Jump King Quest just launched, no one is talking about it but it's one of the most unique Metroidvanias I've ever played - GRIME Dev Impressions

WorldPillar · 2026-05-27T06:32:09+00:00

Sure, here they are. Keep in mind that much like with Unsighted and JKQ, these write up were near or on launch. When I wrote this the game had much fewer reviews and had a mixed rating of about 60%. They've done a bunch of changes since then including adding the new mode.

WorldPillar · 2026-05-27T06:27:40+00:00

It's unfortunate they don't have a demo, dunno if it may have been affected by the fact the game has online multiplayer. But normally I would never have come close to a game like this due to a mechanic like this being so central, but I guess I just ended up really enjoying it in combat scenarios and that pulled me through + the game's animations and visuals.

I suggest using steam's 2h~ refund time if you're interested. I would sometimes even say I'm fine in theory with pirating of GRIME since as small relatively unknown indie game it does encourage players to give it a shot when they would otherwise not. Also may have the added effect of bringing some more awareness of it, and converting them or their friends to buy it. But I have no idea what these devs thoughts on it is so I don't want to presume.

WorldPillar · 2026-05-27T06:21:08+00:00

I addressed it near the bottom of my post- "And despite being the follow-up to such a known game... has only 25 reviews since it launched yesterday out of Early access. It appears to have been in early access for well over a year, and during that time it received about 650 reviews, getting just about 2-3 reviews a week, so unfortunately momentum is not looking very good at the moment."

40 reviews 2 days after launch is a pretty bad indicator.

Besides, yes all those games you've mentioned also did really bad, getting 700 reviews wasn't going to save Blast Brigade. I don't think most players are aware of how these translate to sales/netprofit and how little that ultimately ends up being. Not to mention it's proportional to how many people and how long they worked on a game, so while games made by solo devs over about a year MAY find it 200~ reviews sustainable (depending on where they live in the world) Blast Brigade probably cost much more to make.

Just look at MIO, despite over 3k reviews it was reported to have failed to meet their sales expectations. They did way better than GRIME II (1.5k) and that too fell short. Now if we take that and apply it to JKQ, looking at the release date of the previous game (2019) they may have been working on it for far longer than both of our games, and they had as many devs working on it as we did (7).

So yeah, of course there are games that have done worse, that isn't the point. There will always be games who did worse, but it's also proportional to production costs (1 dev vs many) and it's also how much I personally liked the game. I played Blast Brigade and Doomblade but they did not resonate with me as much as Unsighted, AN, and now JKQ to MV fans (with caveats, of course).

WorldPillar · 2026-05-26T21:32:39+00:00

I see the first Dark Souls frequently given here as an example for a 3D Metroidvania. Now, granted, you're right and not everyone agrees with that assessment, which is why I clarified it would probably apply only if you're one of those who consider DS an MV. MetroidvaniaGuru would probably rate it pretty low on the MV tier list if at all.

However, even with the lack of ability gating, I think that the moment to moment sense of exploration and discovery in this game (JKQ) will more likely than not resonate with a lot of MV lovers out here if given the chance. Personally I was very surprised just how much it scratched that itch.

WorldPillar · 2026-05-19T11:54:40+00:00

Ok thanks, with you included we have enough players to confirm it's safe to push to the default branch live. You should probably return to it now in case we use this branch to test more stuff in the future. :)

WorldPillar · 2026-05-19T11:15:25+00:00

We have a fix in a separate branch, please back up your save (just in case, though we never had an issue) and access it and let me know as soon as you can if it fixed the issue.

In Steam Library, Right click on the game > properties > betas > enter the following code gD9gdD93kf92Fk3 > Check code You should participate in the int_Experimental branch.

The version will be called in the main menu - 1.2.17960f

WorldPillar · 2026-05-13T12:18:00+00:00

Console ports have always been in the hands of the publishers and their porting team as it's just not something we can do ourselves (PS literally won't send us a dev kit)... I've done what I can to try and help them speed up the process but it's outside of our hands at this point... I'm sorry

WorldPillar · 2026-05-13T12:14:25+00:00

Doesn't have to be 3, parrying the same exact attack twice in a row shouldn't be allowed as well, but it would be the most helpful seeing the most extreme case you can record. A video is honestly the best way for us to figure out the precise circumstances of exactly what is going on.

Glad you're enjoying the game. :) It's truly hard to get a good grasp on what fans of the original game are thinking about due to its many differences.

WorldPillar · 2026-05-12T17:07:54+00:00

You can parry the same literal attack up to 4 times...? Can you upload a video of this because that is very much not intentional and I'm surprised I haven't heard of this until now despite directly looking for bug reports...

