Grim Dawn vs Titan Quest

Grim Dawn and Titan Quest are among the most popular Action RPGs with hack-and-slash combat of all time, rivaling the renowned Diablo series. Both games offer addictive gameplay with tons of monsters and loot waiting for you, and unique character development with possibilities for precise build customization and unexpected class combinations. Besides, you’ll appreciate the good graphics design and the on-going community support.

Grim Dawn vs Titan Quest Story and Setting

Titan Quest, developed by Iron Lore Entertainment, came out 2006 and was released on Steam a year later. The game was a stellar success: set in Ancient Greece, Egypt and Orient, Titan Quest had a compelling graphics design, an innovative dual-class system and a hundred ways to build an ultimate ancient hero to cleanse the beautiful landscapes of satyrs, maenads, centaurs, desert ghosts, mummies, terracotta warriors and many other legendary creatures. The journey ends up in a fight on Mount Olympus against Typhon the Titan himself, just like the title of the game suggests. On the way there, you’ll meet and chat with historical characters and deities from different mythologies.

Grim Dawn was created in 2016 by the Crate Entertainment studio, including veterans from the Titan Quest team, Iron Lore Entertainment. The game features the improved Iron Lore engine and is a rightful spiritual successor to Titan Quest. Grim Dawn enjoyed great reception among players and critics.

Set in a dying post-apocalyptic world of Cairn, with humans in the middle of an endless war between two great powers, the otherworldly Aetherials and the demonic Chthonians, Grim Dawn is totally different from its predecessor in terms of storyline and lore. The surroundings bear some resemblance to the Victorian era, and your arsenal is much more diverse than it was in Titan Quest: guns go hand-in-hand with sword combat, magic and contraptions. Surviving by chance Aetherial possession, you’ll explore ruined remnants of a once great Erulan empire, and gain strength to rival the greatest of horrors the dying world has to show. The game’s theme is truly dark with Aetherials using human bodies as a resource and hosts, eldritch Witch Gods residing in a hidden realm, and unnatural powers warping the suffering world. Unlike Titan Quest, Grim Dawn has a lot of gore with ripped bodies of enemies and blood spewing all over.

Notes and writings you find while exploring, along with well-written dialogues, can provide a truly immersive experience.

Which is better, Grim Dawn or Titan Quest? It’s not that easy to say. More and more new players cherish Grim Dawn just the way it was with Titan Quest, and the game is still supported and developed to this day. Still, a lot of players put Titan Quest first.

Titan Quest Expansions

Titan Quest received three add-ons over the years. The first expansion pack, Immortal Throne, appeared as soon as 2007. Apart from raising level cap to 75 and gameplay enhancements like pet commands, Immortal Throne took the ancient Heroes to Hades, expanding the original storyline which ended on Mount Olympus. The expansion also brought a whole new Dream mastery to the game, allowing players to fight monsters using psionic powers.

The second expansion, Ragnarök, appeared in 2017 and was a pleasant surprise for old and new players alike. In Ragnarök, you’ll travel the realms of Norse mythology and master the power of Runes. Even though the expansion was developed by another studio, Pieces Interactive, this add-on shows how it’s never too late for a good game to come back with new features.

Atlantis expansion was released in 2019, featuring a side-act not connected to the main storyline and new endgame Tartarus mode. Skill trees also received updates. Embarking on a journey to find the legendary Atlantis, the ancient Heroes will also travel through the Phoenician city of Gadir.

Grim Dawn Expansions

Just like its predecessor, Grim Dawn received add-ons with lots of new features and new regions to explore. The Ashes of Malmouth (2017) expansion takes you to the fallen city of Malmouth, where the Aetherials conduct grotesque experiments on humans and prepare to deal a final blow to the resistance. On the way there, you’ll have to traverse Ugdenbog, a treacherous area haunted by Wendigo spirits and other beasts. The expansion also increases level cap to 100 and adds two new Masteries, Inquisitor and Necromancer.

In the Forgotten Gods (2019) expansion, you’ll leave the remnants of the Erulan empire and travel the land of deserts and volcanic wastelands on a quest to reveal the mystery of a lost city buried deep within the sands. It’s possible to join one of the three Witch God cults and pledge your allegiance to one of these eldritch beings. The Forgotten Gods add-on features the Shattered Realm mode, endless rogue-like dungeon providing great challenge and rewards. Another mastery, Oathkeeper, has been introduced to the game, along with additional lore notes and unique items.

