Grim Dawn - Forgotten Gods Expansion Review Summary

Oathkeeper class and DLC are excellent with an epic final boss, but the disconnected story, short expansion, and tedious Shattered Realm mode drag it down.

Oathkeeper class is amazing: The new Oathkeeper class is repeatedly highlighted as amazing, fantastic, versatile, and exciting, with unique abilities that are satisfying to use. It is seen as a great addition to the game.

DLC is satisfying and excellent: Players consistently praise the DLC as satisfying, great, and done right, with excellent value for money. This feedback spans multiple clusters, indicating high overall satisfaction with the expansion.

Final boss fight is epic: The final boss is described as the best encounter in the game, with an epic and enjoyable fight. This boss battle stands out as a highlight of the expansion.

Item set transmutation feature appreciated: Players value the ability to transmute duplicate set items into other set items, which reduces grinding and frustration. This quality-of-life feature makes collecting sets easier and is widely praised.

New factions complement base game: The addition of four new factions (three friendly, one enemy) is seen as complementary to the base game, enriching the world and gameplay.

Story is disconnected and weak: The narrative is often described as disjointed, lacking connection to the main plot, and featuring forced motivations for the protagonist. Many players felt the story was a sidestep rather than a continuation.

Expansion is disappointingly short: Many reviewers noted the expansion's campaign is very short, often completed in 2-4 hours, with less content than expected. This brevity is a recurring complaint across multiple clusters, indicating a significant letdown.

Shattered Realm mode is tedious: The new Shattered Realm mode is criticized as repetitive, boring, and similar to the Crucible mode, with rewards delayed and mechanics feeling copy-pasted. Many players found it unengaging and poorly designed.

Boss difficulty spikes poorly: Several bosses, especially Korvak and Callagadra, are either brutally difficult with one-shot mechanics or disappointingly weak for a god. The balancing feels inconsistent, leading to frustrating or anticlimactic fights.

Level design is poor: Map layouts are often described as confusing mazes, with visually monotonous desert areas and lack of memorable locations. This made navigation and exploration unpleasant, reducing the incentive to explore.

Shattered Realm is new mode: The Shattered Realm is a new endgame mode introduced by the expansion. It is described as a roguelike, replayable mode with escalating challenges and an endless dungeon structure.

Oathkeeper class introduced: The expansion adds the Oathkeeper, a divine warrior class wielding a shield and fire sword, supporting fire and physical damage. This class enables 36 new class combinations.

Shattered Realm like Crucible: Players note the Shattered Realm resembles the Crucible mode but is organized by randomized locations instead of waves. It is also compared to Diablo 3's greater rifts and serves as an alternative to farming campaign bosses.

New act and mastery: The expansion adds a new act with a couple hours of content and a new mastery. This provides additional gameplay for players seeking more story-driven content.

New roguelike dungeon mode: The DLC includes a roguelike-style dungeon with endless progression. Players must survive as many levels as possible against bosses to earn better rewards.

Crashes in multiplayer and expansions: The game crashes every 1-2 hours in multiplayer and had unexpected client crashes on day one of the expansion release. These crashes are frequent and interrupt gameplay sessions.

Crashes on 64-bit version: The game crashes frequently on the 64-bit version but not on the 32-bit version, suggesting a compatibility issue for some users. Also, frequent crashes with errors are reported, possibly related to the 64-bit executable.

Performance issues under load: Players report heavy lag when many enemies appear on screen and hitches from constant texture loading for enemies and the player character. These issues can disrupt combat and immersion.

Memory leak in Shattered Realm: Players experience a memory leak when changing zones in Shattered Realms, which may lead to performance degradation over time. The mode can also lag, indicating stability issues in this area.

Visuals and optimization overall improved: Visuals and optimization have improved, though not perfect, indicating a generally positive trend. There are still some small bugs that remain, but the overall experience benefits from these enhancements.

Recommended for Grim Dawn fans: Multiple reviewers strongly recommend this expansion for fans of Grim Dawn, citing that it delivers more of the core game. It is praised as a must-have for enthusiasts.

Wait for sale consideration: Several reviewers recommend waiting for a sale before purchasing, especially if funds are limited or if there are other games to play. Discounts around 30% are suggested as a good time to buy.

Buy with Ashes of Malmouth: Reviewers suggest purchasing Forgotten Gods alongside Ashes of Malmouth, as both expansions together provide the most content and value. It is recommended to buy both DLCs for the full experience.

Mixed on story and tone: Some reviewers note that the story and tone of Forgotten Gods differ from the main game, with a shift that may not appeal to everyone. A recommendation depends on whether the player can forgive this tonal change.

Praised for new content: The expansion is praised for adding new locations, monsters, loot, and a new class, contributing to build diversity and replayability. These additions are a highlight for many players.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00.

The game is fun immediately thanks to engaging combat and atmosphere, but endgame progression becomes a repetitive grind, causing enjoyment to drop significantly for many players.

Veteran Grind-Weary: Solo min-maxer who pushes high-level content and farms endgame gear. Motivation: Buildcrafting and solo ARPG depth, but they want rewarding progression without obsessive grinding. Stance: deep sale.

Lore and Atmosphere Purist: Solo player who reads all lore, role-plays as a specific faction, and prioritizes narrative consistency over progression. Motivation: Immersive storytelling and coherent world mythology. Stance: sale.

Quality-of-Life Pragmatist: Solo player who uses skip mechanics to bypass old content and avoids problematic multiplayer modes. Motivation: Time-efficient play and stable performance. Stance: sale.

Steam Deck: The reviews indicate that the game runs exceptionally well on Linux via Proton, with only a minor renderer selection requirement. No crashes, unreadable text, or launcher issues were mentioned, making it a low-friction experience for Steam Deck users.

Linux and Proton: User feedback indicates strong positive Linux/Proton compatibility. Two reviews explicitly praise hassle-free operation under GNU/Linux and Ubuntu with Proton 4.11-12, including smooth performance on Nvidia hardware. No negative Linux-specific feedback exists in the dataset.

Monetization: The filtered reviews contain no evidence of microtransactions, pay-to-win mechanics, gacha, loot boxes, or a real-money shop. Complaints are limited to DLC pricing (regional increases, perceived value) and DLC dependency/playability restrictions. The game appears to follow a traditional expansion model with one-time purchases.

Compared unfavorably to Ashes: The expansion is often compared to Ashes of Malmouth, with many reviewers feeling it is shorter, smaller, or less substantial in content.

Requires Ashes of Malmouth: Multiple reviews state that this expansion requires ownership of the Ashes of Malmouth DLC, which is seen as a negative point for players who do not own it.

Comparisons to Diablo series: The game and expansion are compared to Diablo 2, 3, and 4, with some claiming it is a good alternative or even superior.

Smaller scale than Malmouth: The expansion is described as smaller in scale compared to Ashes of Malmouth, with some calling it more of a modern-era DLC.

Value questioned vs cost: Some reviewers note the expansion costs nearly the same as Ashes of Malmouth but offers less content, leading to mixed value opinions.