Underrated 84 Metacritic Dungeon crawling action RPG with deeper builds than Diablo 4 (looks like a true successor to Diablo 2)

Diablo 4Season 11 was quite a hit with fans thanks to the introduction of the new Paladin class and a shift in approach that finally fixed many of the pain points the game still had. Although Paladin itself adds over a dozen meta builds to the game, all with different core skills, one of the Diablo 4The biggest issues remain — the depth (or lack thereof) of the skill trees. Over the years, there have been many action RPGs that have tried to reclaim the throne that once belonged to it Diablo 2with The path of exile and Path of Exile 2 very near, a Diablo 4 to improve more and more.

Still, there's an underrated gem from 2016 that was, for all intents and purposes, another game like Diablo 2 in the ARPG scene, that is A gloomy dawn. With two belt extensions (sold separately), A gloomy dawn is about to get even better and bigger in 2026 with the release of Fangs of Asterkarn, the game's most ambitious and biggest release yet. Not only that, but the game now has deeper skill trees and class systems, called Masteries Diablo 4and it gets even better with the addition of Berserker.

Diablo 4 is a great ARPG, but Grim Dawn sucks at building and classes

Diablo 4The best Paladin builds don't just boil down to a few different skills like most classes, and while that's a great plus for the newest class in the game, it's also a symptom of a bigger problem. Diversity of skills v Diablo 4 is very low because each class usually only has 24 usable skills, although some have 25 or 26. There are skill upgrades and it depends on the build, but overall the skill trees themselves don't offer much depth without Uniques, Mythics, and the Paragon Board. A gloomy dawn however, it has a much more complex system.

Grim Dawn's mastery and class system is practically unbeatable

Grim Dawn's Class System Explained

A gloomy dawn has 9 masteries and more on the way, equivalent to the classes:
- Soldier: Focuses on melee attacks, defensive capabilities like heavy armor and shields, and firearms prowess.
- Demolition: Masters of explosives who mix magic with engineering, focusing on ranged attacks and traps.
- Occultist: Has access to minions, curses, and various spells that deal direct damage to opponents.
- Nightblade: A sword-class mage who has a lot of close range damage, uses two melee weapons and fantastic mobility.
- Arcanist: A typical mage who is a perfect glass cannon with incredible damage spells but little defense.
- Shaman: Casters with a penchant for nature magic as well as two-handed melee weapons.
- Inquisitor: Hybrid attackers who can defeat enemies from a distance or in close combat with the help of relics and runes dealing with the occult.
- Necromancer: Has a lot of minion-related options, using skeletons and death magic to dominate battles.
- Swearer: Uses divine powers and shields to protect himself and defeat his enemies.
- Berserker: Able to defeat enemies with the power of ice and werewolves, shapeshift in melee and beyond.
Each mastery can be combined with the next to create dual ARPG classes (the first class unlocks at level 2 and the second at level 10), creating endless build options and replay value.
All masteries have access to different skills that are unlocked by spending skill points in the mastery bar (which also grants an attribute boost), with each skill unlocked or upgraded by spending skill points in it.
Skills from Masteries v A gloomy dawn they have several different types or purposes:
- Active: Skills that players use to perform certain actions.
- Passive: Skills that provide support passively.
- Modifiers: A way to change the behavior of active or passive skills with some effects.
- Transmuters: Modifiers that dramatically expand active or passive skills and potentially change the way a build works.
- Exclusive: Skills of which only one can be active at a time.
Devotion System v A gloomy dawn provides a progression similar to Diablo 4's Paragon Board and Glyphs, further enhancing existing builds and masteries.

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The Inquisitor and Necromancer classes are exclusive to the Ashes of Malmouth expansion. Oathkeeper is from the Forgotten Gods expansion and Berserker comes with Fangs of Asterkarn.

Why Grim Dawn is the true successor to Diablo 2

Diablo 2 has become the benchmark for what a modern ARPG should strive for, because it was way ahead of its time with its features and gameplay loop. Games like The path of exile and The Last Epoch try to take what has arisen Diablo 2 cool and make it your own, and while some titles do it successfully, A gloomy dawn ticks all the boxes. Has:

An incredible player agency with one of the most flexible classes in RPGs in general, let alone ARPGs.
A dark, gritty world that is both unforgiving and very rewarding for those who enjoy lots of different endgame systems.
A reputation system that makes factions and vendor options relevant.
Loot driven game.
Endless mods to choose from that enhance the game and make it extremely diverse in every run, combined with the already high replayability.
A gloomy dawn can be played offline.