Quests in Grim Dawn and Titan Quest

In terms of side quests, Grim Dawn is not much different from Titan Quest, yet it has more to offer. Doing quests usually does have sense even for a geared-up high-level character: in Grim Dawn, you earn Faction reputation for completing various tasks, which allows you to buy unique goods and bonuses from different groups of survivors. In Titan Quest, the best reward you can get are attribute and skill points, with quests being rather rare on the path. Grim Dawn has more side tasks with different rewards, some leading to a whole new area after a prolonged investigation and exploration. Besides, Grim Dawn has a system of repetitive Faction quests for extra experience and for earning reputation. These are usually about killing bosses or collecting crafting materials.

The main story is pretty linear in both games. It takes you to a fight against powerful monsters alongside exploration, although progression in Grim Dawn is more diverse with extra regions becoming available as an off-path or part of a side quest.

Grim Dawn vs Titan Quest Masteries and Classes

Both games don’t differ much from each other in terms of character development. Leveling up gives you attribute points, which you can use to invest in hitpoints, mana, strength and the like. Besides that, you receive skill points to unlock new abilities in your masteries.

In Titan Quest, these are Warfare, Defense, Rogue, Storm and others. At level 8, you can add a second mastery to complement your build. For example, combining Warfare and Defense will produce a powerful warrior, or you can choose Defense + Nature for a tanky druid.

Due to its theme, Grim Dawn has completely different masteries: you can become Soldier, Occultist, Nightblade, Arcanist and more. Grim Dawn tends to have more active skills than Titan Quest, and more abilities for each Mastery in general. Still, in Grim Dawn vs Titan Quest disputes players often claim that the predecessor’s masteries allow for better and more natural combinations. Currently, there are 10 masteries in Titan Quest and 9 masteries in Grim Dawn.

Class combinations produce fanciful names, like Witchblade in Grim Dawn (Soldier + Occultist), or Dreamkiller (Rogue + Dream) in Titan Quest.

Unlike Titan Quest, in Grim Dawn character development is not restricted to attributes and skills. You can further complement your build by collecting Devotion points from Shrines, which allow you to study constellations - and receive bonuses from them, usually passive skills and traits. To unlock more powerful constellations, you need to collect Affinity points which you receive when you complete a constellation from a definite group, like Eldritch or Ascendant.

Some constellations bestow you with Celestial powers - special abilities which can turn the tide of battle. You can link them to your normal skills. For example, if you complete the Fiend constellation, you’ll be able to use Flame Torrent with one of your active skills, giving it a 25% chance to incinerate enemies around you for lots of damage.

Grim Dawn vs Titan Quest Gameplay

You navigate the 3D world of Titan Quest and Grim Dawn with the mouse (point-and-click system) through an overhead view. Keyboard is used for binding abilities or quickly accessing skill trees or inventory. You can also bind skills to the left and right mouse buttons. Area map is revealed to you as you explore.

The gameplay of both games has the same features: be it Grim Dawn or Titan Quest, a single hero annihilates tons of monsters while exploring different regions and dungeons and collecting loot. The combat in Grim Dawn is rather fast-paced compared to Titan Quest and perhaps more engaging as it often needs you to use active skills and move around all the time. In Titan Quest, your character can be powerful without using too many abilities and combat is generally slower. Leveling up your character in Grim Dawn occurs faster, so you quickly get access to lots of abilities.

However, both games can be challenging and you need to customize your build well if you intend to complete them on higher difficulty settings. These become available after your first playthrough: you can replay Titan Quest on Epic and Legendary, and Grim Dawn has Elite and Ultimate settings. Beating the game on these settings is a good test for your character: you’ll need top gear and careful character planning to succeed. Each subsequent level is unlocked by defeating the final boss on each playthrough. Grim Dawn has Veteran mode, a feature not available in Titan Quest: you start on Normal difficulty with increased enemy spawns and toughness, but also with more loot and experience rewards.

The possibility to retry the game on higher difficulty with new enemies and unique loot is a good feature for dedicated players. However, Grim Dawn also offers endgame options: Crucible is an arena mode where you test your character against increasingly deadly waves of monsters, and Shattered Realm is an endless rogue-like dungeon. It takes you to a different reality made of fragments from various regions and dungeons coming together in Shards. At the end of each Shard, you decide if you want to continue or claim your reward. Monsters can receive random Mutators which give them serious benefits, but also cripple them some way or another. For example, Crippling makes monster attacks slow you while also slowing down their own attacks.

