GrimGrimoire

GrimGrimoire is a two-dimensional (2D) side-scrolling real-time strategy (RTS) video game; players take the role of trainee witch Lillet Blan, who completes both story missions and optional challenge levels. Each main level is bookended by story cutscenes, with the scenario taking place over a repeating five-day period. During the RTS segments, the player takes the role of Lillet Blan, who directs the action while the multi-floored battle area is shown from a side-scrolling perspective. All actions take place in real time, though gameplay can be paused for the player to issue commands.

The environment and enemy movements beyond where the player has explored are obscured by a fog of war. There are three difficulty settings: "Sweet", "Easy" and "Normal".

The action of GrimGrimoire takes place entirely within the Tower of Silver Star, a magic school with ancient roots, over a repeating cycle of five days. In the game's backstory, the Archmage Calvaros cooperated with fellow wizards Gammel Dore and Lujie Piche to create the Philosopher's Stone, a powerful magical object. Calvaros attempted to use its power for himself, and was killed by Gammel and Lujie; Lujie in turn attempted to use it, and after being killed becomes a hostile ghost within the Tower.

The main protagonist is Lillet Blan, a talented witch-in-training from a rural area. She is taught by Gammel; the demon Advocat; the half-lion alchemist Chartruese; and the necromancer Opalnaria. Lillet's fellow students are the casual and flirtatious Bartido; the upright Hiram; and Margarita, who hails from an area that hunts witches. She also grows close to Amoretta, a homunculus created by Chartruese from an angel's soul.

Vanillaware was established by George Kamitani along with a small group to develop Odin Sphere, a successor to Kamitani's 1996 video game Princess Crown. While development on Odin Sphere was ongoing, Nippon Ichi Software heard that the Princess Crown team had formed their own studio. Interested in working with them, the then-president of Nippon Ichi Software, Sohei Niikawa, contacted Vanillaware. Niikawa later said he "fell in love" with Kamitani's artwork, prompting the initial inquiries.

This was part of a transition within Nippon Ichi Software of being willing to work with external studios while acting as publisher, as their earlier policy had focused exclusively on in-house development. In a press release, the game was described as a co-production between Vanillaware and Nippon Ichi Software.

In Japan, GrimGrimoire debuted in second place during its week of release behind Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, selling over 17,000 units. By the end of the year, it had sold over 26,600 units. Ultimately, GrimGrimoire was a commercial disappointment. The Nintendo Switch version of GrimGrimoire OnceMore was the twenty-fourth bestselling retail game during its first week of release in Japan, with 3,524 physical copies being sold.

GrimGrimoire was well received by the gaming press. It received an average rating of 78% on GameRankings based on 41 critic reviews. On Metacritic, the game garnered a score of 79/100 based on 39 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The reviewers for Famitsu gave a lot of praise to the game's aesthetics and style, but one writer found the gameplay too challenging at times.

Kamitani said that GrimGrimoire was the only project he ever designed with the intent of creating a sequel, and despite wishes to do so, Nippon Ichi Software did not put in any requests. Based on this, Kamitani has since made sure to write stories that would stand on their own. Vanillaware later returned to their concept plans for GrimGrimoire when developing the 2019 science fiction-themed game 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim.