Especially seeing all the streamers and content creators attempt to try to enjoy grim dawn and milk it while the hype is at a high point

Give me Grim Dawn 2 instead Crate

It's made with python + raylib

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4840980/Bound_to_Rot/

I've been working on Hollow, a dark fantasy ARPG inspired by the atmosphere of classic dungeon crawlers.

One thing I've been focusing on is making melee combat feel impactful instead of floaty. This clip shows one of the current combat encounters.

I'm still polishing everything before the Steam demo launches on July 23, so I'd appreciate honest feedback from people who play a lot of ARPGs.

What's working here, and what would you improve?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/4901160/Hollow/

Follow on Discord: https://discord.gg/jB2nWG3N8

Blood is a low fantasy multiplayer RPG built around one brutal truth: death is permanent. But your legacy is not.

When your character dies, they are gone. But in Valdenmoor, death is not the punishment it is in other worlds — it is a transition. Your heirs carry forward the skills, knowledge, and power your fallen warrior earned in life. You return not as a stranger to the world, but as the next chapter of a story already in motion. Weaker perhaps in body, but never starting from nothing. Never starting from zero.

Your bloodline carries on. Your estate. Your legacy. In the world of Valdenmoor, death is not an ending — it is a passage. The fallen become memory, and memory becomes power. Those who inherit the blood of warriors carry with them the echoes of every battle their ancestors fought, every alliance forged, every enemy made. You do not return from death. Your heirs rise from it.

They inherit what you built. They inherit what you lost. And they inherit the enemies you made along the way. For the player, this means that when your warrior falls, you step into the life of your heir — shaped by everything that came before them, and facing a world that already knows your family name.

Valdenmoor does not welcome the uninitiated. There are no glowing markers showing you where to go. No quest arrows. No tooltips reminding you how to survive. This is a world that existed long before you arrived and will continue long after you are gone. Knowledge is earned, passed down through bloodlines, bought with failure and paid for in lives. The weak do not last. The ignorant do not last. But those who learn — those who adapt, who build alliances, who understand that Valdenmoor rewards patience and punishes arrogance — they build legacies that echo through generations.

Blood is being built by a solo developer with a vision for something the MMO space has never delivered — a world where every decision carries real weight, every battle has genuine stakes, and the passage of time and loss of life actually means something.

We’re building this game for players who are tired of dying meaning nothing. For players who have watched the MMO genre become a theme park — safe, predictable, and consequence-free. For players who remember when an online world felt dangerous. When losing something actually hurt. When the person next to you could be your greatest ally or your worst enemy and you genuinely couldn’t tell which. For players who want to build something that outlasts them — a family legacy, an estate, a name that other players will come to know and either respect or fear.

Currently in development for PC with estate management available on mobile, Blood is moving from multiplayer demo toward a full MMO release.

This is the game for people who want to feel it.

Not really impressed. Just basic shooting feels like a chore. Imagine if you started up a game of Diablo and your basic sword needed 3 seconds to recharge every time you swung it 5 times, that's how it feels reloading in this game.

But the most unsatisfying part of this game is how often your shots miss. Yes, the game expects you to painstakingly aim at even basic enemies in order to make your bullets go where you want them to. In my time playing the demo, I never felt in danger of dying, so it's not about difficulty, it's just a fun factor thing. I tried two different skills, both felt equally unsatisfying.

Now it's a demo so obviously there's a lot of bugs, janky animations and unpolished graphics, but I'm not really even ragging on it for that.

It's just a painfully unsatisfying game to play in the current state, I don't expect that to change on release.

Been chipping away at a pixel art RPG that runs straight in the browser, no engine, just canvas and a pile of vanilla JS. This is one of the cave enemies.

It's loosely based on the Gulyabani, a creature from Turkish folklore that supposedly haunts deserted places at night and messes with travelers. Mine ended up more of a hunched stone thing than the classic version, but the name stuck.

5 animation rows (idle 8, walk 8, attack 8, hurt 6, death 9). The attack lands on frame 6 so the telegraph reads clearly before it connects, that took way more tweaking than I expected.

