In most levels of all currently available episodes, darkening the stages results in interesting though now anticipated aesthetic changes: blood takes the place of water, NPCs become grimy, and the land becomes corrupted and uninhabitable. Death's first stage sees its fair share of the aforementioned conversions, but is also coated with ice and blanketed with snow. Rather than give the stage a light-hearted feel, the wintery element emphasize the cold, uncaring nature of Death, whose own metamorphosis includes glowing eyes and icy breath.


In previous installments, each stage would typically undo the user's dark meter so that players would have to work hard to regain what they'd already had. It was always annoying to walk into a new stage without enough power to wither a flower after polluting the very sky during a previous level. While the dark meter will revert to empty more than once in Godfather Death, it will often accompany you either untouched or only slightly diminished, allowing players to get right to the fun of corrupting bigger obstacles such as buildings and NPCs.

As the series has progressed, so has the manner in which you corrupt areas. One level of Godfather Death plops Grimm into a sprawling field with NPCs placed liberally across the terrain. A superspeed power-up hovers nearby. Power-ups regenerate, but because NPCs are so widespread, you'll have to focus on less populated areas, as spreading yourself too thin will result in the NPCs cleaning up faster than you can distort.


Yes, committing vile infestation is as fun as always, but there are some mechanics of Grimm that could do with some tweaking. Zooming in on the current objective upon reaching the required level on the dark meter interrupts the flow of the game; players aren't so stupid that making the objective arrow glow and possibly emit a sound effect wouldn't more effectively serve the same purpose. Grimm's affinity for getting stuck in between architecture is also present, as is the shady collision detection that asks Grimm to buttstomp on or near an object, yet buttstomping directly on it is still ignored more often than not.

Still, each episode of Grimm is still free for 24 hours, and each episode still contains an addictive quality that renders Grimm's already cheap price of admission worthwhile. Two or three levels are a bit on the short side, but the unique environments and the burgeoning need for strategy makes Godfather Death a great addition to Grimm's first season.