GRIME review: A demanding soulslike metroidvania

This is not the first time that the kind of metroidvania mixes soulslike. However, not all of them turned out to be as good as hollow knight or the one that concerns us today: DIRT. A game that’s been garnering strong reviews on PC for a while, but now it has landed on our consoles.

To put you in situation, we control a rocky being with a black hole for head formed by the union of two gods, in a dark and also very “geological” world.

Keep reading this review and you will find out why it is one of the best options of its kind so far.

curious artistic design

The art design (and even that of the enemies) is based on the rocks, situating us mainly in caves. The darkness and decadence predominate without a doubt. We also visited a few exteriors, but just as dark and decadent.

Common enemies have forms ranging from humanoid to quadrupedal. Some even recall a face hug from the famous movie franchise: Extraterrestrial. Some charge with a sword, some with a spear and shield, some go with a clean punch…

Bosses are usually large in size, and similar to common enemies, they have different shapes with similar appearances to animals, insects, etc. All without leaving aside the emphasis on stones.

Basic GRIME mechanics

The mechanics are mainly based on exploration, parry and dodging. Regarding exploration, we have backtrackwho returns to the areas already visited to recover things that we were able to leave. There are many hidden paths They are not easy to find, so we will always have to be on the alert. The map is very labyrinthine, which is sometimes confusing when trying to find an important item, but that’s usually typical of this type of game.

The counter-attack (or “parry”) is really important. It’s not just a mechanic that allows us to do a lot of damage to enemies, but rather thanks to this we can absorb enemies and we will have access to new skills and improvements. In DIRT the parry becomes a more than essential mechanism. we have a Blast bar that doubles as a typical health potionand it recharges using the counterattack or with substances scattered on the map that we can absorb.

Dodging is based on dashes (quick side-to-side movements) it has the same importance that it can have in any soul. It is something almost totally necessary and that we will use infinite times knowing the amount of health that any evil being takes away from us, in addition to allowing us to reach certain areas that are a priori inaccessible.

Every time we die we will leave a receptacle where we failed. By destroying it, gives us some health and half the burn we had before dying. Ardor means that the more it increases, the more Mass we will get (the “currency” of the game).

The path to the final bosses

The middle path between the final bosses is undoubtedly the hardest part of DIRT. All scenarios are full of traps which, although they don’t kill us instantly, do take away a fair amount of health. We must therefore constantly pay attention to these pitfalls and know how to avoid them.

This, of course, without forgetting about the enemies, of which it is not that there is an exaggerated amount, but some are really difficult and very fast. You have to know when to attack even the smallest ones. Some attack from range, some fly, and some attack melee.

We have checkpoints scattered on the map which you won’t be able to travel between until you finish the game (which doesn’t make much sense, in my opinion), so if you want to get from one place to another, you’ll have to move . However, there are portals that we can use to travel from one area to another.

The card does not unlock automaticallybut you have to look for a crystal that is usually not very difficult to find, since it emits a somewhat annoying beep when we are close and lets us see guide lights that indicate where it is.

the final bosses

As for the bosses, I don’t think the fight is too complicated. They have their difficulty and can make you feel a little desperate, but I personally suffered a lot more from traversing the map than from defeating these towering enemies. It’s just something I wanted to comment on, but I don’t consider it a positive or negative.

What’s definitely a plus point is the mechanics of the fights themselves against these big guys, and that’s that each is very different from the other and requires different strategies. For some it will be necessary to dodge, for others to use the parry, for others to attack without stopping… We will even have a fight against more than one at a time, and as we subtract their life they will change phase, so the fights are always very varied. In short, they serve perfectly to perfect our skills, if we have not already done so during the intermediate course.

Further information, not all patterns are required to advance the adventure. There are options that, having found them, we are free to decide whether to hunt them down or not. Although it is advisable to do so in order to learn new skills.

Skills, upgrades and equipment

Like a good soul like metroidvania, in DIRT We have both different important skills and equipment, and it is possible to improve both.

We unlock abilities by defeating final bosses or absorbing different enemies with parry. They range from the ability to sprint to the ability to telekinetically pull objects or enemies.. Some are required to move forward and some are not, but they go a long way towards making the journey easier.

There are different weapons and armor that we will have to wear depending on how we like to play. You will have to take into account what each piece of equipment brings you depending on whether you rely on strength, or dexterity, etc. It is also possible to change the appearance of our armor while maintaining the attributes of the one we wear. That is to say “change skin”.

Skills obtained by absorbing enemies can be upgraded using the hunting points of the altars which serve as checkpoints. These hunting points are obtained by killing certain criminals. Also, it is also important upgrade weapons in a blacksmith using Mass and some hard-to-find materials, to increase the amount of damage they deal.

of course also hay higher level of different attributes such as vitality, vigor, strength, etc. You will have to know how to choose the levels to climb according to your way of facing the adventure, but if you regret it, there is the possibility of restarting the levels to correct them.

In short, GRIME is…

DIRT It’s a title more than quality for metroidvania and soulslike lovers. It turns out to be one of the greats of this mixture of genres with a very good art design, very interesting boss fightsand original use of the parry system and an fairly high difficulty at certain points.

Even with its few buts, this proposal for Akupara Games y Clover Cock is more than a”dark souls in 2D». If you have patience with the issue of difficulty, I assure you that it does not disappoint at all.

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