Grindstone makes loss bearable since that loss stays confined to a single stage instead of an entire run. Grindstone even allows me to push my luck and make things more difficult for myself if I so choose - am I going to make one more attempt to snag that treasure chest or should I just leave? If things don't work out, I'm OK with that, too. This also applies to a card battler like Slay the Spire - while you have some control over your deck, I don't think of the game as any less dependent on the occasional stroke of luck, and that's just what kept me going. I don't want my games to be all about skill, because I enjoy being surprised, and I really think Grindstone gets the balance between systematic gameplay and luck just right. Other times, that tiny bit of luck is what turns things around when things seem impossible after many a turn. Roughly half an hour later I'll be at it again, and this time it works - was it luck? It can't be all luck, because the more you play, the more you'll get used to the pattern by which the game drops its creeps. At first it doesn't seem like I'll get anywhere, and with a heavy sigh I decide that it's time to stop. There are absolutely levels that can get in the bin and that I wouldn't replay if you paid me (lever puzzles! Yuck!), but trial-and-error magically even makes those levels bearable. Add to this that through its many levels, Grindstone gives you enough time to figure out how each obstacle works before it raises the difficulty by using it in a different way, and I'm just constantly looking forward to what's next. Of course elements will start to repeat, but I'm constantly in awe of how different a level feels when it uses, let's say, both moving enemies and moving bridges, instead of just one of the two.