Still not happy with the walk cycle, the weight shift feels off to me but I've stared at it too long to tell anymore. Open to critique.

I haven't played it yet myself (gonna have to wait till evening) but I caught the news on Discord so sharing it here as a matter of courtesy.

How is it so far, if you got a chance to try it?

https://discord.gg/9jPzzxv2V

Update: I've made a ton of progress! The heredity system is well under way. For those not familiar, this game has elements of permadeath. When you die, you're dead. However, you then have the option to continue play thru your heir, choosing whether your son or your daughter will become the leader of your estate and allow you to continue your adventure. Additionally, while chopping wood and mining will be an option for the player, you can also have your children do this for you while you play, Whats currently done with the heredity system: 1) Your kids have a schedule. They wake up, eat breakfast, train in the courtyard, play with the other kids in the courtyard (there are 4 families in the demo so up to 4 people can play together), chop wood, mine ore, eat dinner and go to bed. 2) Your kids sense when an enemy is near. Your kids can die, too and there are roaming monsters (not just static spawns). So when a hostile enemy is withing 50 meters, the kids run into the house and wait until the threat is gone. This doesnt mean they will always escape danger. If one of the large horde's of undead wander by, they're in trouble. What's currently being developed: 1) The die and choose succession should be done today. This is actually a much easier system than the kids AI schedule. 2) surprisingly, one of the hardest things to do is get AI to properly sit in a chair, or lay in a bed. 3) Same with doors. AI gets stuck on doors. GRRRR!

After the heredity system is complete, the next task is completing the storyline for the demo. After that, some smoothing and tweaking.

Everything is still on schedule. We are still on track for an August release of the full demo with an eye on a Steam release.

Hey guys,

Fellow ARPG addict here.

I play way too much PoE, D4, and Last Epoch. Every time a new league or cycle gets announced, I find myself opening 10 different browser tabs, checking random Discord posts, and trying to figure out if seasons overlap so I can plan my time (and time off work lol).

I'm honestly not some senior dev genius, but I decided to sit down and build a simple visual tracker for myself to keep everything in one place. It turned out surprisingly clean, so I polished it up and wanted to share it with you guys in case someone finds it useful too.

It’s called SeasonForge.

What it actually does:

• Visual Timeline: A simple timeline showing active seasons and release dates for PoE 1 & 2, Diablo IV, Last Epoch, and Torchlight Infinite side-by-side.
• Countdowns & History: Live timers to the exact start date + archive of how long previous seasons lasted.
• OBS Widgets: Added a basic overlay for streamers to throw countdowns on their "starting soon" screens (mostly because I thought it'd look cool).
• Mobile View: Adapted it so it actually works fine on phones.

It’s 100% free, no ads, no sign-ups or registration, just a clean site.

Since I built this solo as a pet project, there might still be some bugs or missing details. I’d really appreciate it if you checked it out and told me what’s broken or what features/games I should add next!

Link: https://seasonforge.online/

https://itch.io/jam/solarus-jam

Welcome to the Solarus Game Jam! Your goal: build a game using the Solarus 2 engine. Solarus 2 is best known as an engine for developing 2D Zelda-inspired games, with its built-in features and community resources largely made for top-down action RPGs. However, you are not restricted to any one genre for this jam- so long as you can build it in this engine!

Information, downloads, and other resources about the engine can be found here: https://www.solarus-games.org/

Some orientation greatly appreciated.

M

I'm still kinda new to the genre. I've already played:
— PoE2
— Diablo 4
— Torchlight 2
— Grim Dawn
— Diablo 3 (enjoyed it the most)

1. I didn't like D4, it's super messy and clunky. I can't stand Druid and Sorc animations, it's absolutely terrible. The combat doesn't feel impactful at all. I don't get it, how could they screw up the way the combat feels comparing to D3?
2. PoE2 is way too complex, it tries to become your second job, which I don't like. I'm more like a dad gamer, looking for fast dopamine.
3. With all the respect, Grim Dawn feels outdated and unpolished, even comparing to D3. Also, I hate quests descriptions, it's super vague.
4. D3 is great for me in every aspect, but it's endgame is kinda the same 15 maps. So I'm looking for something more modern and new.

