effect. Melee-focused players will quickly learn not to simply stand around and trade blows, unlike THE potential first boss with LevelScaling, which more reliant characters can best through simple attrition.

** Another shows up as a secret level[[spoiler:, the Maw of Enaht,]] which is a giant... thing you have to fight your way through.

* BigGood: Inquisitor Creed, leader of the Black Legion and the man most invested in uniting the remnants of humanity to fight back against the Aetherials and Chthonians.

* EmptyRoomUntilTheTrap: The game very fond of this. It is not uncommon to come across [[SchmuckBait a single chest in an empty room]] that will trigger the release of monsters. The worse of them are found in the rogue dungeons. Monsters will not only spawn when you step inside, [[OhCrap but the doors behind you will shut themselves]]. To top it all, monsters will spawn in multiple waves, ''[[FromBadToWorse along with more than one hero monster]]''.

* BrutalBonusLevel: The roguelike dungeons: the Steps of Torment, the Bastion of Chaos, Port Valbury, and the Ancient Grove. Pass a certain level of the dungeon and you can no longer escape with your personal rift. You must [[ZergRush kill waves of monsters rated above your level]] to reach the final exit. By the time you're strong enough to tackle these dungeons, they'll be crawling with more hero monsters. [[OhCrap Sometimes you'll even face more than one hero simultaneously]].

* AnAxeToGrind: They come in one-handed and two-handed flavors. They pack more punch than other weapons, but are slower.

** Another shows up as a secret level[[spoiler:, the Maw of Enaht,]] which is a gaint... thing you have to fight your way through.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Aether takes a lot of its cues from [[ArtisticLicensePhysics the Hollywood version of]] nuclear power: characterized by a SicklyGreenGlow and can be found in pools of green sludge, it's a potential source of incredible amounts of energy that's only vaguely understood. It's proven to be [[ILoveNuclearPower a source of superpowers]] for one particularly lucky individual, but mostly it just [[NuclearMutant mutates]] and/or kills the hell out of people, and TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt was caused by people messing around with it in ways they really shouldn't have.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Aether takes a lot of its cues from [[ArtisticLicensePhysics the Hollywood version of]] nuclear power: characterized by a SicklyGreenGlow and can be found in pools of green sludge, it's a potential source of incredible amounts of energy that's only vaguely understood. It's proven to be [[ILoveNuclearPower a source of superpowers]] for one particularly lucky individual, but mostly it just [[NuclearNasty mutates]] and/or kills the hell out of people, and TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt was caused by people messing around with it in ways they really shouldn't have.

* TurtlePower: The Turtle Shell celestial power which allow you to absorb physical damage when fully upgraded. This one is a lifesaver.

* AscendedExtra: The well-known 'boobie lady' from the Ashes of Malmouth loading screen makes an appearance in Forgotten Gods as Byscilla, the leader of the Cult of Bysmiel.

** The Flesh Hulks are green, large and powerful Aetherial Corruptions. Can you say ''[[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk the Incredible Hulk]]''?

* GunsAreWorthless: The Demolitionist mastery averts this, using guns to murderous effect. Once fully upgraded, a Demolitionist can shoot exploding incendiary electrical fragmentation rounds boosted with the PowerOfTheVoid. The carnage is quite spectacular. Inquisitors can be just as deadly.

* TheMinionMaster: With Epics, Celestial Powers, a Monster Infrequent, the Savagery relic and an item obtainable from the ''Loyalist Upgrade'', you can summon a Ch'thonian Harbinger, a Rift Scourge, a spectral warrior, sentient energy spheres, a mini army of skeletons, a Storm Hound, a Revenant and a Will O' Wisp, to name a few. Combine these with any of the sub-examples below for [[UpToEleven lots of fun]]:

* NiceHat: Various headgear you come across... with bony fingers and various macabre ornaments attached to them.

* GunsAreWorthless: The Demolitionist mastery averts this, using guns to murderous effect. Once fully upgraded, a Demolitionist can shoot exploding incendiary electrical fragmentation rounds boosted with the PowerOfTheVoid. The carnage is quite spectacular.

[[ExpansionPack An expansion]], titled ''Ashes of Malmouth'', was released on October 12, 2017, and included two new Masteries: the Inquisitor, who specializes in combining GunsAkimbo with magic bullets and elemental traps, and the Necromancer, who focuses on [[DemBones raising skeletal minions]] as well as using arcane attacks and spells. The plot in ''Ashes of Malmouth'' centers around the Taken working alongside the Black Legion to assault the city of Malmouth, which has been converted into the Aetherials' main base where their leader, the Shaper of Flesh, is on the cusp of creating a new weapon that could shatter the human resistance and complete the Aetherial takeover of Cairn.

A second ExpansionPack, titled ''Forgotten Gods'', was released on March 27, 2019 and features the divinely-empowered Oathkeeper mastery as well as the Shattered Realm, a BonusDungeon themed as a distorted MirrorUniverse with unfathomable wealth and horrors. In ''Forgotten Gods'', the Taken is approached by the cults of the Witch Gods to confront a great evil in the Korvan Basin, an abandoned, sandy region to the far east of Cairn, whose resurgence would signal the destruction of not just Cairn, but possibly the Eldritch realm itself.

* VendorTrash: The normal non-magical items, although their resale value is so laughable, they're not even worth the trouble.