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After playing the demo for Grimoire Groves a week or so ago, I was eager to experience more. I saw the potential that Stardust’s Roguelike had and couldn’t help but want more. After spending more time with it, I’m glad Stardust kept some bits out of the demo. Grimoire Groves feels overwhelming at first, but it is very worth it.

To start, let’s discuss what Grimoire Groves is all about. You play as Primrose, who goes to Grimoire Groves to learn and increase her skill with magic by spending time with a witch named Lavender. When Primrose was young, the Groves were lush and full of life. However, when Primrose arrives, the Groves are overgrown, Lavender’s farm is reduced, and many of the plants in the Groves are gone.

It is up to Primrose to help restore the Groves. However, there is more for Primrose to discover. The magical Rainbow Socks are missing as well. Who took them? Where are they? Perhaps you’ll help Primrose find out.

Grimoire Groves is a procedurally generated Rogue-like built with a cozy aesthetic. I hesitate to fully call it a cozy game itself because a lot of the farming elements and friendship development serve as progression systems for your runs. Now, this leads me to address something I got incorrect in my demo preview.

There is actually a difficulty option in the settings for Grimoire Groves (both for the demo AND the main game) that I missed originally. You can play in relaxed mode, which makes combat a bit easier and less hectic. Wanting to see if it made much of a difference, I decided to try it out.

It makes a huge difference in the difficulty, and I found Grimoire Groves to be a more enjoyable experience overall. On the standard mode it is fun, but difficult enough that my hands start to hurt after a few runs. So here is what I would tell typical cozy gamers, as someone who straddles the fence and plays more intensive Rogue-likes and enjoys a little wind-down with a cozy game.

Grimoire Groves is what I would consider a cozy “action Rogue-like”. Everything is pastel and cute; you don’t “kill things”, you merely defeat them by feeding them enough magic to plant them, and you slowly progress via bringing ingredients to your garden. However, if you are looking for a farming-heavy sort of experience, this is not the game you’re looking for.

You won’t be doing a lot of farming, selling your wares, etc. Instead, you’ll be getting to know a cast of characters and investing time in them over multiple runs. I would say character development is more like Hades, though there are a few issues with that.

One of my issues with Grimoire Groves’ characters is that there are periods where you’ll increase your heart level with them without getting any sort of dialogue time together. When you do get time with each character, they are absolutely delightful. The story itself is cute and fun, too. However, I wish some of the characters had a little more to them aside from being (essentially) progression fodder. With that said, I may be spoiled by other games in the genre, though characters in Grimoire Groves do provide passive buffs that help each run. You can craft permanent buffs later, and friendship progression unlocks those recipes.

Overall, if you are new to action Rogue-likes, want something more chill, or just need something new for your library, Grimoire Groves is a solid option. This is also a great option for kids, since Grimoire Groves is entirely pacifistic and leans into preserving plants and creatures. While it isn’t my favorite action Rogue-like, I’ll be digging into this one anytime my chronic pain starts giving me trouble and I want something a little lighter.

A PC Review Copy of Grimoire Groves was provided by Stardust for the purposes of this review.

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Grimoire Groves

$19.99 USD

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Cute Pastel Visuals
• Fun story
• Pacifist, Accessible gameplay
• Great for kids and newcomers
• Enjoyable gameplay

Cons

• Character story development is a little limited