Grind Survivors Review

Grind Survivors, Pushka Studios

Vampire Survivors lit the world on fire when it released in 2022, and the genre has since exploded with no shortage of games releasing monthly to reach that same height. Grind Survivors, the new game by Ukraine studio Pushka, released last week, is attempting to put its own spin on the genre. But does Grind Survivors scratch that itch that only these games can? In some ways, yes; in some ways, no.

The Premise

The premise of Grind Survivors is simple: you’ll travel across 3 biomes, with 5 difficulties each, battling against the hordes of hell, slaying demons with a variety of weapons. Before each run, you’ll select a character and a weapon to use for the run. The weapons start out simple, between dual SMGs, shotguns, and revolvers, and later unlock swords and teslaguns that shoot out electricity. Obviously, the further in the game you get, the more unlocks you have and a larger arsenal to choose from, but in this sense, the game doesn’t deviate much from what other games in the series do. There’s absolutely no story here, no reason why your character is tasked with fighting the demon lord, and honestly, it’s not needed. You’re here to shoot things and clear your way through hordes of enemies. There is, however, one main thing that makes this game stand out from most of the other games I’ve played in the genre.

This Isn’t a Walk in the Park

As the title of the games suggests, this game will make you grind. This game is difficult, especially in the early parts of the game. Whenever I go back to Vampire Survivors for new achievements, or back to Achilles Survivor to try out a new character, I generally can shut off my brain and go with the flow. Grind Survivors instead decides to just punch you in the face any chance it gets. Outside of the first level being an introduction to the game, all the maps are 20 minutes long, and the game will do everything it can to make you struggle during that run. I found myself dying constantly, whether it was to a mini boss that shows up periodically, or just the mass amounts of enemies that will be onscreen the longer you’re into a run. Part of the difficulty is the number of enemies that can be thrown at you at once, but also it’s the game design being used against you. The boss battles in this game cut off a portion of the area you’re in, giving you a very limited amount of room while you’re fighting a huge enemy. This mechanic wouldn’t be terrible if it were just you against the boss, but the game also throws in the regular enemies to the mix, just making these sections not fun at all to engage in.

One of my other issues with the game is that you’re only given the one weapon during the whole run. Other games in the series, you start with one weapon and then can gain other weapons during the run, providing different buffs or damage types, or even being able to cover your flank. You don’t have that here, which I understand fits the design ideas of the game, but still makes for more stress than is needed. Not being able to damage any enemies behind you outside of certain buffs makes this game a lot more challenging compared to some others I’ve played.

Weapon System and Buffs

One thing I will say is that I enjoy most of the weapons and buffs in the game. Once I unlocked the teslagun, a weapon that hits multiple enemies with electricity, I quickly made that my main weapon of choice and used it the rest of the playthrough. Other weapons, such as the shotgun, laser gun, and even the swords, were really fun to use. The only weapon I found not very good was the revolvers, which dish out plenty of damage, but only shooting 1 shot in games like this is just asking for a death sentence.

Likewise, the runes are a nice system that I did appreciate. You unlock runes by completing certain feats in the game, and they can enhance your playstyle by giving you more health, starting you off with a shield charge, or, if you’re feeling risky, you can get a 200% damage buff, but you’re way more vulnerable to attacks. There are a lot of different strategies that can be used depending on how you play, and it would be interesting to see how two different people make of this system.

The best part of the game are the 2 different buff systems you can make use of when in-game. The first is in the form of level-ups. Whenever you level up, you get 4 choices of perks you want to take. Some of these are super generic, like increase dodge 20%, or increase damage knockback damage 30%. Other bonuses, though, include the ability to imbue your weapon shots with elemental damage. There are 4 element choices to make, whether it’s chill, fire, lightning, or curse, and honestly, all 4 of them are really good and work well together. There are 4 perks tied to each upgrade path, and the game rewards you for keeping within the same upgrades.

The other buffs you can get are found in the form of altars in the game. These altars can be found all around the map, and require you to stay within their radius while they’re unlocking to get the bonus. These altars provide bonuses such as dodge percent, increasing max ammo count, increased reload or attack speed, and much more. It’s a good reason to make you want to move around the map, as these all just add on to any bonuses you acquired with the level-up perks and helps your run go that much further.

Visuals and Performance

Visually, the game doesn’t do much to stand out. Landscape colors are muddied, the playable characters look like they came over from Warhammer, and the enemies look like they’d fit right in a DOOM game. I know the game is about fighting demons and hellspawn, but I feel like there could have been a more unique variety of enemies, especially since there are a few that are different-sized versions of others in the game, or slightly different colored versions. The biomes also leave a bit to be desired, with all 3 just being a variation of brown, gray and muddied red.

On a technical aspect, I do really wanna praise this game. Even with all the different effects going on and the amount of enemies on screen, I didn’t have any dips in gameplay until I got to the last biome. I’m used to these games taking a steady hit later on in the game when everything is going crazy, and you have trouble even finding your character, so not having to deal with that here all the time was a real relief. The issues I did have on the last biome could be easily fixed as well, as the issue likely stems from the sheer number of enemies that pop up out of the ground. This mechanic is not used in either of the other biomes, so not really sure it needed to be used here.

Verdict

If you’re familiar with the survivor genre, you’ll likely get some enjoyment out of this, as the games difficulty will hold your attention, especially with the sheer amount of unlocks the game has. However, if you’re looking for a more fun and relaxing game you can check out of and just play, there’s easier, and better, games in the genre out there to try.