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A co-op, hack-and-slash game for up to four players based upon Rooster Teeth’s international hit series RWBY. Join your friends as one of eight students of Beacon Academy and stop the evil forces of Doctor Merlot. Become the ultimate team in either two-player couch co-op or four-player online co-op and utilize powerful team attacks. RWBY: Grimm Eclipse has been played by members of Roosterteeth for video content several times. Achievement Hunter has played it. The main VAs, various members of CRWBY and the dev team have played it multiple times for Extra Life. The main VAs have played it for RT Life.

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RWBY: Grimm Eclipse is a Hack and Slash game based off Rooster Teeth's animated series RWBY. The game went into early access on December 1st, 2015 and the full game was released on July 5th, 2016. The game is available on Steamhere. The game was also ported to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and was released on their respective digital platforms on January 17th, 2017. On March 25th, 2021, a Definitive Edition was announced to be releasing in May 2021 for Nintendo Switch.

The game allows players to pick any of the four members of Team RWBY and fight against the creatures of Grimm cooperatively online. As players progress through the game, they level up and gain points that can be used to upgrade skills. Each character's moveset includes a Light ground and air combo, a chargeable Heavy attack, a Ranged combo ending with a special projectile, a Team Attack that can be used when a teammate stuns an enemy, and an Ultimate that can clear all enemies in an area.

The game's story involve Team RWBY being asked to investigate why the security network went down in the Emerald Forest. The team manages to fix the network, but discover crates bearing the logo of the now-defunct Merlot Industries, which were seemingly used to transport Grimm. As the team investigates why these crates were here, they discover an evil plan involving the creation of super-powered mutant Grimm.

In October 2016, the game got its first DLC pack which introduced a horde mode and also made Team JNPR playable characters. Further DLC packs have followed.

Tropes present in this game:

