I caught a glimpse of Grim Trials during the Summer Game Fest, and I was immediately interested. A Hades-esque game with the story of training a Grim Reaper? What’s not to like? Now, having played a piece of Grim Trials via its demo, I have some thoughts.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, Grim Trials is an action Rogue-like where you take on the role of Avelin, a young woman who met an untimely end. Avelin wants to be reunited with her (still alive) beloved and must progress through Trials to train as a Grim Reaper. If she finishes the trials, she may be able to see her beloved again. But is there more to this story?

Each run involves progressing through hex-shaped rooms, fighting enemies and collecting Purified souls, as well as crafting ingredients. Purified Souls count as a sort of XP, which allows you to progress through Avelin’s (somewhat limited) skill tree. Eventually, you will reach a boss, one of seven “Sinful Souls” that Avelin must conquer.

If you die (again?), you return to the Academy, where you talk to NPCs, use various methods to craft better gear for yourself, and then go back out to try again. Admittedly, I’m not fond of the crafting. Whether you are crafting healing potions or weapons and armor, it all feels very same-y.

Additionally, unlike Hades, Cult of the Lamb, or other similar games, the three weapons made available in the Demo don’t really have much variety. You have the scythe, which is a balanced, faster weapon; the Soul Reaver, which serves as a slower melee weapon; and then a Hammer, an even slower yet powerful melee weapon.

The fact that two of the three weapons are slow really sucks the mobility and pacing out of combat. It forces you to take damage if you face faster enemies, or you have to constantly dash around, hoping you’ll get a hit in.

Avelin has a ranged weapon, but the damage it deals is negligible compared to the melee weapons she is provided. Perhaps in the full version, the progression system will compensate for that, but it just doesn’t feel balanced.

As far as the NPCs go, their visual designs are well done. The artwork is spot on, but I really feel as though a bit of voice acting would help make them stand out a bit more. However, Grim Trials is made by a small studio, so this isn’t something that people should mark against them. It is just an observation.

I like what I played from Grim Trials. It is definitely an early version, and I hope that it has enough time in the oven to polish things up a bit. However, I really do like the concept and I think there is a lot of promise here.

A PC Demo of Grim Trials was provided by Neon Doctrine for the purposes of this Preview

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