NEW ON STEAM
Grim Trials
At a glance
Grim Trials game facts
Steam store information checked 2026-08-27。- Studio
- Glory Jam Published by Soft Source
- Release
- Aug 19, 2026 Released
- Official genres
- Action · Adventure · RPG
- Play mode
- Single-player
- Desktop platforms
- Windows
- Steam Deck
- Playable Some interface text may be difficult to read on the Deck display.
- Controller
- Full support
- Steam features
- Achievements · Cloud · Family Sharing
- Languages
- 11 listed languages English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, French
What that means for your setupGrim Trials is developed by Glory Jam, an Indonesian studio previously known for Hello Goodboy, and published by Soft Source. It released on August 19, 2026 on Windows as a single-player Action, Adventure, and RPG release priced at $17.99. The Steam Deck status is Playable, with the official note that some interface text may be difficult to read on the Deck display; one player also independently mentioned the game runs well on Deck, which is worth knowing if handheld is your main way to play. Full controller support is included, so pad play is not an afterthought. Supported languages cover English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, French, Italian, German, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Latin American Spanish, Indonesian, and Spanish from Spain. Features listed on the store page include Achievements, Cloud saves, and Family Sharing. Everything described above is straight from the official listing, so you are not getting secondhand guesses about platforms, price, or who actually shipped it.
There is something instantly appealing about a roguelite that hands you a scythe in one hand and a crossbow in the other, then asks you to forge your own gear between runs. Grim Trials leans into that fantasy with a heavy metal soundtrack, a hex-grid arena structure, and a cast of mentors and fellow Reapers waiting back at The Academy. Players who have already finished it describe the moment their ranged build starts melting bosses as the kind of cheap thrill action roguelites live for, and the crafting layer gives the loop a tangible sense of progression beyond just picking blessings. The strongest supported pitch, based on what reviewers keep coming back to, is the satisfying arc of crafting your own tools and watching them click together with skill tree picks and mid-run Blessings.
What the game actually feels like
Dual-wield combat where a scythe handles melee (hack) and a crossbow handles ranged (blast), and reviewers repeatedly call out how well the two-handed kit feels once you stop treating them as separate weapons and start weaving them together.
A crafting system built around gathering battlefield materials, then working with mentors at The Academy to forge and reforge scythes, armor, and consumables, with a quick-time minigame that rewards skilled crafting with stronger items and forgives misses by letting you cheaply reforge instead of starting over.
A hex-grid run structure where you clear rooms, pick from three Blessings per clear, and chase down seven sacrilegious bosses across multiple biomes, with meta progression in the form of a sizeable skill tree that one reviewer estimated would take an extra four to five hours to finish after the credits.
A social hub loop between runs where you return to The Academy to chat with fellow Reapers and mentors, take on relationship quests, and unlock backstory and support abilities, giving the game a light Hades-style relationship thread on top of the dungeon crawling.
What early players are seeing
What is landing
- Multiple reviewers specifically praised the heavy metal soundtrack and how it intensifies the combat, with one player calling it a banger OST that pumps adrenaline during boss fights and another singling out the metal-plus-Reaper-them combo as a highlight from the demo onward.
- Crafting earned genuine love from players, including a review that described it as a hidden gem of the game and praised how weapon and gear customization opens up meaningfully different playstyles, plus a longer write-up that noted the system respects your time by being forgiving with reforging and potion supplies.
- Combat feel and boss design drew consistent appreciation, with one detailed reviewer calling the game a must-play for fans of Hades-style action roguelikes and praising tight controls, the dodge-and-strike rhythm, and a final encounter that strips away temporary power and makes your crafted loadout actually matter.
- Character design and writing charmed players who came in expecting another Hades clone, with one reviewer noting the game obviously takes inspiration from Hades but has its own personality through the animal characters and the Academy cast.
What still needs watching
- Balance skews hard toward ranged weapons; one reviewer with nearly 12 hours logged said every ranged weapon felt incredibly powerful and could trivialize the game, while non-starting melee weapons felt slow and unrewarding, and another player flagged the same ranged dominance as making encounters feel off.
