GRIME Definitive Edition (NSP, XCI) ROM + v1.3.2 Update

GRIME Definitive Edition – Devastate… Assimilate… Evolve… GRIME is a rapid and unyielding Action-Adventure RPG where you obliterate adversaries with dynamic living weapons that metamorphose in both form and function. An atypical substance implodes, the world convulses and contracts, and suddenly you materialize through compression.

What lies ahead is an unfamiliar world, bizarre yet strangely familiar, compelling you to endure the horrors you confront. Traverse your surreal surroundings, deflect and assimilate myriad enemies, utilizing their unique traits against them as you transcend your former self.

GRIME empowers you to tailor your experience, enhancing only those attributes that align with your distinctive style. Uncover multiple approaches to vanquishing foes as you progress through diverse and atmospheric landscapes, encounter their denizens, and unveil the origin of their insanity.

GAMEPLAY

Grime has been described as a Soulsvania or a Soulslike-influenced Metroidvania. In the game, the player controls “The Vessel,” which is an incredibly strong being born of “level,” the world’s concept of earth, and who has what appears to be a black hole for a head. It is a side-scrolling platformer designed to be difficult through “tough combat” and “rigorous platforming.” Unlike most other soul-like games, in Grime, the player does not lose progress upon death; the game, however, does retain the bonfire concept, except the bonfire itself is replaced with an obelisk made out of a level called a “surrogate.” At each surrogate, The Vessel can increase its stats and learn new abilities using “mass,” the game’s currency and experience point system.

Grime’s world is filled with “tunnels, chambers, and nooks and crannies,” in which some NPCs use mysterious riddles and metaphors to tell the game’s cryptic story, while others “mutter away” incoherently. Due to the seeming lack of a coherent story at first, the game encourages and rewards exploration and experimentation. After defeating bosses, The Vessel learns new “Metroid-style” abilities that are required to progress further[citation needed]. As is typical in a Metroidvania game, platforming and backtracking are core elements of the game.

The Vessel has a health bar, a stamina bar known as “Force,” a breath bar, and an “Ardor” meter, all four of which are essential metrics in the game. As The Vessel is attacked, the health bar depletes and, as is typical for a Soulslike, enemy attacks are strong and deal powerful attacks that quickly deplete it. Once it reaches 0, The Vessel is destroyed and respawns at the latest accessed surrogate. The stamina bar, which determines how many actions The Vessel can perform, depletes rapidly, leaving The Vessel vulnerable. Enemy attacks, however, are predictable and can be easily avoided by jumping, dashing, pulling an enemy, or parrying if correctly timed.

Grime’s unique feature is the “absorb” mechanic, the game’s parry action, during which The Vessel sucks in an enemy or an enemy’s attack using its black-hole-esque head, which provides for offensive and defensive evasion. Grime emphasizes parrying, and is a critical component of the gameplay, greatly rewarding the player for it when done correctly. Absorbing an enemy’s attack will reflect the attack at the enemy (or other nearby enemies) while absorbing a weak enemy will destroy it, and absorbing a large enemy will greatly damage it. Absorbing either an enemy or their attack may partially refill The Vessel’s health, but absorbing an enemy will always refill a portion of The Vessel’s breath meter. The Vessel may restore a large portion of its health using breath when the breath meter is filled, which is the main way of health regeneration in the game and may also be used to unlock performance-boosting traits. Enemies, however, may also be killed using conventional weapons such as swords, axes, and clubs, which range from hitting light and fast (using less stamina) to hitting hard and slow (using more stamina). Some enemies need to be absorbed before they may be attacked with conventional weapons. An incorrectly timed parry, however, may leave The Vessel vulnerable. Ardor is an index that displays how much mass The Vessel will gain when defeating enemies. When attacked the number decreases, and when destroying enemies the number increases. Absorbing enemies increases ardor by a larger amount than using traditional weapons.

PLOT

At the beginning of the game, one stone giant is shown breathing life – the Breath – into another, dead giant. The player, a small black hole later revealed to be called the Spiral Heart, is spontaneously formed deep within a cave, the Weeping Cavity, and makes itself a humanoid stone body. Within the Cavity, the player encounters numerous half-formed beings, the Stoneborn, who were not fully touched by the Breath. One of them, Yon, begins to assist the player, impressed by their perfect proportions. With the help of Yon, the Spiral Heart fights their way out of the Cavity, and traverses a desert to finally reach the Worldpillar.

There, they meet Shidra, a powerful, ancient humanoid serpent who sends the player on various quests to help them discover their true purpose in the world. The player fights adherents of the Shapely religion, Stoneborn who believe that gaining perfect forms will help them forget the Old Pain, the primal knowledge they are living dead beings, and servants of the Child, a mysterious entity. The Spiral Heart realizes their destiny is to consume and destroy the world, something Shidra opposes. Yon, enraged that he cannot escape the Old Pain, fights the player and is killed.

Traversing a tremendous wall erected by the Coda, beings made of flesh rather than stone, the player arrives in the awe-inspiring Cenotaph City. The Coda are revealed to have sealed themselves off from Shidra on account of their differing views, and welcome the Spiral Heart, which they worship as the “Endgiver”, with open arms. They constructed the city and put on a grand final performance, the Celebration, in the hopes that they would be preserved in its memories despite their destined end.

Upon annihilating the Coda, the Spiral Heart ascends to the Worldpillar, seeing memories that depict the giants’ realization that Spiral Hearts are beginning to form, consuming them from the inside. Shidra captures the player and attempts to convert them into a Stoneborn to stop the apocalypse forever. Should the player choose to escape, they fight and slay Shidra, and climb to the Peak of Creation. There, they see several other fully-grown Spiral Hearts that have consumed their giants. The Spiral Heart reaches its true form, ending all life within the giant they are shown to reside in.