• Adaptational Badass: Jaune Arc is the least powerful main character in the series proper. Here, he's powerful enough to be listed as a Game-Breaker in the YMMV page.
• Ascended Fanfic: The game was originally a fangame, but Rooster Teeth made it into an official Licensed Game and added it into the canon of the story.
• Attack Its Weak Point: The mutant Death Stalker receives more damage when attacked on its stinger.
• Big Bad: Professor Merlot, a scientist obsessed with experimenting on Grimm.
• Boss Banter: A variant; during the end of Chapter 7 and most of Chapter 8, Dr. Merlot will exchange banter with Professor Ozpin while you battle the Grimm. Played straighter in Chapters 9 and 10, especially during the final boss battle, during which Merlot taunts you mercilessly until his Villainous Breakdown towards the end.
• Boss in Mook Clothing: Mutated Beowolves have enormous health pools, as well as very powerful and wide-reaching attacks. It can easily take as long to take down a single Mutated Beowolf as an entire wave of other Grimm, but they appear as Elite Mooks in later levels.
• Bragging Rights Reward: Hunter Ranks. They don't really change anything in the game proper and simply add a fancy badge next to the player's name (and reset all levels and unlocked abilities the player has gained). Apparently, they will eventually be used for unlockables down the line. As of now, they do nothing.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Naturally, Yang gets one of these moments during Forever Fall.
  Yang: Oh look, a cleverly disguised jumping puzzle.
• Canon Foreigner: Dr. Merlot and the mutant Grimm (although he is reportedly responsible for the collapse of Mountain Glenn).
• Early-Bird Cameo: Jaune's Semblance first appeared in this game, a year and a half before it first appeared in the series proper in Volume 5.
• Expy: Lampshaded by the chapter 7 title, Dr. Merlot is pretty much Dr. Moreau.
• Fake Longevity: Getting up the Hunter Rank 10 will require tons of playthroughs and grinding, many of the rank requirements being Mass Monster Slaughter Sidequest.
• For Science!: Appears to have been Dr. Merlot's primary motivation. His only concern was advancing the field of science (particularly genetics and artificial intelligence), with little or no regard as to how many lives would be lost in the process. When he and Ozpin argue about the fall of Mountain Glenn, which saw the loss of the entire town's inhabitants, Ozpin is utterly incredulous that the only thing Merlot mourns is the loss of his research.
• Game-Breaking Bug: The JNPR DLC and Horde update unfortunately causes a lot of game crashes within 5 minutes of gameplay. Players can fix it using a 'Force DXD9' command, but it reportedly does not work for everyone.
• Ghost City: Mountain Glenn, the Grimm-infested former seat of Merlot Industries' headquarters, is a level in the game.
• Interface Spoiler: The Time Skip outfit for Yang includes her Artificial Limb from Volume 4. In addition, Pyrrha is the only character to lack a Time Skip outift due to her death at the end of Volume 3.
• Kirk Summation: Ozpin tries to give one to Dr. Merlot at the end of Chapter 7 and throughout Chapter 8, but Merlot rebukes everything he says.
  Ozpin: You've missed the point. An entire city was laid to waste. Countless lives were lost. My only question is how much of the damage were you personally responsible for?
  Dr. Merlot: Well, how else was I meant to conduct my research? Our supply of test subjects was running thin.
• Made of Explodium: The mutant Creeps explode when they die... or just feel like exploding.
• Never My Fault: Dr. Merlot asks if Ozpin would believe him if he said the fall of Mountain Glenn wasn't his fault. However, the only thing Ozpin is willing to believe is that Merlot never takes responsibility for his actions.
• Pungeon Master: Yang, unsurprisingly.
  Let's start this mission with a Yang!
  Well, water we waiting for?! Get it...? Guys...?
  Awwww who wants to share a sappy moment with me under the tree?
  Careful guys, you wouldn't want to trip and... Forever Fall... Eh? Amiright?
  Hey Oobleck! Tell Port we found a port!
• Scary Scorpions: The Mutant Deathstalker.
• Shout-Out: To The Legend of Zelda.
  Jaune: Armed with a sword and shield, I've never been more inclined to smash pots in search of a key. Where have I seen that before?
• Snake Oil Salesman: At the start of Chapter 9, Dr. Merlot acts like one, pitching his plans for Merlot Industries to Team RWBY.
• Suddenly SHOUTING!: Dr. Oobleck, naturally.
  Oobleck: It might mean nothing... OR IT MIGHT MEAN EVERYTHING!
• Tactical Suicide Boss: Both Ursa Minor and Ursa Major perform a variation of this. Their strongest attack is their ground slam, which sends out rocks in a circle around them and can deplete nearly all of your Aura if it connects. After performing this attack, Ursas get stunned, leaving themselves open for a combo or two. Now, exploiting this isn't necessary to defeat them, as you can still shoot and beat them up the old-fashioned way. That, however, will take much longer, since in a normal state, Ursas only receive 1/4 of your attacks' damage, plus guard automatically.
• Taking You with Me: After you destroy all his test subjects and equipment, Dr. Merlot sets the laboratory to self-destruct in a final attempt to kill you. It doesn't work.
• The End... Or Is It?: Happens the first time you beat the game. After the credits roll, 'THE END' appears on screen... followed by '...or is it?' as Merlot laughs at you.
  Dr. Merlot: Of course it's not the end! There is no end! [laughs]
• Timed Mission: The end of Chapter 4, in which you discover a mining cart with a large bomb strapped to it. You have six minutes to gather Dust crystals to power the cart, gradually sending it towards a large chasm into which it will eventually fall and explode safely, all the while being ravaged by hordes of Grimm. Thankfully the time limit is very generous, and there's even an achievement for finishing it with more than half the time still on the clock.
• Unique Enemy: Almost all varieties of Grimm are fought as standard enemies or Elite Mooks in later levels, even if they originally appeared on their own as a miniboss. However, there is a grand total of one Ursa Major in the game, at the end of Chapter 3.
• Updated Re-release: The Nintendo Switch exclusive Definitive Edition, which comes with all DLC content pre-installed, plus local co-op (the original versions had online co-op only), a Volume 7 costume pack, and an exclusive Power Armor costume set.
• Villainous Breakdown: Professor Merlot undergoes a gradual one as you rampage through his laboratory. He loses it completely by the time you reach the final boss, and ends up practically begging it to just finish you off already. When it doesn't, he decides to blow up the lab in a final desperate attempt to kill you.
• Villain Song: Merlot gets one in the credits. The song would later be used twice during Volume 4 - once when Emerald and Mercury are watching Grimm spawn, and once when the Nuckelavee is about to attack Ruby and Jaune.
• Why Won't You Die?: Dr. Merlot during the final battles in both Chapters 9 and 10, although it's usually more along the lines of 'Why Can't My Monsters Kill You?'
  Dr. Merlot:[audibly panicking]This is impossible! You should be getting eaten alive by now!

