Secrets of Grindea

I liked the demo enough to buy the game when it wasn't on sale, which is quite a feat for my cheapskate self.

This game attempts to emulate the classic legend of Zelda feel and while it does manage to provide some mechanics and gameplay moments that capture parts of that magic. It ultimately never really reaches a peak worthy of standing up to games like that. Beyond gameplay the games story actually shows considerably more promise when compared to other games in the genre. The narrative unfolds at a healthy pace and the world ends up feeling lived in a realistic. There are some pacing issues, specifically near the end, but they aren't really that jarring. Up until around hour 15 I felt ambivalent, if not slightly positive about the game's design and play. However, the last 10 hours ultimately became a monotonous slog as enemies gained spongier and spongier health bars and the game necessitated more and more grinding to unlock the endgame content. While I recognize "Grind" is quite literally in the name, there are good and bad ways to implement grindy systems (See diablo 2 for an example of a good grindy gameplay loop). The grind is unfortunately strictly necessary for unlocking the true final boss fight which, while a thrilling climax, felt somewhat hollow given the tedium and boredom it took to get there. In addition to the content gating systems the game employs the game also supports wide variety of different build options to theoretically support multiple different ways to engage in the games combat. Unfortunately build diversity is not well supported as the sheer number of skills is once again tedious to sift through when ultimately the bosses hit too hard and the upgrades favor only and handful of play methods to recommend anything beyond a magic ranged build (summoner or spell slinger). This makes the remainder of the skills feel quite disappointing and obfuscates one of the most enjoyable parts of build/theory crafting in games with mechanics and systems like these. Worse off, the game does not encourage build experimentation as it locks spec-refund costs behind cumbersome menu-ing and high gameplay currency costs. Ultimately the game shows considerable heart and I think the developers are capable of creating a great game, but given the lack of mechanical polish in this game and tedious gameplay gating mechanisms for the true ending, I really cannot recommend the game. When it comes to titles in this genre there are plenty of other titles to try first.