Secrets of Grindea Ranking: C
Let’s begin with some history. This game came out in Early Access in February 2015. I began playing it with two friends in November 2017. In May 2022, the game was still in Early Access, and I wrote the following Steam review:
“The game has some quirky charm and I'll admit it's a lot of fun (especially with friends). That said, the game's been unfinished in Early Access for so long it's embarrassingly hilarious. Currently, the best part about this game is scrolling through the reviews reading up how many life events people've experienced, such as getting married and having kids, since the game first went into Early Access. Congratulations to all those people, by the way.”
The game would eventually get a full release in February 2024, yielding a grand total of nine years in Early Access. I can’t think of any other industry where someone can charge money for something and not deliver the full product for nine years. Just because the game did eventually release doesn’t mean the developers get a pass for this, either. Look, I get that making an indie game takes a long time, but they shouldn’t have started selling it so far in advance. They could’ve, for instance, released in Early Access when the game was actually complete and then used the Early Access period as a beta. And even then, to put things in perspective, here are the timelines for two other indie games I’ve played:
Beyond this, I stand by what I said two years ago regarding the game’s quirky charm. It doesn’t take itself seriously at all and I enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek humor laced throughout. The game also lives up to its title – you can grind levels basically forever, and I find the lack of a cap rather refreshing. Here’s my character at level 69 (nice):
Let’s begin with some history. This game came out in Early Access in February 2015. I began playing it with two friends in November 2017. In May 2022, the game was still in Early Access, and I wrote the following Steam review:
“The game has some quirky charm and I'll admit it's a lot of fun (especially with friends). That said, the game's been unfinished in Early Access for so long it's embarrassingly hilarious. Currently, the best part about this game is scrolling through the reviews reading up how many life events people've experienced, such as getting married and having kids, since the game first went into Early Access. Congratulations to all those people, by the way.”
The game would eventually get a full release in February 2024, yielding a grand total of nine years in Early Access. I can’t think of any other industry where someone can charge money for something and not deliver the full product for nine years. Just because the game did eventually release doesn’t mean the developers get a pass for this, either. Look, I get that making an indie game takes a long time, but they shouldn’t have started selling it so far in advance. They could’ve, for instance, released in Early Access when the game was actually complete and then used the Early Access period as a beta. And even then, to put things in perspective, here are the timelines for two other indie games I’ve played:
- Stardew Valley: announced in September 2012, developed by literally one guy who refused to sell the game on Early Access because he didn’t want the game out until he was satisfied it was done, and released in full in February 2016.
- Holo X Break: announced in early March 2024, released in full later the same month for free, and was so well-received the fanbase created a running joke that the worst part of the game is that the developers refuse to accept their money (as a side note – these developers also made HoloCure to similar acclaim and refused to accept money for that game too).
Beyond this, I stand by what I said two years ago regarding the game’s quirky charm. It doesn’t take itself seriously at all and I enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek humor laced throughout. The game also lives up to its title – you can grind levels basically forever, and I find the lack of a cap rather refreshing. Here’s my character at level 69 (nice):
I enjoyed the game’s plot despite its simplicity. The game also looks great visually and I loved the detailed sprite artwork. If we just consider these aspects – the ones that reflect the developers’ description of the game as one modeled off old-school SNES action RPGs like Secret of Mana, Secrets of Grindea really isn’t bad.
Unfortunately, there’s more: scilicet, the developers don’t seem to get the genre they’re purportedly paying homage to. Secrets of Grindea has bullet hell, timing/jumping puzzles (the game terms these “phase-shifting courses”), block puzzles, and a math dungeon, just to name a few mandatory gameplay segments off the top of my head that don’t belong in an old-school action RPG. It’d be like if I made a game and marketed it as an homage to Doom and the old-school first-person shooters of the 90s, then made a chunk of the gameplay a Final Fantasy turn-based boss fight followed by a Mario platforming level. I don’t care if these out-of-genre segments are easy (they’re not); they just don’t belong here. And Secrets of Grindea has enough of these (again, mandatory segments) that I’d go as far as to say if you’re looking for a throwback to old-school SNES action RPGs, you’re looking in the wrong place. You’ll spend more time in this game trying to nail phase-shift timing than you will fighting monsters and last I checked, Secret of Mana and the like contained exactly none of this bullshit.
So from the perspective of a fan of SNES-era action RPGs, I cannot in good faith recommend this game.
Unfortunately, there’s more: scilicet, the developers don’t seem to get the genre they’re purportedly paying homage to. Secrets of Grindea has bullet hell, timing/jumping puzzles (the game terms these “phase-shifting courses”), block puzzles, and a math dungeon, just to name a few mandatory gameplay segments off the top of my head that don’t belong in an old-school action RPG. It’d be like if I made a game and marketed it as an homage to Doom and the old-school first-person shooters of the 90s, then made a chunk of the gameplay a Final Fantasy turn-based boss fight followed by a Mario platforming level. I don’t care if these out-of-genre segments are easy (they’re not); they just don’t belong here. And Secrets of Grindea has enough of these (again, mandatory segments) that I’d go as far as to say if you’re looking for a throwback to old-school SNES action RPGs, you’re looking in the wrong place. You’ll spend more time in this game trying to nail phase-shift timing than you will fighting monsters and last I checked, Secret of Mana and the like contained exactly none of this bullshit.
So from the perspective of a fan of SNES-era action RPGs, I cannot in good faith recommend this game.