Secrets of Grindea is reminiscent of the days of role-playing games long gone. Many people are excited about the title on Steam and you can even try it out for free
Starfield was in development for over seven years, the life simulation Spore even eight years and Duke Nukem Forever true to its name, it felt like forever – but in the end it was only 14 years.
Secrets of Grindea also plays in this league It took a whopping 13 yearsfor the old-school role-playing game to finally be finished
developed, according to the development team. The title has spent nine years in Early Access on Steam.
Now more and more user reviews are trickling in and they are almost universally enthusiastic.
Tip: If you fancy the game after reading this article, why not try out the free demo on Steam!
(Here’s the link to Secrets of Grindea on Steam)
A tribute to old SNES days
Secrets of Grindea looks like an old SNES role-playing game from the 1990s, and that is of course intentional. With the 16-bit look, the Pixel Ferrets team wants to bow to classics such as Secret of Mana or Chrono Trigger, but also set its own accents in terms of gameplay
This means above all: You get tons of content! Secrets of Grindea has obviously made good use of the long development time and can boast all kinds of features:
- A large, colorful game world with over 300 characters.
- An extensive story that can be experienced both alone and in co-op with up to 4 players.
- Optional randomly generated dungeons that entice with lots of loot, just like in a rogue-like.
- An open skill system that lets you freely combine 31 skills.
- Over 30 boss battles that will demand everything from you and your party.
- Lots of side content, such as building your own village and furnishing your house. You can also go fishing, tame animals, pass the time with mini-games and much more.
The Steam reviews speak a clear language
On Steam, Secrets of Grindea is certainly convincing. In the past few days since the final release, 357 reviews have been added, 91 percent of which are positive. The picture is similar for the overall reviews: 90 percent of the 5,304 reviews are full of praise
Steam-User Achilles42X expresses itself as follows:
This game is great – a mix of Zelda and classic Secret of Mana influences, but in no way a knock-off. The gameplay combines the best aspects of character creation, world building and combat from these seminal games.
Also completely satisfied Schmoopy:
One of the best top-down RPG “Zelda-likes” ever. […] The story is very good with really lovable characters (I’m looking at you, Bag.) 10/10 for me personally. I had a lot of fun with it.
And what is being criticized? Of course, despite all the euphoria, we have to turn the coin around and also look at what Steam users like less about Secrets of Grindea.
One aspect that the reviewer Sol does not like is the many references to classics from video game history. According to him, there are simply too many of them:
Monkeys throw barrels like Donkey Kong, you literally meet Indiana Jones in a cave, a fairy annoys you like Navi from Ocarina of Time, and so much more. […] These are things that could have been cute and charming if they had been done thoughtfully, but every single aspect of this game is like that. Everything is an allusion. Everything is a joke. […] It’s annoying.
User LordLolicon echoes this sentiment when he writes: The game can’t take itself seriously.
And despite the official verification for the Steam Deck, there are according to the user Kurata currently still technical problems on the Valve handheld
In the end, you’d better play the demo to get your own impression of Secrets of Grindea. Or have you already played the role-playing game in the past 13 years? If so, what’s your opinion? Let us know in the comments below
And don’t worry: If Secrets of Grindea is absolutely not for you, we have more exciting Steam tips for you. Just take a look in the box above