Titan Quest with Atlantis expansion has Tartarus mode which is pretty much like Crucible in Grim Dawn, but it offers no other endgame options. Bear in mind though, that you can replay any dungeon or location in the game to farm those unique item sets or defeat bosses multiple times, just for the sake of it. In Grim Dawn or Titan Quest, monsters and bosses always respawn when you end your game session.

Bosses in Titan Quest and Grim Dawn

In both games, bosses are the ultimate test for your character. You’ll often have to prepare in advance by pumping up your resistances against specific kinds of damage to win the fight. Learning boss patterns is also helpful if you want to avoid the most deadly attacks: in Titan Quest, you encounter Barmanu, a Neanderthal Highlord who immediately stuns you and calls down meteors for massive damage your character probably won’t survive. The only way to win the fight is to avoid the stunning attack altogether, or get a considerable stun resist percentage, like 50% or more.

In general, boss fights are a lot of fun and reward you with tons of good loot which can make your character considerably stronger. Some even drop unique items you won’t find anywhere else in the game, so many players reload their game and kill bosses multiple times for more rewards.

Grim Dawn vs Titan Quest Mechanics

If you played either game, it surely won’t take you long to understand how the other works. Of course, there are some noticeable differences, but in general you can’t be bad in Grim Dawn if you already mastered Titan Quest. All in all, Grim Dawn is not harder, but more complex.

Numerous item skills are the thing that really makes building your character much more engaging in Grim Dawn. For example, you gain powerful Conflagration skill if you craft and equip the relic bearing the same name. It allows you to shoot a continuous powerful beam of fire at the enemies, and you can collect fire damage bonuses from different gear to define your build with this particular skill.

As for the crafting system, Titan Quest only allows you to create Artifacts and combine Charm pieces dropped by monsters to make a whole piece.

In Grim Dawn, you can craft Components which are used to enhance items the same way Charms do in Titan Quest. Apart from that, you can create unique weapons and armor, relics, medals and more.

Another great feature of Grim Dawn are retaliation builds. Retaliation damage occurs every time an enemy hits you in melee. There are lots of items and skills which add Acid, Poison, Burning, Electrocution and other retaliation damage, and you can watch monsters kill themselves when trying to attack you. Combine it with health regeneration to create a nearly invincible character. Titan Quest also has retaliation, but the possibilities are rather limited.

Multiplayer (Co-op)

You can play both games with friends for more fun and great class combos. Note thay monsters and bosses gain a considerable health bonus depending on how many players join the game. Up to four players can join their efforts in Grim Dawn. Titan Quest allows game sessions with up to six people.

The amount of loot you receive from monsters scales with the number of players, and rare items seem to appear more often due to increased difficulty.

To enjoy co-op mode in either Grim Dawn or Titan Quest, find someone who is the same level as your character, or start a new playthrough with your friends and progress together. The game probably won’t be much fun to play if one party member is considerably stronger than others, so try to avoid inviting overpowered high-level characters.

Grim Dawn vs Titan Quest Graphics

Both games can boast good looks, with some players rooting for Titan Quest after all the years. As for system requirements, it takes 1.5GB NVIDIA GeForce 500 series or ATI Radeon 6000 series or better to launch and play Grim Dawn comfortably, while you can enjoy Titan Quest with 256MB NVIDIA or AMD card.
Grim Dawn does look a lot nicer, even more so with DirectX 11 renderer, but the predecessor has definitely aged well. In the Grim Dawn vs Titan Quest dispute, it’s a matter of taste after all: not everyone will enjoy the murky theme of a ruined empire when you can walk the sunny landscapes of Ancient Greece.

Note that many players dislike the brown-greenish style of Grim Dawn graphics. They find that it makes it difficult to see what’s going on in the game. Locations in Grim Dawn are not as clearly distinguished by a different colour theme like Egypt and Orient in Titan Quest, although the scorching sun and deserts of the Forgotten Gods expansion bring something new to the way the otherwise gloomy and sad game looks.

If you like colourful games, Titan Quest is an obvious choice. And in case you don’t mind a duller and darkish theme, you’ll probably grow fond of Grim Dawn. Anyway, be sure to try out both games for a great Hack&Slash experience!