Grind Survivors Review: Addictive Looter-Shooter Roguelite with Deep Weapon Progression

Grind Survivors is an action roguelite that focuses on frantic combat and adaptive strategy. This rendition of the Survivors formula features a number of demon hunters that cleave through endless hordes of monsters across three different Hellish maps. The unique feature of Grind Survivors is the looter-shooter weapon systems combined with traditional reverse bullet-hell gameplay. The difficulty is well-balanced, with fair progression across runs, and the addictive gameplay loop makes this roguelite stand among the best.

The base combat that forms the bedrock of the gameplay is really fun and intuitive. Autofire and Ability enable the player to focus on movement and evasion while legions of demons are ground into dust and consumed for experience points. The player can override the autofire at any time by aiming with the right stick - a very situational utility that might determine the outcome of boss fights at later stages of each run. I appreciate the level of control on the micro level, but the more macro strategic control comes in the form of upgrades when leveling up. This is nothing new to the genre: you destroy enemies for experience to fill up the XP bar, and each level-up lets the player pick from a selection of upgrades. Just like other roguelites, these upgrades can add offensive or defensive abilities that dramatically change the way the run will be played. The success of each run depends on bringing a good weapon to the fight and selecting abilities that synergize with it. For example, bringing a Teslagun that naturally arcs between enemies and selecting Bouncing Shots will stack to great effect. Pairing small-capacity weapons with Reload Speed or other luck-based upgrades will similarly lead to success. Finding that recipe is the core of the experience.

What makes Grind Survivors stand out among contemporary Survivors-like games is what happens between runs. There certainly are the typical stats to upgrade, but there is also an entire weapon looting system to utilize. Stats are upgraded with one currency obtained by defeating bosses, and the other currency is spent on upgrading weapons collected during runs. These weapons appear in color rarity - meaning common, uncommon, rare, legendary - and on top of that they are ranked by difficulty levels. In order to succeed in this game, I need to find a weapon that I want to build a strategy around and then level it up as much as possible. Additionally, the difficulty level means that my Teslagun example from before is excellent in Dark Forest LVL 1 but not nearly as effective in Dark Forest LVL 2 or 3. This constant need for improved weapons and the wide variety of weapons to build strategies around ensures that there are literally hundreds of hours of gameplay potential. Revolvers, SMGs, shotguns - they are all options that have entirely different stats and capabilities. Personally, I found that each weapon type was completely viable if perks and abilities were built up around it. There is a huge incentive to try new builds or strategies in order to progress to the next difficulty and eventually unlock new maps.

The graphics and overall style are interesting. The art style is very rough and bold, with dark and brooding environments. There is a certain lo-fi look to this game that is reminiscent of the early 2000s. I find it satisfying in a nostalgic sense and appropriate to the theme of the game.

The weakest element of Grind Survivors is the audio. There is a very subdued soundtrack that plays throughout each run, but it is so low-energy and lackluster that I struggle to even remember it. There is the usual barrage of sounds coming from your weapon and the various effects going off, but that should be blanketed in a thick theme song. In this case, the game provides a vaguely metal-sounding backtrack. All things considered, it is a small complaint, but the gameplay and Hell theme deserve better music in my opinion. Hypothetically, Mick Gordon would have chewed up this gameplay and elevated the experience to heights not seen since Vampire Survivors itself, but I digress.

Grind Survivors is an addictive roguelite that remains fun even after tens of hours of play. The "just one more run" lie that we like to tell ourselves is a real danger when talking about this game in particular. The visuals and art style are unironically awesome, and the endless hordes are fun to vanquish. The audio may be lacking, but that is a very small complaint in an otherwise incredible Survivors-like experience.