Secrets of Grindea on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
Secrets of Grindea is an old-school Action RPG with co-op support for up to 4 players. Journey through fantastical lands and battle tons of different enemies and bosses in your quest for truth, friendship and, above all, finding the world’s rarest treasures!
Secrets of Grindea is a adventure, singleplayer and multiplayer game
developed and published by Pixel Ferrets.
Released on February 29th 2024 is available in English only on Windows.
It has received 8,216 reviews of which 7,344 were positive and 872 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.7 out of 10. 😎
The game is currently priced at 13.99€ on Steam.
The Steam community has classified Secrets of Grindea into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: XP/Vista/Windows 7/10/11
- Processor: Dual-core processor (Intel Dual Core 2.0 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 5200+ 2.6 GHz)
- Memory: 1 GB RAM
- Graphics: DirectX 9.0c compatible
- DirectX: Version 9.0c
- Storage: 1 GB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
I was pretty torn on whether to give this game a yes or no for recommendation. On first blush, there's a lot of game here, and as you enter into its charming, lovingly-crafted world, there's a buffet of choices and things to do. There are dozens of skills you can pick from, each promising differing playstyles and effects, each able to be up-cast by charging to have sometimes dramatically different effects. There's dozens of sidequests, and rewards with interesting little perks attached to many pieces of gear, inviting you to further specialize your character -- to say nothing of the grind for cards, each of which is a small passive perk that can be extremely novel and helpful. But play longer and the veneer starts to wear thin. Upgrade after upgrade reveal themselves to be some variety of "does 2% more damage." That huge spread of skills quickly becomes locked to you; for reasons I can't comprehend, the level scaling in the game is such that very rapidly, I maxed out my first skill, and then only at the very end of the game, doing literally every quest and grinding for every drop and card, had I recently maxed out my second. The perks on items and cards wind up being mostly vapor, full of potential to be meaningful, but almost all of them wind up being more of the insignificant passive bonuses. That's the crux of my first major complaint: The game invites you to grind, but ultimately, doesn't have much worth grinding for. More skill points in skills you can't use, while the ones you desperately want to level remain at half-rank, more items temptingly silhouetted on the crafting or drops page, which wind up being just another stat upgrade, more cards which could do literally anything, but instead do literally nothing. If you DO grind for everything, you let yourself into the final, final secret boss, which is awesome...but it's literally the one thing they do not tell you that you can unlock. My second criticism is a lot more damning. Almost at all times, I felt like the game didn't give me the tools to succeed. You get, early on, a potion that increases drop chance by 20% while it's up, and as far as getting drops, that's it. There aren't even rooms that are better for grinding specific enemies, really -- just mosh pits where every mob in the zone spawns relentlessly. Build diversity is pick a skill you like and maybe a couple of buffs. And some of the bosses and attack patterns are HARD, unreasonably so in the last couple of fights, weaving through literal bullet hells with a character that's got a fat, inobvious hitbox, and no good precision movement options. It felt so often that they had taken systems from other, better games, and implemented them without knowing what made them work. Over and over again as I plumbed these systems, I found myself battling against them and not being the tools I wanted to engage with offered challenges. Ultimately, my experience was one of frustration rather than joy. Now. That all said, I still think there's a lot of excellent game here. It's well-polished, well-written, and engaging. It has a surprising amount to say about the grind and chase of perfection, and it does so well. It's got characters and a world I love, and it lets me engage with them enough to see their stories through in a satisfying way. It's a game that serves you a dream, and so when you find yourself disillusioned as you pull back the layers, there's still a solid game underneath. It just hurt a little because I just wanted it to be a little bit better.
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tl;dr good, BUT. In many ways, this is a game I was looking for for a long time - a single-player loot fest that works well on steam deck (so not diablo 3), is 2D (so not borderlands), and I can pause (so not diablo 4). HOWEVER. This game's dev seems to have a _real_ hardon for puzzles with _very_ tight timing requirements that are complex. Every time I encounter one, I prepare myself to stop having fun for a while. They're absolutely jarring for a game that's otherwise a reasonable balance between difficulty and casuality.
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It is definitely my GOTY!!! I played this game with people who I hold dear in my heart. <3 This game will forever be special! It perfectly captures the nostalgic feel! I love the music and the gorgeous pixel art! The grind feels satisfying and rewarding! I'm so glad I got to play this game this year. The game took several years to finish but it is so worth it! (There's one quest with a RPDR reference in there! It caught me off guard! I love it! Vanjie! Vaaanjie!)
