Recent reviews by Smeef

Well thats a good amount of time put into this game I'd say.

Unique and very fluid gameplay coming together with an amazing community, custom song and track support, a great base game soundtrack, and an impossibly high skill ceiling to reach. This really is everything you could ask for in a rhythm game and with continuous updates seeming to come down the line, there really isnt a reason to not pick this one up, unless you hate rhythm games of course, but if you hate rhythm games, why be on this page?

Only 7 hours in and i already have carpal tunnel syndrome, thanks groove coaster

What a journey this game has been, truly an amazing game from start to finish, despite being still in early access for what seems a good chunk of my life.

Secrets of Grindea is a 2D ARPG developed by the team Pixel Ferrets, consisting of only 3 members, Teddy, Freddy, and Vilya. These 3 developers make up the entire team, and they have been developing this game with their blood, sweat, and tears, to make it the best possible experience for someone to enjoy. Development seems to have begun in November of 2011, bringing us here, to the time of this review, December 2021. After 10 years, it finally seems the journey to finish this masterpiece of a game is complete.

The following part of the review will focus on the beginning aspects of the game, so if you would like to go in blind, a spoiler free review will be at the very end, along with an overall score.

SPOILER WARNING

Introduction: Pillar Mountains
The game begins in your house, where you wake up to find your father excited to see you awake for your collectors exam. Following in his footsteps you will become a collector and explore the world finding artifacts and saving people from evil by fighting monsters. Here in Pillar Mountains where you live, you obtain your very first items that will help you on your journey, a small wooden sword, a large branch, a small magic wand, and a shield, then you're off to the city.

Introduction Pt 2: The Bridge
You go to cross the bridge when you're introduced to your first boss fight, beginning by fighting both the male developers themselves as inserts into the game, Teddy, and Freddy! After beating them in a single hit with any of your weapons or spells, the real boss appears, and this serves as a sort of tutorial fight and what to expect for bosses. Vilya comes onto the bridge and begins to attack you, and after some maneuverability and attacking, you will strike her down, and your path to the city will be open again. At this point, you will have beaten enough monsters and gained enough xp to invest skill points and talent orbs into abilities, each of which have multiple areas to gain strength in.

Introduction Pt 3: Startington and the Arena
Finally after advancing through pillar mountains and eastern evergrind field, you emerge into startington and meet your childhood best friend who is there waiting, Luke. He tells you to head to the arena at the other edge of the city. When you get to the arena and begin to check in with the receptionist, an antagonist rich boy named Marino will stop you and begin to check in before you despite you being there first. After finally getting checked in, you may begin your trials. Trial 1 consists of fishing, where you must keep the fish in a box on a line using your left and right movement keys, simple enough. Trial 2 consists of puzzles, where you must push a block to the end of a path with obstacles in the way, also simple enough. The final Trial, Trial 3, will have you fight an onslaught of enemies without dying, which is again, simple enough. Though at the end of the trial, giga slime comes out and you must fight him. After a long enough time fighting Giga Slime, making your way through the goop, he dies and another slime comes out to the battlefield. When you kill this slime, he drops a card, an extremely rare item sought after by all collectors. This immediately qualifies you to be a collector, and soon after, you are given your first assignment.






Overall
Overall this game is a great game and one of the best ARPGs i have ever played. Its offerings of a rich story, unique game elements, a phenomenal soundtrack, and an extra mode to have fun in before or after you have beaten the game is honestly a fantastic achievement for this development team. I emplore anyone who likes honest games with fun gameplay to get this game.

If given a number, out of 10, Secrets of Grindea gets a 9.5, with the only bad thing is me not being able to wait for the final update.