Parting Shade is the final free DLC for the 2D Metroidvania and sees players venturing to a hidden path at the top of the Weeping Cavity. Described as GRIME’s take on the Path of Pain area from Hollow Knight, it will require utilizing every ability available to succeed. Further details have yet to be revealed, but it should offer a hefty challenge for experienced players.

GRIME is available for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC. Following the launch of Parting Shade, the team will focus on GRIME 2, currently announced for PC. Players will venture to a new realm as the Formless and battle new threats. Head here for more details.

Colors of Rot adds a large new area, bosses, abilities, Traits, weapons, and enemies. New music and NPC interactions have also been added along with the new Cinematic and Achievements. Backtracking to previous areas will reveal hidden challenges, and upon beating the final boss, you can also fight endgame variants of the other bosses.

Other quality-of-life features include reworks for Grieving Rockgiant and Artisan of Flesh. Furthermore, it’s now possible to equip any weapon (with a damage penalty), and the map now tracks your steps back to the Beacon. Warp is also moved to the new bosses and is available mid-game. Check out the full patch notes below.

As for the Nintendo Switch version, a release date is still pending, so stay tuned for further updates.

Colors of Rot DLC – Patch Notes

• A new, massive area.
• New Bosses.
• New Abilities.
• New Traits.
• New Enemies.
• New Weapons.
• New Music.
• New NPC interactions.
• A New Cinematic.
• Hidden backtracking challenges, as a reward for re-visiting previously explored areas.
• Refreshable Healing that can be collected from chasing runners.
• The ability to refight endgame variations of bosses after defeating the final boss.
• New Achievements.

Quality-of-life Changes & Adjustments:

• Game optimization resulting in much better game performance & more graphical options to better control how the game runs.
• Reworked Minibosses: Grieving Rockgiant & Artisan of Flesh. (Both bosses have felt somewhat underwhelming. Grieving being too much of a rehash of Harmless, now has all new attacks. Artisan will now teleport to melee attack you, giving you a chance to parry them as well.)
• You can now equip any weapon at any time, but with a major damage penalty. (Being able to test weapon move sets before committing to their stat requirement has been one of the most highly requested changes. Done!)
• The Map now tracks your steps before finding the area Beacon. (While we are not getting rid of the Beacon system, I’ve still wanted to look for a way to mitigate some of the frustrations of players who ended up getting lost for more than they should. The map will now track your steps without revealing the area, similarly to Code Vein.)
• The Warp ability has been moved to one of these new bosses, and can be gained around the mid game.
  (Another highly requested change. The ability to Warp can now be gained far earlier into the game, depending on player exploration and skill.)
• Fall damage nerfed significantly across the various height tiers. (While we can’t rid of Fall damage all-together, it is too integral to the level design, we can mitigate it farther.)
• Added the option to increase NPC speech bubble text size.
  (Especially useful for you Steamdeck players!)
• Alternative controls to Pull.
  (No longer limited to use pull with Mouse alone. Can now aim using directional keys.)
• Garden enemies have been replaced with new types. (The Flower Foe’s have been one of the most frustrating mob enemies in the game. They’ve been reduced in numbers and tweaked to make Garden less intense than The Carven Palace.)
• Large shell lurker drop rate significantly increased for bloodmetal Chunks. (If you’re going to farm, may as well make it less tedious.)
• Climbing and platforming feel has been tightened up.
• Heavy weapons Force cost reduction.
• Added arrow indicators to the pullable moving platforms in Carven Palace, to better indicate which direction they can be pulled to.

Balancing:

• Slow & Very Slow weapons buffed with lower Force costs.
• Fledgling Yr and Tonguebrute traits have been nerfed.
• Bloodmetal Scythe air special damage nerfed.
• Minor Nerf to Chisel Nails Duration and Higher Force Cost for the special.
• Piercer Trait changed and replaced with a new DLC enemy type.
• Slight increase to Force regen.

The Nintendo Switch version doesn’t have a release date yet, but it will include the expansion at launch. Colors of Rot adds a significant amount of new content like a new area, Traits, abilities, weapons and enemies. Previous areas contain hidden challenges, and new bosses, Achievements, NPC interactions, and music tracks await.

Performance optimization and quality-of-life features – including the ability to rematch against endgame versions of bosses after finishing the game – are also included. Colors of Rot was also previously announced for Google Stadia, but it’s absent in the new trailer. Akupara Games probably dropped support due to the platform shutting down in January 2023. Regardless, stay tuned for patch notes in the coming months.

A release window wasn’t confirmed, but we know what to expect. There will be a new “massive” area to explore with new Traits, abilities, enemies and weapons. New NPC interactions, Achievements, music, and bosses are also included, along with a new cinematic. If that weren’t enough, you can revisit previous areas to complete hidden challenges.

Some quality-of-life features include refreshing healing by taking out runners, and the option to fight endgame versions of bosses once the final boss is defeated. Performance optimizations and other “highly requested changes” – like equipping weapons below the stat requirements for a “steep damage penalty” – are also included. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

GRIME sees the player exploring this strange new world and encountering bizarre enemies. Given the black hole’s properties, it’s possible to absorb any foes and then use their properties to augment your own fighting style. You can look for tougher enemies and use them to unlock even better skills. Even the weapons are bizarre and capable of mutating while fighting.

The world itself follows a Metroidvania-like structure with interconnected levels, various denizens to meet and platforming challenges to overcome. Of course, you’ll also encounter a variety of different, massive bosses as well. GRIME is currently available for PC and Google Stadia – stay tuned for news on a potential release for consoles in the coming months.

The Xbox Scorpio is shaping up to be the most powerful console ever and with new information on the horizon, it’s interesting to know what game developers think about it. It is after all a machine with far more power than the original Xbox One. Microsoft considers Scorpio an extension of the Xbox One, under the same family of devices, so they are insisting on keeping it tied to the original Xbox One, by mandating that all of its games have to be compatible across both systems. This effectively limits how much developers can utilize all of that extra power- and it sounds like Danny Garfield, currently heading the studio Puuba, working on the upcoming The Metronomicon, agrees too.

“I think it does curtain some ability to take full advantage of all the new tech,” Garfield said in an exclusive interview with GamingBolt. “Unavoidably, a great many devs will always aim to make their game cross-compatible in the easiest ways. The AAA guys, and plenty of others, will be more aggressive, and try to stand out from the pack on tech more. But, by and large, we’ll always have to support the original Xbox, which, for many, will mean an easiest road.”

The easiest and best thing for Microsoft to do will be to allow developers to make Scorpio exclusives, and leverage all of its power effectively. As of right now, there is no indication that will happen- but with the Scorpio’s reveal coming up at E3, I can hope that that changes. The Metronomicon, meanwhile, will be hitting the Xbox One and the PS4 later this year, published by Akupara Games.

Stay tuned for our full interview with Garfield in the coming days.