- Early weapon variety is thin, which one reviewer said is more painful than usual here because the crafting focus means you are grinding with limited options before the arsenal opens up later in a run.
- Some enemies lack clear telegraphs and can change direction mid-attack, which a Hades-comfortable reviewer specifically called out as a learning curve that can feel unfair compared to the games it draws inspiration from.
Is Grim Trials worth buying now?
Current decision
Worth tryingAcross the reviews I can see, Grim Trials is landing as a focused, charming action roguelite with standout music, a genuinely good crafting layer, and a satisfying dual-wield combat loop, all from a small studio with a clear identity. The flaws players raise are real and worth flagging, but they look like tuning and pacing issues rather than fundamental problems, which is exactly the kind of game Worth trying applies to. If the idea of forging your own scythe-and-crossbow Reaper while headbanging through hex-grid arenas appeals to you, this is a reasonable $17.99 pickup, especially on PC and Deck where it has been confirmed playable.
Who this is for
A good fit if you…
- Fans of Hades-style action roguelites who want a shorter, more compact take on the genre with a heavy metal personality.
- Players who love crafting and gear-driven builds and want a roguelite where what you forge between runs matters as much as what you pick up during them.
- Anyone who specifically enjoys dual-wield setups and wants to experiment with combining melee scythe swings with off-hand crossbow shots.
- Steam Deck owners looking for a Playable single-player roguelite who do not mind occasionally leaning in to read smaller interface text.
- Listeners who care about a strong in-game soundtrack and want boss fights backed by adrenaline-heavy metal tracks.
Wait if you…
- You strongly prefer melee-only or sword-and-shield action roguelites, because multiple reviewers say ranged weapons here overshadow melee and make non-scythe melee options feel sluggish.
- You want a long, sprawling roguelite campaign; one completionist reviewer reached 100% in roughly 9 hours and 40 minutes of in-game time, with a few more hours for the full skill tree, so this is on the shorter side.
- You are sensitive to balance rough edges and want every weapon archetype to feel equally viable, since players have explicitly called out ranged dominance and a crafting step some felt was unnecessary.
- You mainly play on a Steam Deck in handheld mode and dislike squinting at small interface text, given the official note about readability on the Deck display.
If Grim Trials is not quite your game
SIMILAR OPTION
Megabonk
Choose it ifPick Megabonk if you want endless arenas and over-the-top stat stacking, and pick Grim Trials if you want a shorter, story-tinged roguelite with meaningful gear crafting and boss fights.
How it comparesAction roguelite with build variety and heavy enemy density Megabonk is an endless wave survival roguelite focused on stacking absurd upgrades and crowd-clearing power across runs, while Grim Trials is a finite, boss-driven campaign across seven Sinful Souls with a heavier emphasis on dual-wield melee-and-ranged combat and a layered crafting and reforging system between runs.
SIMILAR OPTION
BALL x PIT
Choose it ifPick BALL x PIT if you want a ball-physics roguelite with base building, and pick Grim Trials if you want real-time melee-and-ranged combat with a heavy metal soundtrack.
How it comparesShort, craft-and-build roguelite with base-building flavor BALL x PIT is a brick-breaking, ball-fusing survival roguelite where you ricochet balls, build a homestead, and recruit heroes, while Grim Trials is a top-down action combat roguelite centered on scythe-and-crossbow combat, skill tree investment, and weapon and armor crafting rather than a pinball loop.
SIMILAR OPTION
CloverPit
Choose it ifPick CloverPit if you enjoy luck-driven gambling tension, and pick Grim Trials if you want action combat where your build craft, not a slot machine, decides whether you survive.
How it comparesCompact roguelite with roguelike progression pressure CloverPit is a slot-machine roguelite framed as a debt simulator where you gamble for survival, while Grim Trials is a skill-based action roguelite where success comes from dodging, positioning, and building synergies between crafted gear, skill tree nodes, and mid-run Blessings.
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