Become a buff man with a black hole noggin in Grime today
Not quite *human* mind you, kinda more of a rock-person
If you fancy trudging around in a gloomy series of caves and absorbing the lifeforce and abilities of your enemies, you might want to take a look at Grime. It's an action-RPG metroidvania in which you play as a really buff rock/man/thing with a black hole for a head. The world is filled with other strange rock-creatures and you can absorb them by timing attacks just right. It's pretty fun! And kinda weird.
I tried out Grime via its free demo (which is still available on the Steam page!) and it was a very pleasant bit of metroidvania-ing - I say pleasant, I mean it was dark and foreboding, but in a good kind of way.
When you start, you're plopped into a cave system with nothing but your rockin' bod and black hole noggin to see you through. As you travel through the gloom, you can fight creatures by performing a well-timed parry, which absorbs a bit of their essence, allowing you to heal, and also gain a certain stat from them when you level up. There are weapons too, which are helpful for the larger enemies, but mostly you just wanna slurp the baddies up for some sweet benefits. Oh! Also your black hole dome can reflect projectiles with that parry too, it's very satisfying.
I'm always a little wary of new metroidvanias because if the controls aren't tight and nice to use I get fed up immediately, regardless of how good the rest of the game might be. I'm happy to report that Grime controls beautifully (on a controller, that is), letting you smoothly dash and leap through platforming puzzles. I'm very much looking forward to playing through more.
Matthew also thought Grime was pretty good when he had a go during the Steam Next Fest (you can hear his words about it in the Weekspot vid above).
The game is made by Clover Bite and published by Akupara Games. When they announced the release date back in June, game director Yarden Weissbrot said he was inspired by games like Legacy Of Kain and Salt & Sanctuary.
If you'd like to try it for yourself, Grime is out now on Steam priced at £18/€19/$23.