Psikerlord#
Explorer
*shrug* Agree to disagree.
No reason it has to be. Don't want prolific magic...don't have it in the world or allow it to the player class choices. Don't want tons of healing magic? Don't have/allow it. Don't want elves and dwarves and halflings walking through the middle of town (or even in the world at all) don't use/allow them. If you are looking at "gritty" as "not high fantasy" -which is essentially defined as something with heavy amounts of magic/fantastical elements.
D&D can do high fantasy very well and D&D can do "low fantasy" a.k.a. "gritty." Just another flavor and defined set of trappings to play in and with. But high fantasy isn't something D&D "is."
5e cant do low magic; not without removing 85% of the subclasses.