Beloved dark fantasy ARPG Grim Dawn gets a new look a decade on, complete with a "controversial change" for Diablo fans

Next month marks ten years since the launch of Grim Dawn, Crate Entertainment's dark fantasy ARPG that sits alongside the likes of Titan Quest, Last Epoch, and Torchlight 2 as one of the best games like Diablo that aren't called Path of Exile. 2026 is already set to be Grim Dawn's biggest year in quite a while, bringing us its third expansion, Fangs of Asterkarn. However, with the base game now a decade old, the developer has just unveiled a major UI redesign, and it's also about to free up a huge chunk of your stash.

Fangs of Asterkarn is going to be a pretty colossal overhaul for Grim Dawn, with a land mass that clocks in at roughly half the size of the base game. It also adds the game's tenth mastery, the Berserker, which for those of you keeping count brings the possible number of dual-mastery combinations up to an impressive 45. Since the DLC's announcement back in 2023, Crate Entertainment has released quite a few updates to polish and improve the core experience, but it's got one final round of enhancements on the way.

All of these planned UI improvements are coming as part of the free Grim Dawn 1.3.0 update, so you'll get them whether you buy Fangs of Asterkarn or not. "The goal here is not to reinvent the wheel," Crate Entertainment explains, "[as] we wanted to keep things familiar and functional." The redesign solves the issue of menus not scaling to 4K displays, and polishes up everything from the on-screen HUD to the various class upgrade screens.

Crate Entertainment is also introducing an option it says "is sure to be a controversial change," but one it has had many requests for: orbs. The new-look circular life and mana displays bring a more Diablo-like feel to the bottom of your screen. "We took the opportunity to not only clear up the space but also try something new for Grim Dawn. But fear not, classic UI enjoyers," the team reassures, "the classic HUD has been refreshed as well and can be re-enabled from the game options at any time."

There's more good news, and this time it's about your stash. "It has become common practice to add additional stash tabs with expansions, but we had bigger plans this time around," Crate says. Everyone is getting two new dedicated transfer stash tabs to store and organize all your components and crafting materials. These will be automatically applied when the update lands, but that's just the start.

Taking a cue from Last Epoch, there's now a dedicated button in your inventory that will automatically suck all materials and components into your shared stash. The best part? "This can be done from anywhere in the game world. You will not even need to visit a smuggler."

On top of this, all of the tabs have been given full customization options to allow you to more clearly designate which box contains what stuff. Because the update will apply to everyone, players who are on the base game will find themselves with three additional private tabs per character, while Fangs of Asterkarn will add four more transfer tabs to bring your total up to ten (plus the two new boxes for components and crafting).

"We understand that stash mods are popular, and for some of you we expect that will remain the case," Crate Entertainment concludes. "Some players simply demand infinity, and our stance on that remains unchanged. But the vastly expanded official storage should be ample for most players."

The Grim Dawn Fangs of Asterkarn expansion is currently planned to launch in the first half of 2026. A public playtest for version 1.3.0 will begin in January, giving you a chance to get a first look at these changes in action. If you've long had Crate Entertainment's ARPG on your radar but have never taken the plunge, make 2026 the year you do so. You won't regret it.