Licensed games are often hit or miss. They might spend so much time trying to bring newcomers into the fold that they alienate fans of the franchise, or they might move too quickly for the uninitiated to follow what’s going on. For the most part, RWBY: Grimm Eclipse – Definitive Edition for the Nintendo Switch seems content solely to whet the appetites of RWBY fans looking for the opportunity to play with friends as their favorite heroes from the hit Rooster Teeth animated series. However, there are some definite caveats to be had.

An upgraded port of a 2016 title, RWBY: Grimm Eclipse – Definitive Edition is a hack-and-slash game at its core. However, even when I played the original version on PS4, I was struck by some surprising action RPG elements nestled in amongst the game’s mechanics. Perhaps this is not all that surprising, given RWBY’s anime and JRPG inspirations! In fact, I’ll be focusing most of my review on these elements of Grimm Eclipse, as I assume they’re what RPG lovers in particular would be the most interested in.

In a lot of respects, the story and gameplay presentation of RWBY: Grimm Eclipse is rather reminiscent of another co-op action RPG I played on the Switch, Ultimate Marvel Alliance 3. Truth be told, that game also leans heavily into hack-and-slash gameplay. I’d even go so far as to say that the story mode for Grimm Eclipse is handled in much the same vein as UMA3’sRise of the Phoenix DLC.

The ten-chapter campaign of Grimm Eclipse starts off promptly after players decide which mode they want to try: single player, local multiplayer, or online multiplayer. Each mode has its own strengths and weaknesses, though the two-person local multiplayer is the exclusive newcomer to the Definitive Edition. Players can pick a member of Team RWBY (Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladona, and Yang Xiao Long) or their allies, Team JNPR (Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, and Lie Ren). Every character is a student of Beacon Academy, which trains aspiring Huntresses and Huntsmen to battle the nightmarish Creatures of Grimm that threaten the fantasy world of Remnant. The two teams are sent to investigate an issue involving communication centers that soon spirals into a dangerous mission against a mad scientist who is trying to mutate Grimm for his own nefarious agenda. The game is a canon side story to the series, set sometime between the events of Volumes 1 and 3. It’s not exactly a groundbreaking narrative by any stretch of the imagination, and prior knowledge of RWBY lore is necessary for anything in the plot to really make sense. The game doesn’t bother to explain terminology and world-building to newcomers; rather, it expects players to already be familiar with the way things are on Remnant.

In a way, that sort of fits how the rest of the title presents itself too. The campaign throws players into the thick of things without even so much as a tutorial, resulting in a lot of trial and error in order to piece together how you’re supposed to advance at any given time. “Learn by doing” is the game’s motto, and players have to figure out how to string together their attack combos while on the go. Grimm Eclipse isn’t exactly complicated to figure out, but a bit more of a learning curve at the beginning would have helped avoid some initial growing pains as players piece together what to do.

Either alone, with a local friend, or in a group of up to four online, players fight their way through hordes of Grimm in order to advance. There are different objectives at times, such as guarding a specific point from oncoming enemy waves, or in one rather noteworthy chapter, dealing with a horde of angry monsters while also trying to move a bomb through the area in a timed event. There are also little diversionary breaks in the action where players have to find keys, activate switches, or go on optional artifact hunts. Still, Grimm Eclipse is at its best when you and your friends are duking it out against the Grimm.

Characters start the game at Level 1 and gain experience points through defeating foes and performing actions out on the field, such as reviving fallen teammates or finding said artifacts. Once they’ve acquired enough experience, they level up and earn skill points that can be used to acquire new character-specific abilities and traits on a skill tree, or the points can be spent to evolve the moves they already have. Want your character’s health to recover faster during fights, for them to be speedier when reviving allies, or to increase the frequency with which they can use their ultimate move? You can do all this in the general skills category, but you can also chose to steadily increase the damage output of your character’s combos instead. Some skills are locked until you reach certain milestones out on the field, such as countering foes a specific number of times. Once the conditions for the locked skills are met, you gain the ability to spend points on them.

There are actually more skills and traits than you can acquire, as your characters’ levels are capped at 10. However, if certain acquired abilities just aren’t cutting it, you can always refund skill points for a given character and start the process over. This provides a nice level of character build customization that I hadn’t initially expected, and I took full advantage of it on more than one occasion in the later chapters of the campaign for my chosen main, Pyrrha.

