When comparing Don't Knock Twice vs Grim Dawn, the Slant community recommends Grim Dawn for most people. In the question“What are the best indie games on Steam?” Grim Dawn is ranked 37th while Don't Knock Twice is ranked 80th. The most important reason people chose Grim Dawn is:
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.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Creepy experience thanks to the setting
Exploring the mansion itself is a tense and creepy experience. Everything is unfamiliar, and there's a generous amount of disturbing moments like a bathtub filled with a sticky black substance or watching a shadowy figure get sucked out of a window. Rooms and hallways are incredibly dark, with a lot of ominous corners and shadowy spaces. Occasional scratches and tapping noises can be heard in far off rooms, making it seem like you are not entirely alone. Pictures fall off the walls and windows suddenly explode into showers of glass. There are plenty of carefully placed jump scares that create tension in all the right moments. There is no doubt you are playing a horror game, and the setting enables a very disturbing experience overall.
Pro Constant sense of tension due to creative use of a phone
As you wander around the mansion as Jess, you will occasionally get a text message from your daughter Chloe. It's quite a decent jump scare when you're exploring a dark, silent room, only to have the silence broken by your phone buzzing and vibrating with a loud text. The little burst of fear and subsequent jump you get each time the phone rings in the darkness is a great way to add an extra layer of tension to the game. The messages themselves are rather cryptic and creepy with Chloe often telling us she wishes we were dead. You're never quite sure when or where the phone is going to go off, making it unpredictable and tense for the duration of the game.
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 Extremely linear gameplay
The game mainly consists of going from room to room, dealing with the frights and puzzles within, and then moving onto the next room. Puzzles are basic, with the solution usually being found within the same general area. The whole game feels like it's on rails, with rooms often sealing off once you've moved to the next one. While the setting and atmosphere is highly creepy, the gameplay itself is almost like a walking simulator with added jump scares.
Con Managing the axe is tedious
In your hand, you carry an important axe that is used to chop through locked doors and other barriers. In order to use or interact with items, sometimes you have to put down your axe. There is no inventory system, so if you put your axe down to do something else, you will have to remember to pick it up again. If you forgot you where you left it, you are left scrambling around to look for it. This is a very poorly designed system that can result in loads of frustration, tedious and unnecessary button presses, and tons of wasted time.
It's also important to note that since it's very possible to forget where you left your axe, and some rooms seal off after you've explored them, it's entirely possible to hit a dead end runthrough and be forced to restart.
Con Very short
The whole game can be completed in an hour, which is a far cry from the developers' claim of a "full length experience".
Con Generic story probably won't hold your interest
It's just another copy and paste paranormal story that doesn't really add anything new or exciting. You play as a mother named Jess, as she is attempting to reconnect with her estranged daughter Chloe. However, Chloe is on the run from some strange paranormal forces who are trying to harm her. In order to help her, you must search a mansion for pieces of a relic that can summon an evil witch. It's about as nonsensical as it sounds. Don't Knock Twice is based on the movie of the same name which was not well received.
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.