I know this sounds a bit like nitpicking, but what would you recommend playing in my case? Thanks in advance!

Can hardly last an hour these days before the wrist yells at me. Any tips for a 40 year old sweatlord?

Alright fellas... lay it on me. Why do you think this game is great?

I want to be convinced... please.

So I recently asked about good ways to play ARPG on the go, I think my best solution is just to use a tablet or phone and download one of the play store ones.

However what are the better options currently ?

I played TLI but that game is now soo heavily P2W its just not fun to play so looking for other options. I know there is some diablo 2 for mobile stuff ect.

New expansion is about $50aud... wtf? ROTW copped so much shit for 'being too expensive' but no one bats a fucken eye over grimdawns expansion price? The only reason people like grim dawn is because they have such low standards for it. I bought this game on release... and i've tried over and over again to like it but it is just average at best.

What do you think of my pixel-art bone knight design for the game? I'm open to your feedback.

Hello!

After my 600 Hours of PoE2 i want to try a Diablo Game for the first time. Now i´ve played the free trial of D4 and i was loving it. Thinking about getting D3 on the switch, but how does it feel? Is it a good way to enjoy the game? The only thing really holding me back is that there is no crossplay, but then again i will play alone anyways.

While a lot of us were impressed with amount of content that was added or changed in POE2 0.5, just wanted to point out that amount of work that was done post season start is monumental as well.

There were 4 significant patches that changed quite a few mechanics including changing expedition to become most difficult and rewarding content, while rest were hotfixes a lot of them were not insignificant including balance changes where needed as well. Significant portion of it happened in first few weeks of the season, so it was done with good pace.

And before somebody will point out that a lot of hotfixes means a lot of bugs to begin with - sure, but considering amount of changes to the game it was kinda expected. And if I had a choice between more content with more bugs, but rapid fixes vs playing it safe, minimizing content changes, I'd always would pick the first option.

Here is the link to patches/hotfixes page if you want to check it yourself: https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-forum/2212/page/1

Everyone says poe is the true successor to Diablo II, and I absolutely love d2. But after about 60 hours, I still haven't been able to enjoy poe consistanly.

I'm currently in Act 8, and I just don't understand why the campaign is so long and, to me, so dull. I read every dialogue and every piece of lore, but I still have no idea who most of these people are. Everything just blends together into one giant blur.

And I don't think it's because the game is "too complicated." That's what everyone warned me about, but complexity isn't my problem at all. In fact, I actually like the passive skill tree that everyone says is intimidating.

What I don't like is that combat doesn't feel meaningful.

In d2 I enjoy fighting through carefully designed encounters, discovering new monsters, exploring memorable locations, and finding exciting loot. Every new playthrough still feels rewarding to me.

In poe, monsters die in a second. Thousands of items drop everywhere. There are countless different currencies. None of it feels exciting because I upgraded my mace three or four acts ago using what felt like a very boring crafting system that mostly just increased numbers.

I don't enjoy the idea of taking one mediocre axe and gradually turning it into a good axe through crafting. I enjoy finding an amazing unique axe that immediately changes how I feel about my character, like in d2.

I also don't like how I'm constantly interrupted by npcs and mechanics from I guess an old seasons. Every few minutes another activity appears in the middle of the campaign and completely breaks my flow. It feels like the game keeps pulling me away from what I was actually doing.

And the thing that bothers me more than anything else:

Every time I leave an area whether it's to visit town or enter a vaal side area, the entire map just resets and regenerates.

I honestly can't describe how much I hate this.

If I've already explored and cleared an area, I want it to stay explored and cleared until I quit the game. That's just how I expect games to work. I don't want to clear the same level again and again simply because I left it for a few minutes.

I tried Ruthless mode, and honestly it felt so much better. The game immediately became more enjoyable because loot actually mattered instead of exploding everywhere nonstop.