Rwby Grimm Eclipse Cross Platform

Combat in RWBY: Grimm Eclipse is frantic; linking together combos and assisting teammates in chaining attacks for added damage and experience is the name of the game. Unfortunately, the chaotic and often messy nature of fights is not helped by the camera, which has to be constantly adjusted. This is even more of an issue in local multiplayer since Player 1 is given sole control of the camera. Player 1 just has to hope and pray that Player 2 remains onscreen because otherwise the latter is going to be completely blind. I tried being Player 2 for a little while during one fight and found I was running into a wall more often than not if I wasn’t visible on the field! As Player 1, I went to a great deal of frustrated effort trying to keep the camera swiveled so my teammate could see their moves along with my own. Trust me, the camera in local multiplayer can test friendships during extremely hectic fights!

The game has a nifty autosave feature when traversing through the campaign’s chapters, allowing players to restart relatively close to where they died when they get a game over. However, once you exit a game session, you have to start a chapter over from the beginning if you didn’t finish it beforehand. Fortunately, playing the campaign in any mode unlocks completed chapters in every other mode, and character levels and skill trees also carry over from one mode to the next. This is great, as players will no doubt have favorite characters, such as the slower but heavy-hitting Nora, the agile Blake, or the more wintry-focused Weiss. You don’t have to worry about starting over from scratch with your preferred character and playstyle if you opt to jump to a different mode. There are four difficulty levels to test your mettle in; I found the default option to be more than enough of a challenge, but all the power to you if you opt for the hardest difficulty, Eclipse! Aside from the story campaign, you can also try out the Grimm Gauntlet, where you battle endless waves of Grimm.

Graphically, the Definitive Edition of Grimm Eclipse is definitely not going to tax your Switch. However, there are some texture and aliasing issues at times, particularly where shadows are involved. The graphics in general have a somewhat dated appearance, and there is a lack of expression amongst the character models. The sparse backgrounds and even the action animations are rather reminiscent of the early visuals of the animated series itself. Speaking of which, the Definitive Edition provides some new costume options for characters, such as Team RWBY’s Atlas Arc outfits or Power Armor. Unfortunately, this isn’t going to be a title you write home about in terms of aesthetics, and the shifting camera angles that constantly have to be maneuvered do not help in that department.

All the voice actors from the show reprise their roles here, save for Professor Port, who is now excellently voiced by Anthony Sardinha. This is a great boon to RWBY fans, and I was particularly ecstatic to hear Jen Brown as Pyrrha again. Of special note on the voice acting front is Dave Fennoy, who voices Doctor Merlot, as he later goes on to voice Pietro Polendina in more recent volumes of the series itself. The story is presented through ambient conversations, though you also hear plenty of one-liners from characters throughout fights. While they aren’t initially turned on, subtitles are available, and I found them quite handy given how certain background noises during cutscenes can drown the dialogue out.

Rwby Grimm Eclipse Definitive Edition

Perhaps the greatest strength of Grimm Eclipse is the soundtrack, created by Jeff Williams and Steve Goldshein. One of the things RWBY fans most consistently praise the series for is its music, and Grimm Eclipse wisely uses select tracks from the show in order to get your blood pumping during fights. An instrumental version of “Red Like Roses, Pt. II” fittingly plays during the chaos of the final boss fight, and the vocal theme song created for the game, “Lusus Naturae,” is a standout when you reach the end credits.

Rwby Grimm Eclipse Switch Physical

At the end of the day, I wouldn’t recommend RWBY: Grimm Eclipse to anyone who isn’t a diehard RWBY fan, and even if they were a fan, they would need to be okay with flawed hack-and-slash games with some RPG progression elements. In a lot of ways, the presentation of Grimm Eclipse feels like an unfinished or unpolished project. This is a shame because when all the pieces fit together perfectly, there is fun and enjoyment to be had, particularly when playing with friends and fellow RWBY fans. It’s just that these moments can be stretched out quite thin because of the title’s weaknesses. The Definitive Edition is certainly the strongest version of the game out there and offers one more gameplay mode to explore with local co-op, but it isn’t without its problems either. Given the anime and notable JRPG influences of the series, I hope that RWBY fans will one day get a stronger RPG-adjacent outing to play through. As it stands, RWBY: Grimm Eclipse is simply a game for fans to play in short, diversionary bursts. Playing for much longer can diminish the little bit of fun there is to be found.