Grim Dawn: Fangs of Asterkarn launches this Thursday, July 23, at 7:00 AM Pacific (10:00 AM Eastern) on Steam and GOG, priced at $18.99, £16.99, or €19.25 depending on your region. The XBOX version of the expansion is coming after a delay, with developer Crate Entertainment targeting a likely August release.
Every platform still gets something on July 23, though, because the free v1.3.0 quality of life update arrives that day across the board, including on XBOX, whether you pick up the expansion or not. We first covered Fangs of Asterkarn back in 2023, when Crate was still targeting a 2024 window, and at the time we expected it to be priced under $20 like past expansions.
As for what’s inside, this is the largest expansion Grim Dawn has ever received, growing the total game world by 32 percent with a new region that’s over 80 percent the size of the base game. The journey heads west into Asterkarn, home of the nomadic Kurn, across snowy peaks, frozen caverns, forest valleys, and hot springs spanning 6.11 square kilometers. Berserker, the game’s 10th Mastery, is a shapeshifting class that transforms into beastlike forms and brings the total number of mastery combinations to 45. The other marquee addition is the Ascendant Game Mode, which retunes every dungeon and boss encounter in the campaign into an endgame-level challenge and lets you ascend your equipment for new power.
Beyond the headline features, the expansion layers in a stack of new systems aimed at build tinkerers. Potion customization lets you turn potions into vitality-restoring tonics or sources of unique buffs, with Crate’s own comparison sheet counting 6,210 potion combinations, while Affix Transmutation lets you reroll rare and magic items. The new Awaken system pushes over 90 Epic items up to Legendary-tier power, and that same sheet lists at least 251 new unique items, 128 Monster Infrequents, and over 60 bosses, including eight Nemesis bosses and three super bosses. Five new hero monster archetypes populate all of Cairn rather than just the new region, Crucible owners get 30 additional waves, and the Shattered Realm is adding new regions and boss arenas of its own.
Crate isn’t finished at launch either, as two new roguelike dungeons are planned as free content updates for Fangs of Asterkarn down the line.
