Title: RWBY: Grimm Eclipse
Platform: Xbox One (reviewed) / PS4 / PC
Developer: Rooster Teeth Games
Publisher: Rooster Teeth
Release date: Out now
TL;DR: Faithfully drawn, yet I was left wanting for more
Price: £15.99 / $19.99
Family Focus: Click here for more information.

Rooster Teeth’s RWBY is a fantastic anime series. If you haven’t watched any of it yet, I highly recommend checking it out. With strong characters, a unique art style, and a healthy dash of comedy, there’s plenty there for you to enjoy.

RWBY: Grimm Eclipse is meant to be an homage in video game form, allowing fans to play as their favourite characters and work together to take on the Grimm. Initially developed solo and published through Steam Early Access, the game made its way towards consoles in January of this year. Whilst the port largely succeeded in providing a smooth experience, there is a lot about it that makes me wish it spent a lot more time in Early Access before making the jump to a full console release.

The game is set between the events of Volumes 2 and 3 of the series and is canon within the overall RWBY storyline. It features the investigation into glitches in a security network, prompting the discovery of some interesting Grimm specimens! In the form of a co-op dungeon crawler, you and the rest of Team RWBY must defeat waves of Grimm before you in order to continue your mission.

So, playing as leading lady Ruby Rose, I proceeded to smash any all Grimm before me. In the early moments of this session, it was largely great. Stringing combos through counters and ultimate moves were neat touches in creating a smooth combat instance, and the initial difficulty curve was enough to make the first hour or so a decent challenge.

In between these fight scenes though, there was a whole lot of “not much,” on the go. Expanses of terrain were crossed in near silence as Ruby dutifully explored every nook and cranny for XP-yielding items that are hidden across the map. It made me wonder if I was perhaps missing out on a lot of dialogue playing solo, but a lack of online players during my time with the game made such investigations a non-starter. Some interjections of radio communication put a bit of flavour on the purpose of the massacring of Grimm, but that was as much of a story implementation as I got.

With a story as rich as RWBY’s, the lack of a detailed story in the game left me wanting quite significantly. With all those gaps in between fight scenes, it made me wish they could be filled with a lot more instead of squashing in a lot more of fighting things. When it came to fighting Grimm too, there was an element of “sameness,” in all of the fights. The selection of Grimm that you might face against becoming relatively predictable, leaving little new to discover when exploring a new area.

I appreciate that I may be coming down ever so slightly harshly on this, but I should give credit where it is due. For what was initially developed solo, a lot has been achieved in this game. Graphically, it matches very faithfully to the style of the anime, whilst the controls are indeed developed with smoothness in mind. It does make me wonder, though, what would have been if it was a bit more resourced. There’s a lot of ambition here in this game; that can certainly be seen. Yet for me, it does have several gaping holes that I wish were filled with delicious story.

What Rocks!

  • Faithfully drawn, with a returning voice cast from the anime.
  • Combat is smooth and challenges you to string in combos
  • Replay-ability is there for unlocking abilities

What Sucks…

  • Despite being canon, there’s not much of a story here.
  • Very little in-between combat sections.
  • Leans itself towards multiplayer. It can be played solo, but not ideal.

Family Friendly?

RWBY: Grimm Eclipse is rated PEGI 12 in Europe and T for Teen in the US. There are lots of sword swooshing and beastie bashing in this game, but it’s all fantasy violence and relatively age appropriate according to the ratings.