When comparing World in Conflict vs Grim Dawn, the Slant community recommends World in Conflict for most people. In the question“What are the best singleplayer games on Steam?” World in Conflict is ranked 48th while Grim Dawn is ranked 97th. The most important reason people chose World in Conflict is:
Taking place during an alternate history 1980's, World in Conflict depicts a world in which the Cold War suddenly turns hot, with the Soviet Union invading Europe and the United States. With a majority of the US military staving off the Russian advance in Europe, a small, retreating force of United States Armed Forces is left charge of repelling the Soviet assault on American soil. The campaign takes the player to the upper west coast of Washington, the mountains of Colorado, lush green fields in France and the snow-covered forests of Russia, each mission telling a story of the world's desperate attempt to stop the Soviet advance.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Engaging story
Taking place during an alternate history 1980's, World in Conflict depicts a world in which the Cold War suddenly turns hot, with the Soviet Union invading Europe and the United States. With a majority of the US military staving off the Russian advance in Europe, a small, retreating force of United States Armed Forces is left charge of repelling the Soviet assault on American soil. The campaign takes the player to the upper west coast of Washington, the mountains of Colorado, lush green fields in France and the snow-covered forests of Russia, each mission telling a story of the world's desperate attempt to stop the Soviet advance.
Pro Balanced battles
Utilizing an enhanced rock, paper, scissors combat system, World in Conflict allows balanced in play, as this intuitive system is something most are familiar with in RTS games and will be easy to grasp.
Pro Customizable AI lets players have fun without friends
In skirmishes, you can set up different personalities for, and customize, the AI. Before matches, you select certain roles for the AI to take: Infantry, Armor, Air, or Support, as well as define their difficulty. If you wish to have the max player capacity (16), you can set up the AI to take over seven positions on your team, leaving you the role you wish to play as for that battle.
Pro LAN battles between friends and AI
World in Conflict features LAN play with up to 16 players, including AI opponents. This is ideal for large-scale battles among friends and the all-but-forgotten LAN parties of old.
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 Lack of multiplayer ranks
No ranking system, which are prevalent in most online experiences, is present in World in Conflict, thus inexperienced players can too easily join in on matches with experienced players. Due to this, matches may be lopsided, especially if one team has more experienced players participating on it, or a team that always plays together.
Con Multiplayer taken offline
On October 6, 2015, Online Multiplayer through Massgate was to be terminated, however the server shutoff was postponed due to public outcry. Since that time, the game no longer connects to Massgate servers and requires players whom wish to experience the online Multiplayer component of World in Conflict to download a mod that re-enables multiplayer once more. Because of this, matches are scarce and is all but dead.
Con No challenges to manage
The designers have dumbed down the game to make it easier for new players to learn, however this makes it less rewarding to experienced players who are looking for a challenge.
Con Weak gameplay
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.