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With the game's full release, about time I throw my two-cents in. - tl;dr Secrets of Grindea does well at supporting good build choices, the combat's overall very enjoyable, characters and story's a fun time, etc. Highly recommend giving it a shot. Combat's very action-paced and lets you set it as fast or as slow/safe as you want to take it. Characters are fun and have flavors all around. Unique personalities all over, makes reading the dialogue more fun. Story's a touch basic at first but starts to pick up some super interesting angles come about past the first quarter of the game. Kind of thing that makes you really curious where they're gonna go with it. And I can assure that the ending of the game's story is an interesting one, for sure. Highly likely it'll land for you in some way. Lore, like with the story, seems to only get firmly established past that first quarter, but if you're the kind who likes to read a bit about the inner workings of this world's religion and histories and other, y'know, lore things, I found it interesting personally. Not a make-or-break but if you do decided to look into things a bit it makes the world feel much more fleshed out. Does well at making you care more deeply about what's going on and what this world is. Secrets of Grindea is, evidently, meta, but the fun kind. Takes the concept of a world working off of video-game esque rules and roll with it. While some things are poked fun at, it doesn't question itself on why what way is done which way and spoiling the whole thing, so it's a fun run of these ideas that actually dips into some interesting ideas as a direct result. Queue the whole "Human Card" question that comes up later in the game. Based heavily around the video-gamey nature of monsters dropping collectible cards, but it's a question they take seriously, and it pays off greatly in how they develop the idea of humans potentially getting "farmed", complete with the catastrophic ramifications that would come with. An example of how Secrets of Grindea's able to use some of the meta elements very well. Regardless, details for each point on: -------------------------- - Combat Very action-RPG with a high emphasis on build variety and blocking/parrying, albeit not universally. You're getting the most fun out of figuring out what among the game's class options (Which in this case skills are divided between 1-Handed weapons, 2-Handed, and Magic, with magic able to cross over with the melee in a few ways or focused on its own right) are something you wanna use, coupled with a slew of support abilities that work for whatever way you focus on, magic or melee. Combat's pretty active, and I appreciate you can get aggressive. You control the pace of the fight, go in as hard or as patient as you want. You'll get more damage if you're willing to get closer and throw out your defenses, otherwise ranged options do exist and still work well. You can juggle as many skills or spells as you want, and there's perks to support ranges from alternating spell-schools for better EP/Energy Point economy, or go all-in on a specific school to get a tidy damage boost. Melee skills too often like to provide ranging utility and focused damage output, the former good for making use of long ranges or getting surrounded by a bunch of enemies, and the latter being a less versatile but high damage punish that works well for combing off a parry. Parrying, a timed-block mechanic, rewards you with some great damage, which is good to see for encouraging seeking it out where you think you can get away with it. For a game with a "Grinding" identity the combat works well in making the grind more of a good zone-out trying to juggle whatever build you've got going on. Do keep in mind grinding isn't required by any means, just if you feel like it, and I personally feel it's a fun grind when you wanna jump in and chew through a room's enemies for a few minutes to get some specific drops. - Builds The action-RPG balance is hit pretty well with the build options you have to put something together. Plus it's fairly forgiving to switch points around on perks and skills to find something you wanna spin. Perks, do a good job with leaning more into substantial but situational buffs over very slight but broadly applicable ones. Where you can basically put in your level for a 2% damage boost, you can instead put that into something more like a 10% boost off the first attack you make in 2 seconds. So, looking through the available perks for something interesting to work with is pretty fun. Is everything equally balanced? Not quite. I won't spoil what does and doesn't break DPS wide open, but the game generally sticks well to the risk/reward balance with the crazy damage stuff also requiring you to get into enemy faces and/or having to kneecap your defense - World Following the name "Secrets of Grindea", this game's a little meta. You'll see some familliar faces here and there referencing one thing or another. However, the game does take itself seriously when it counts. Especially once you start closing in on the final act. More of a vibe of rolling with the concept of a world built close to video game concepts rather than making fun of it. It's a good kind of meta. One strange praise I'll give is that, while there are plenty of well meaning and polite characters, this game's a lot better at portraying straight up assholes. Whether that be your jaded bag-artifact companion or this season-fairy character that is so deep in the "I could've done that better than you" attitude that it feels too real. Again, weird praise, but the characters run all colors in between attitudes, so for this reasoning you get a flavorful world that goes far in wanting to read what folks are saying. - Story Won't go too in detail other than saying it went in some very interesting directions down the line. In short, the plot follows that generally your character and your dad are collecting these powerful artifacts to revive your dead mother, complete with the roadblocks and job you carry to collect things as a "Collector", which includes doing literal quests for people, as the "Do this quest for a reward" is a canonical task that you do for your job. I will try not to say more about the story, beyond that while I was worried they would play the angle of reviving your mother too straight, I can happily say they take a much more interesting direction that just going along those lines. In fact, I can see the story taking a little too hard of a turn for some. On the one hand it feels like the way the story went might have clashed with initial ideas, but on the other hand some foreshadowing does some present in some fairly early moments that seem to suggest stuff was planned early on, so, hard to say. Might be saying to much, but personally, I dug the risks they took. Whether or not it works for you, what develop's gonna stick in your head better than you expect. - Lore I touched on it a little bit, but this is a game with the core concept of a world built with some video-game esque mechanics as canon facts of life. So, you play as a Collector. Someone who goes about hunting monsters that respawn in droves, dropping a bunch of various items. You do quests for people, you get things in return. It's hard to describe the meta element but it's short of being aware its a video game, several quests are often "Get a bunch of this kind of item". It really is like if a world worked off video game mechanics, short of being aware this is literally a game. Monsters respawning in droves and Collecters having to gather a bunch of their drops for one reason or another is just a fact of life. Though the game has fun with the concept with a few jokes, I think the key thing is it doesn't question "why" and try to criticize it. Basically, it's the fun kind of meta. Doesn't focus too much on itself.
