What better way to mark a game's tenth anniversary than with a bumper expansion? The action RPG Grim Dawn just reached the big one-zero, and in a celebration post, developer Crate Entertainment has provided a few details on what's coming for players.
"We never could have imagined that ten years later Grim Dawn would not only still be receiving major updates but it would have another expansion on the way," Kamil Marczewski, production director at Crate Entertainment, says in a forum post. "Our engineers bent the old engine to their will. Even as recently as last year, we addressed bugs that have been there since Titan Quest."
Fangs of Asterkarn, as this closing chapter is called, is the "final hurrah" for Grim Dawn. Even though Crate actually planned to move on to other projects, with four other releases in the pipeline, consistent numbers made one last round of additions necessary. One need only check the Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam to ascertain why.
But as you'll gather from the stats here, this isn't just another slab of DLC - it might as well be Grim Dawn 2. For instance, the map is getting 5.5km-squared of new area to explore; that's 76% of what's currently available, and orders of magnitude bigger than previous expansions.
There'll be 370 unique new items, 117 Monster Infrequents, and 60 bosses and minibosses, many of whom are coming with distinct visuals. For bigger challenges, there are eight new Nemesis creatures and three brand new super bosses to tackle.
A new system for customizable potions is coming, and some methods of refining your equipment. The incoming tenth mastery is introducing shapeshifting, which the team "once thought was untenable in this old engine." It's an impressive bit of work, commemorating a huge era for Crate as a whole.
"When we wrap up Fangs of Asterkarn, Grim Dawn will not be going out with a bang, it will be a tremendous roar that will cement the game as a cornerstone of the ARPG genre," the write-up states. "We are immensely proud of everything that's in store for you and can’t wait to get it into your hands in just a few months."
No release window is given, but it sounds like it's coming soon. Watch this space.
