RWBY: Grimm Eclipse has hit Steam Early Access and while it does show signs of a game still in development, it is a fun game to play on your own or with friends. This game first released on December 1st, and has already reached the second round of optimization updates, showing good progress in development. This project was initially started by Jordan Scott, a fan of Rooster Teeth and RWBY, before he was hired by Rooster Teeth to work as a part of Rooster Teeth Games.

Ruby Rose ready for action!

RWBY: Grimm Eclipse focuses on the story of four huntresses known as Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, and Yang Xiao Long. These four girls attend Beacon Academy in the world of Remnant and you get to take control of them as they head out on their latest mission. You only have a couple of levels to play in the Early Access version, but they will take you through a variety of different locations as well as let you experience different gameplay modes. You can play this game on your own or with up to three others online for the full team experience. For fans of the show, it's also good to know that the story of RWBY: Grimm Eclipse is going to be canon, and series writers Miles Luna and Kerry Shawcross are working on it the game with the development team.

In Grimm Eclipse you get to pick which member of RWBY you take out into the field. The characters progress and level up in a very similar way to a MOBA hero. At the start of each new play session, your character is at level one and you can put points into different abilities as you level them up. This allows you to play a different style each time you pick up the game. The game also doesn't limit you to one of each character playing in a session, so you can pick whoever you want and know you'll get to play them. You could quite easily end up in a four player round where everyone is playing as Yang. There's never any confusion though as your Steam name appears over your characters. This allows everyone to get to play their favorite while also working together as a team to take on enemies.

Unleash your special attack to take down as many grimms as possible.

The gameplay in RWBY: Grimm Eclipse is a fun mix between hack and slash games and some elements that seem very similar to the Warriors franchise, more specifically the idea of one vs many in all the fights you will encounter. You can run around, dash, and use one of three different special attacks as you take on enemies. All of these special attacks are upgradeable giving you more power and even new abilities behind them to give you a bit of a better chance of defeating the Grimms.

The graphics of the game mimic the look of the show almost perfectly allowing for players to really feel like they're in the world of Remnant. To have the style look so similar is extremely impressive as a lot of the game was built over the course of five months completely independent of Rooster Teeth involvement. With the full voice cast from the show reprising their roles it's an experience any RWBY fan would want to have.

With all that the RWBY game has going for it, there are still bits and pieces that need to be worked on. There are some animations, such as the walk to run, that need to have smoother transitions. There is also the big issue of balance. Having this game as a PvE game means that the balance isn't too much of an issue, but it is easy to see one of the four characters becoming favored over the others if balance isn't found. There are various levels of balance that need to be achieved through progression with the characters and their own upgrade trees, the number of players in a game, and the world. Biggest of all is the balance between the four characters. As it is, nothing is too out of balance, but playing solo is much easier than playing with any number of other people. As more people play, characters like Weiss and Blake will probably be played more and more due to their strength.

RWBY: Grimm Eclipse is available for purchase on Steam Early Access for $15.

Have you had a chance to play RWBY: Grimm Eclipse yet? What are your thoughts? Are you excited to see what they add?