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So I 100% completed the game and I think I can give it a good review. Hack and slash action game like Zelda. This game doesn't do anything amazing, but it is above mediocre. I'd classify it as a good game. Grade? B minus. It is a very simple and relatively enjoyable experience. The Pros! The animation in the game is really good, the graphics are colorful and pleasant, and the world is pretty diverse. It feels lived in and you get familiar with all the locations. I did enjoy the soundtrack. Some of the tracks are definitely inspired by former video games (Flying Fortress 2, Temple of Seasons), and even current pop stars like Sean Mendes and Taylor Swift (Evergrind City, and Seasonne). The character customization on paper looks really good, but if you were to ask me, you should just focus on your crit and become a tank. For a small dev team, the story is really good. Yeah it is pretty predictable what happens, but it told really well. The characters are great. I love the Black Ferrets, the inept Team Rocket type trio, and the best character in the game I think is Luke. Good stuff. This is what kept me playing the entire game. Satisfying ending. The combat is pretty good. You start to feel more and more powerful as you level up and try new skills. It is enough to keep you going and progressing. The enemy variation is good too. When you walk into a new place, like any other game, you learn what they do and how to effectively dismantle them. I played the whole game coop and it was a fun experience battling. Collecting all the cards is alright too. There are some negative votes about the puzzles, but they are fine. You do not need to have an IQ of 200 to solve these things. They are not that difficult. There are two types of "puzzles." The technique ones and the math ones. The action technique ones take some trial and error. You will get them. The math ones are baffling to me. When we were playing these I felt like we were meandering into some educational content. Again, if you have gotten through 3rd grade mathematics, you will be fine. The Cons! The biggest con is that the game does live up to its name. Secrets of GRINDea. No matter how it is pronounced, the word GRIND is in it. To even beat this game you have to grind. Whether it is fishing and leveling up your pet or sitting around and gaining levels. If you do not grind out stats, you will not get 100%. Collecting all the items and cards can be done relatively quick with a potion that increases drop chance, and that is fine. But you will not beat this game unless you grind. The final bosses, you basically gotta get to level 40 or you butt will be kicked (FF3 anyone?). I get it, somehow you need to make this a full length feature game clocking around 30-40 hours, and grinding out the levels just to beat the game is how you get to it. Yeah, I know, Final Fantasy you had to grind out those stats to beat the game. You will find the areas with enemies that spawn and hang around there for hours drinking your treasure potion, and womping enemies mindlessly. Character customization looks good, but as I eluded to, you will want to be a crit dealing tank. The magic is very underwhelming. It will not help you defeat the final bosses. Get the shadow twins, the super slash cutting skill, attack speed and defense, and go in and wallop your enemies That is meta and it is what you will do. The fishing part of the game could have been left out. Conclusion! I'm glad I played the game. It was memorable.
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Last Updates| Steam data | 07 April 2025 20:04 |
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| SteamSpy data | 09 April 2025 20:46 |
| Steam price | 13 April 2025 20:43 |
| Steam reviews | 13 April 2025 23:59 |
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- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Secrets of Grindea
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- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Secrets of Grindea compatibility
Online players
61
Developer
Pixel Ferrets
Publisher
Pixel Ferrets
Release
29 Feb 2024
Platforms