When comparing Pyre vs Grim Dawn, the Slant community recommends Pyre for most people. In the question“What are the best singleplayer games on Steam?” Pyre is ranked 87th while Grim Dawn is ranked 97th. The most important reason people chose Pyre is:
Pyre is a mix of a fantasy visual novel with sports gameplay that links back to the plot. The story tells the tale of the game's many exiles, characters who were sent to Pyre's version of purgatory. These exiles can only return home by conquering the Rites alongside you, the game's 3v3 sport. As the story progresses, you grow close to the characters while learning about their backstories and motivation. Once they achieve their freedom, it will be time to say goodbye. There's a sense of accomplishment from growing attached to each of your team members while helping them return back home.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Memorable story that blends with gameplay
Pyre is a mix of a fantasy visual novel with sports gameplay that links back to the plot. The story tells the tale of the game's many exiles, characters who were sent to Pyre's version of purgatory. These exiles can only return home by conquering the Rites alongside you, the game's 3v3 sport. As the story progresses, you grow close to the characters while learning about their backstories and motivation. Once they achieve their freedom, it will be time to say goodbye. There's a sense of accomplishment from growing attached to each of your team members while helping them return back home.
Pro Compelling characters
The characters you meet across the game who join your team as exiles all have their own backgrounds, quirks and motivations, making them feel real and full of life. Jodariel, the imposing, horned blonde woman featured in many of Pyre's promotional material, is a fan-favorite with an intriguing yet tragic backstory that belies her appearance. Every character throughout the story is just as compelling and memorable, making you want to help them through the Rites and for them to return back home.
Pro Excellent music
Pyre's music is a breath of fresh air filled with rustic, down-to-earth tunes. With warm acoustic guitar melodies for story scenes and high-energy, rock-influenced tracks for the Rites, the soundtrack features a blend of different sounds that all come together nicely.
Pro Detailed artwork
Pyre's art is beautiful and well-crafted, with bright colors, great attention to detail, and character designs that reflect the exiles' roles on the playing field. Characters like Volfred Sandalwood have smart designs, with Volfred in particular designed as a commanding man who carries importance, with his bulk mirroring his role as a defensive player in the Rites.
Pro Complex leveling system with thousands of possible builds
Basically you choose 1 class and select skills as you level up. At level 10 you can select a second class, which already gives you 5x5=25 character type possibilities.
Each character has dozens of skills, plus you have this additional passive skill tree that you unlock through cleansing shrines. Then there is item customization with crafted "modifiers", adding additional unique stats and skills that you can use, all this adds literally to thousands / millions of character possibilities.
Do you want to use a double weapon shooting lightning bolts? You can do that. Do you want to summon your creatures and support them with fireballs? You can do that as well, you can push it wherever you want.
Pro Great homage to old school ARPGs
This game is very dark, and grim. It harkens back to games like Diablo 2 or Titans Quest. While other ARPGs have come out since then, none have hit all the marks of what fans of the genre have been asking for. For those that wish for an updated version of Diablo 2, Grim Dawn is the game for them.
Pro Exploration
Pro Highly modifiable
Relevant in modern gaming because the community can keep products like this fresh and varied, even if the developers eventually decide to slow down their updates (which they have not!). The possibilities are great with modding, while the experiences in Diablo 3 and Path of exile are a lot more static.
Pro Drop-in co-op (online and local)
Co-op is pretty convenient as players can drop in and out of your gaming session at any time. This way there is no wasted time jumping out of ones game in order to find players to play with.
Cons
Con Versus play is local only
Playing matches against other people is limited to local matches. The Rites have a lot of potential for a larger multiplayer mode against players around the world.
Con A lot of text
The visual novel aspect of Pyre may be a lot to deal with for some, despite the well-written story and characters. Unless you have the patience to read a lot of text, then Pyre may not be for you.
Con Too easy at times
Even playing on normal mode, Pyre's Rites may be too easy to complete for some players. Adjusting or customizing the difficulty may be necessary for those looking for a bit more of a challenge.
Con Only some builds are fun
There is a definite meta, with superefficient vs non-viable builds.
It's easy to mess up a build, and attribute and spec-bar points are non-respeccable (you can use a cheat editor, but devs want you to reroll a new char).
Con Difficult to move when fighting, especially when you are ranged
Con Static pre-rendered levels
This may cut down on replayability a bit as all the levels in the game are pre-rendered, meaning that each playthrough will have the exact same layout, making for something that can get tiring and too familiar. Similar games have gone with randomized levels, which can keep the game fresh. While Grim Dawn is meant to be a throwback to earlier games in the genre, some newer features found in more recent released would have been welcome.
Con Lots of trips to town
The majority of loot in the game can be useless, with odd stat restrictions or repeats of vendor items. This means the user will need to make many trips into town to sell it all off in order to have room for even more loot they will not necessarily need.