When comparing Warhammer: Vermintide 2 vs Grim Dawn, the Slant community recommends Grim Dawn for most people. In the question“What are the best hack and slash PC games?” Grim Dawn is ranked 4th while Warhammer: Vermintide 2 is ranked 26th. 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
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Pros
Pro Dynamic enemy placements to keep the action exciting
This game always keeps you on your toes by having enemies that can appear anywhere. Whether you've just turned a corner, climbed a ladder, or destroyed a wall with a cannon, there's no telling when and where the monsters will spring a chaotic ambush. This is accomplished through an overhead AI system that watches your path and pace through the level, placing enemies dynamically wherever you tread. As a result, replaying levels often leads to wildly different experiences, preventing the action from going stale for a long time.
Pro Weapon choice actually matters with each weapon type providing its own playstyle
Weapons have their own stats and special bonuses like critical strike based on what random stats your loot happened to roll, but what's especially interesting is the weapon type themselves vary in their physical combat capabilities like speed, damage, and swing arc. For example, swords have a wider swing arc than maces, making them better for taking out large groups of monsters. Daggers are quick and require timing to use properly. Spears are slow but have a huge arc and can knock down enemies. This adds a strategic element to play as you'll have to choose the right weapon to get the job done.
Pro No microtransactions
Everything is completely available and included in the cost the game. It has no microtransactions. All loot and loot boxes are earned via normal gameplay by completing levels and leveling up your character.
Pro Heroic Deeds give you the opportunity to replay levels in new and exciting ways
A Heroic Deed is a consumable item that lets you replay levels with specific challenges and modifiers. For example, the enemies might be tougher or more numerous, you can't use certain weapons or abilities, or you will see a new storyline play out. Upon completion, you will get bonus experience and loot, making them a way to replay levels in a rewarding new way. This adds a nice degree of replayability and keeps gameplay fresh by playing old levels in new ways.
Pro Intense melee focused combat
Vermintide 2 really draws you into the action by having up close and personal encounters with monsters. You hack, slash, and skewer enemies to pieces with axe, sword, or spear, which can feel quite unnerving as opposed to throwing a fireball from a safe distance. The tension is further reinforced by the unpredictability of the enemies, since you never know from which side they'll strike. Some enemies can even sneak up in your party's blind spot, dragging away an unsuspecting member. The end result is a very intense combat experience, where you're always in the middle of the action.
Pro The skill system is detailed and diverse with a bunch of different builds
Using the diverse talent system, you can pretty much make any kind of character you want to suit your playstyle.
There are five different character classes, each with a series of abilities that are unlocked every 5 levels. Additionally, at levels 9 and 12, you can split off your talent tree into subclasses which opens up a whole new tree of active and passive skills - meaning each class has access to 3 distinct subspecs with 25 skills each for a whopping 75 talents to choose from.
Pro The difficulty levels are far more than just tougher enemies
Rather than just making the enemies tougher, a lot of work went into making sure each difficulty setting adds something new to the mix. There's 4 difficulty levels total to choose from, and as you increase the difficulty, the enemies will obviously hit harder and have larger health pools, but the game goes beyond that. Item drops also become more scarce and the loot is better quality overall. On the harder difficulty levels friendly fire exists, so you can't just swing wildly. Your hits and spells will have to be timed and precise so you don't kill your friends or your AI teammates on accident.
Pro With the crafting system, getting loot is rewarding even if you can't use it
The crafting system is flexible, allowing players to craft their own gear and weapons with the stats or bonuses they want if RNG has been unkind. If you get any loot you don't want or can't use, you can salvage it into raw crafting materials. These materials can then be used to forge new weapons, upgrade existing ones, reroll the stats and bonuses on a weapon, or give the weapon a cosmetic illusion effect. For example, if you find a weapon with a cool glowing effect but it's a downgrade for you, you can transfer the cosmetic effect to your weapon of choice.
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 Rare enemy spawns will sometimes break your immersion
Occasionally a rare Chaos Warrior will appear seemingly out of thin air. It kind of ruins the immersion a bit when you can see an enemy literally spawn into the game world right in front of you.
Con Some of the side objectives are tedious or don't match the level theme
At times, you are asked to do some side objectives like lighting a cannon, but they don't really fit in with the overall theme of the level. In this case, you would have to search for the cannonball and then find the cannon itself. It feels like a way to inflate the play time in some cases, and some are rather boring as they detract from the otherwise fast paced action.
Con Some of the passive skills are uninspired
Some of the passive abilities like a small bonus to dodge feel boring as they require no input from the player, there's no animation attached to it, and the effect in-game is negligible at best.
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.