The problem is that ruthless also removes or changes a lot of content and mechanics, so it feels like I'm playing a niche alternate version of the game rather than experiencing what poe is actually supposed to be.

What am I doing wrong?

How can I better understand and appreciate poe without following guides or watching hours of tutorials?

I'd really like to finish the campaign at least once before coming back to poe2 which I like much more (still way too much loot, stupid seasonal activities and bullshit regeneration of locations but what can you do, at least combat is much better). I want to understand why so many people consider poe the best ARPG ever made.

Right now, though, it feels like the most boring ARPG I've ever played.

The best way I can describe it is this:

It feels like sitting in front of a gigantic bowl of completely flavorless soup. You keep eating because everyone tells you there's something incredible at the bottom. But every time you get close, someone just pours in another gigantic ladle: more meaningless loot, more currencies, more league mechanics interrupting the campaign, more lore that I carefully read but can't keep straight, more monsters that instantly explode, more visual clutter covering the screen, I can't see anything.

And then, just for good measure, the same area gets regenerated again because I visited town or entered a side area.

You say: "You're just a filthy casual. PoE is hard.", but none of my complaints are about difficulty. I like the passive tree and the Ascendancy system. And I actually wish combat were more deliberate and meaningful, like in d2 (I know that I say "like in d2" a lot, but everybody was saying "oh my god poe is like more d2 than d3 and d4")

But I still want to understand poe before I leave it behind.

A few minutes ago, I deleted my level 67 character in Act 8 after about 40–50 hours because I just couldn't take one more full map reset in the middle of my session.

(yes, I know I'm slow, that's intentional, in d2 after twenty years and hundreds of characters, one act still takes me 6–10 hours because I explore everything, kill everything, read everything, and enjoy every minute of it, please don't tell me to rush through the campaign in 30 minutes, that is the exact opposite of how I enjoy arpgs)

But with the new league around the corner I want to take a breath, start over, and give poe one more honest chance. So help me understand what I'm missing. And please be chill about it, I know poe is sacred among arpg fans, but that's what I don't get, because d2 I get and d2 is my favorite (Grim Dawn is second).

P.S. And another one. I finally died to a boss in act 8 (mostly because the entire screen was covered in effects and I couldn't see or understand what was happening). Then I died to the same boss two more times.

But every single time, I respawned right next to the fight, the boss still had all the damage I had already dealt to it, and the battle simply continued from exactly where it had stopped. People constantly describe PoE as a “hardcore” game, and I genuinely don't understand where that hardcore aspect is supposed to be if I can die as many times as I want and just keep chipping away at a boss from the same point.

Even d4 feels more hardcore than this, because when you die to a boss there, the boss resets to full health and you have to win the entire fight from the beginning.

This was another major blow to my sense that anything happening in poe actually matters. If death barely interrupts the fight and I can eventually kill anything just by repeatedly throwing myself at it, then I honestly don't understand what the stakes are, what I'm supposed to be accomplishing, or why I'm even playing.

as per title.

looking for recommendations for pc arpgs that play like diablo.

bonus if:

• good character customization (no gender locked classes)
• good npc interaction (i know its tough....but maybe something like how baldurs gate 3 handles npc relationship building?)
• medieval fantasy (like diablo, Skyrim, etc....).

looking at grim dawn but im curious if there are other options.

i mostly play alone; if the baby wakes up, i can save+quit and nobody will get mad if i need to quit mid-quest

sailor here, i did not dabble in the genre that much other than d4, poe1 and poe2

my fav from the three is poe1, however due to my profession i work in the middle of the ocean with pretty weak ping (we have starlink that is faster than my home wifi but servers are so far away)

are there any offline arpgs that are similar in regards to poe? if i can sink lots of hours into a build without getting burnt out thatd be amazing?

or it can be an arpg where the server system is like gta 5 online where the server is local so i dont get any ping at all

those still seeing this post, ive decided on both grim dawn and project d2, however id like to hear from those who play them on handhelds as im interested in using one for a short while