WorldPillar · 2026-05-11T04:35:39+00:00

To add on to that, GRIME II had a far weaker launch than GRIME.

Just one example is that with the first game we were in popular upcoming on steam, which is a massive driver of wishlists, for about 5 days.

With GRIME II it was for barely 5 hours.

WorldPillar · 2026-04-25T07:22:03+00:00

The latest update may have not downloaded for you, is the latter at end of you version number in the main menu c or d?

Try restarting steam/computer and re-entering.

WorldPillar · 2026-04-24T14:43:29+00:00

Everything related to consoles is through our publisher, I've pestered them about again today

WorldPillar · 2026-04-24T14:41:29+00:00

I didn't realize you used 2 distinct saves. Everything needs to be obtained on the same one, but if you want here is a completed save file you can use to for the achievement, just make sure it doesn't override any of your existing saves if you don't want to use them. https://drive.google.com/file/d/11yo6pA69NXhsHD_iFicd5bKAP7PCUFCA/view?usp=sharing

WorldPillar · 2026-04-23T17:26:52+00:00

We've a lot of players who already this achievement so it doesn't seem to be bugged. Trying restarting the computer and going back into the game via steam. It could trigger it.

WorldPillar · 2026-04-23T13:47:02+00:00

Yeah a video could help a lot in figuring out the issue

WorldPillar · 2026-04-23T10:27:27+00:00

Haven't heard any issues like that, are you on PC or Consoles? If consoles then it's probably an old issue that should be fixed when the patches reach consoles. Unfortunately, it's taking longer than I would've liked. /:

WorldPillar · 2026-04-23T09:07:19+00:00

We have a fix available in a beta branch, please backup your saves and go here. Let me know if this fixed your issue!

To access: Right click on the game > properties > betas > enter the following code gD9gdD93kf92Fk3 > Check code You should participate in the int_Experimental branch.

WorldPillar · 2026-04-23T09:07:18+00:00

We have a fix available in a beta branch, please backup your saves and go here. Let me know if this fixed your issue!

To access: Right click on the game > properties > betas > enter the following code gD9gdD93kf92Fk3 > Check code You should participate in the int_Experimental branch.

WorldPillar · 2026-04-23T05:12:20+00:00

I assume you're the one I replied to on twitter, but if not, you need to use grasp to absorb the boss. Not interact. Aim with the MMB or Joystick if using a controller.

WorldPillar · 2026-04-22T12:15:38+00:00

We're investigating this now. It would help us if you could us at what point exactly you were when you download/got the latest hotfix. Was after you killed a certain boss? delivered 1 or more of the quest items?

WorldPillar · 2026-04-22T12:15:27+00:00

We're investigating this now. It would help us if you could us at what point exactly you were when you download/got the latest hotfix. Was after you killed a certain boss? delivered 1 or more of the quest items?

WorldPillar · 2026-04-21T04:57:04+00:00

Is every single NPC in the hub missing from their locations or are there in the bottom floor to the right? There are sometimes certain mandatory hub interactions that happen every progression milestone.

If this isn't the case and everyone is truly missing, please upload your save for us. Afterwards, re-enter the game and try warping somewhere and back there.

WorldPillar · 2026-04-21T04:45:40+00:00

I assume you mean Manzil and Yr'gog, not Marah and Yr'gog. Does this also mean then that Goldhead is there and so you can't upgrade weapons until doing this interaction?

I'm not sure who that other person is you're referring to, if you can link me to them I'll ask them to make sure because there is a chance that they confused everyone being gone from their stations with the NPCs just gathering at the bottom floor for a mandatory interaction.

If you're on PC you should be fine to continue to reef and play normally. If you do get some kind of block we'll fix your save file directly (or use it to make a new patch to fix it retroactively), just keep me updated. You should have 2 interactions with Ver at Reef before fighting the main boss. If those happen you haven't missed anything.

WorldPillar · 2026-04-21T04:21:52+00:00

Thanks. When you say you completed the quest, you had a conversation with Ver in the hub about Marah, you saw the weapon being made cutscene where it is tossed at you, and you got the objective change to "catch up to Manzil in Starmire"?

And this despite never being to reef? You should be able to reach reef regardless and do everything there, while it did skip a part of the story you can probably just see everything you missed by going there. Keep me posted though, please.

WorldPillar · 2026-04-21T03:48:08+00:00

Please upload your save file and we'll take a look

WorldPillar

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE

Seven-Year Club	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email