Everything I Wish I Knew Before Starting Grim Dawn | 2026 Beginner's Guide
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
Grim Dawn is an awesome game, but if you're not prepared it'll bludgeon, butcher or blow you up with glee - and I know that from experience. So let me help you avoid some headaches by sharing everything I wish I knew before I first started.
Is Grim Dawn Still Worth Playing? | 2026 Review
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Grim Dawn has been around for over a decade. It's one of the most beloved ARPGs out there, and somehow... I've never played it. I guess Path of Exile and Diablo just kept me occupied.
But with the launch of the Fangs of Asterkarn expansion, I finally bit the bullet and dove in. And after spending two weeks playing as a wizard-werewolf, getting showered in absurd amounts of loot and just kind of repeatedly murdered - I must admit, Grim Dawn has been one hell of a surprise!
Is 7 Days to Die Still Worth Playing in 2026?
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Despite always being curious about it, I must admit I was terrified of trying 7 Days to Die. Not because of spooky scary zombies, but because I've never seen a game's community this consistently angry at the people who made it.
So naturally, I always assumed the game was a complete dumpster fire. But a few weeks ago I finally bit the sham sandwich and dove in, and let me tell you - 7 Days to Die is not what I expected. Not even close.
Is Warframe Still Worth Playing in 2026?
- By Ash
- in Reviews
Warframe is one of the best co-op games out there, but starting it is genuinely terrifying. After thirteen years of updates, the game now has more systems and features than a jumbo jet.
But I finally gave it a try a few weeks ago, and I'll be honest - it was completely different from what I expected. So let me show you what the new player experience is like these days, where Warframe completely won me over, where it nearly lost me, and whether it's still worth jumping into today.
Warhammer 40,000: Dark Heresy & What Makes a Great CRPG?
- By Ash
- in Reviews
CRPGs are weird. For the last twenty years, RPGs have been doing everything they can to become more approachable: less reading, fewer stats, simpler combat, less choices, and way bigger explosions.
Meanwhile CRPGs looked at that trend and just went: "Nah". Dialogue trees became forests. Character builds ballooned in complexity. And some of these games now expect you to read more than some people will in their entire life! You would think that this would completely doom the genre to irrelevance, but instead it's more popular now than it has been in decades.
And after playing through the Warhammer 40k: Dark Heresy beta, I found myself wondering why that's the case. What actually makes a great CRPG? And does all that complexity really make the games better, or have we all just Stockholm Syndrome'd ourselves into enjoying spreadsheets?
Four Powerful & Varied Skitarii Builds | Darktide Beginner's Guide
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
Unlike the extremely tanky Arbiter or the glass-cannon Hive Scum, the Skitarii are a true all-rounder. They can frontline, support, snipe, and generally adapt to anything the game throws at them. So getting started is easy, but getting the most out of their kit takes a surprising amount of effort. So let me walk you through a couple of fun, powerful builds that can smash through anything but the nastiest Havoc missions.
One quick note before we begin. Fatshark will be rebalancing the class over the next few months, so some of the exact numbers and talents may change. I'll always keep the written builds linked in the description updated to the newest patch, so if you're watching this from the future and something looks weird, go with the written version.
Risk of Rain 2 Beginner's Guide (2026) - 10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting
- By Ash
- in Tips and Guides
As I learned through repeated explosions, incinerations, or just being launched into orbit by giant balls, Risk of Rain 2 can be absolutely brutal if you don't know what you're doing. So to help you skip straight to the fun part, here's everything I wish I knew before I first started.
1) Rush or Farm?
Starting with the biggest dilemma - do you rush, or do you farm? And the answer is both.
The longer you spend in a run, the stronger and more numerous the enemies get. So you can't just graze across the fields like a space-cow hoping to find a chest behind every random rock. But at the same time, you shouldn't skip loot either. Because collecting everything efficiently will let you spank enemies regardless of how strong they get.
So what's the plan? Try to never retrace your steps. Clear the outer areas first, locate the exit, and then focus on chests that are far away from it. Once you're down to only loot near the exit that's when you should summon the boss. This will not only highlight all of the nearby chests, but it'll also give you the money needed to open them. So give the boss a ton of lead as a welcoming present, charge the teleporter, and then quickly grab all the loot before moving on. Do that consistently, and you'll be golden.