GRIMPS Playtest: What’s New?

The city is rustling with stuffing again. The pigeon is definitely planning something. The Grimps are gathering in packs, ready to test your reflexes, your weapons, and your nerves.

On May 29, we’re launching a new GRIMPS playtest, featuring an updated build with changes based on previous showcases and tests.

What Has Changed in the New GRIMPS Build

In the new GRIMPS playtest, we want to show how much the game has changed since previous versions and tests.

The updates affect almost every key part of the project: the visual style, the city’s atmosphere, enemies, interface, arena level design, location structure, and several elements of the future metroidvania system.

Why We Are Launching This Playtest

With this playtest, we want to test several important things:

— how players perceive the updated visual style; — how the reworked arena level design feels; — how well the new enemies work in combat; — how players respond to the metroidvania segments and resource collection; — what impression the darker, grungier apocalypse aesthetic leaves.

Your feedback will help us adjust further development and understand which decisions work best.

If you have played GRIMPS before, we definitely recommend returning to the new build.

What Will Be Available in the Playtest

The first tutorial location has received updated lighting, more environmental detail, and a stronger sense of an apocalypse happening “here and now”: accidents, destruction, plush infection, and signs of the fight for the city.

The Grimpsfighter outpost has also changed. It no longer feels like a cute and safe place. The bodies of defeated enemies have become part of the narrative – a sign that the city can still be reclaimed, but this fight already has a cost.

The arenas and their level design have been reworked based on player comments. A subway station segment has also been added to the tutorial section, leading the player into a new zone: the Grimpsfighters’ Base.

Visuals and Atmosphere

We have fully reworked the lighting: removed excessive overexposure, balanced the image, and made the environment dirtier, denser, and more unsettling. The threads have also been updated – they now feel less like a decorative element and more like alien organic matter spreading through the city. Pollen, haze, and new thread-like barriers have been added to the scenes.

We have also strengthened the feeling of the apocalypse. The city no longer looks like a clean playground where strange plush creatures simply run around. Now it carries a much stronger sense of a catastrophe unfolding right in front of you.

Enemies, Hero, and Interface

In the new build, the design of flying enemies has been reworked, and two new enemy types have been added: Goporog and the ground-based Spitter. They put pressure on the player in different ways and help us test how the updated balance of combat encounters works.

The design of the main character has also been updated.

The interface has changed as well. The main menu is no longer a static key art image, but an animated living scene. The loading screen has also been reworked: it now highlights the hero’s connection with the pigeon, one of the key images of GRIMPS.

Grimpsfighters’ Base

This is a new location where we show the everyday life and darker side of those resisting the plush apocalypse.

In terms of mood, it is our interpretation of a “superhero base,” but with a grungy aesthetic and an absurd twist. Here, players can see the upgrade shop, which in the future will be connected to weapon development and other improvements. At this stage, players will be able to get familiar with the functionality that will serve as the foundation for future content.

Through an interactive map or a train car, players will be able to travel to further locations. Some of them will appear in future tests and in the full version of the game.

Railway Station

The railway station has also changed significantly. We have increased the detail of post-apocalyptic destruction, made the color palette colder and darker, and added biological “living” threads.

Two new districts will be available for testing – parts of future metroidvania segments. Players will encounter small tasks that unlock access to resources. In the future, these resources will be used for upgrades.

The boss arena has also been reworked separately. It now features dynamic changes in the environment’s mood: clouds, thunderstorm effects, and a darker overall atmosphere.

Dirty Ponds

Another playtest zone is a location with the working title “Dirty Ponds.”

This area reveals the darker side of the plush apocalypse more clearly. The city has almost disappeared: the ground has split open, and the asphalt and soil are covered with living plush growths. The environment itself becomes dangerous.

The player will have to destroy living biological plush cores and cleanse the territory from the infection.

This location will be partially available. Its goal is not to offer a full playthrough, but to test ideas and hypotheses that may become part of future development.

This playtest is more than just a preview of the new GRIMPS build – it’s a test of the direction the game is taking. We want to see how players respond to the darker visual style, the updated locations, new enemies, and the future metroidvania elements.

If you’ve played GRIMPS before, now is the perfect time to jump back in and experience the new build with fresh eyes.

🔥 You can request access to the playtest on the GRIMPS Steam page: GRIMPS 🗨️ Join our Discord to discuss the game directly with the developers:

https://discord.gg/DazDMWa8mm