Legend of Grimrock

The world feels lifeless. There's nobody to talk to. When you swing a weapon, there is just a generic "swoosh" graphic, irrespective of the weapon. You might just as easily be swinging a sword or a mace or a fist - they feel identical, abstract. There was a liveliness to games like Ultima Underworld, even though their technical limitations were so much greater. Grimrock feels sterile.

This game has an excellent dungeon-crawling engine that evokes the classics like Eye of the Beholder or Dungeon Master. But Legend of Grimlock has absolutely zero plot, choice, dialogue, or NPC characters to speak with. Simply put, it is a "Legend" lacking a legend. It is more puzzle game than RPG, and fails to generate that warm, fuzzy feeling that many RPG fans might hope for. I do think Legend of Grimlock 2, should there be one, could easily fix this by building an actual plot, and characters, into the otherwise-solid game engine. But this first entry is lackluster, even if it does have several notable qualities. Fun, but shallow.

I'm 42 years of age and I bought Legend of Grimrock to support developers who seek to bring back classic gaming with modern graphics. I havn't played the game much, some 20 minutes, but this game is Eye of the Beholder with a new coat of paint as far as I can tell. I don't play games much anymore, I simply don't have the time. I am making some extra time in my schedule to play Legend of Grimrock. Most games today are graphics over gameplay, style over substance, console over computer. I've been gaming since the days of the Commodore 64 and something has been lost in computer gaming. Perhaps Legend of Grimrock can help bring back some of that ole' gaming goodness! I'm giving Legend of Grimrock 5 stars for simply being made! Bring back classic gameplay with modern production values (modest system requirements) and you have a win/win situation.

I didn't hate it as much as I found it frustrating for a single reason: half the gameplay is about finding secret areas and hidden items with only a few of them being slightly hinted at. Since I can't memorize a dozen secrets for each level there were two possible choices: check every wall for a secret switch and run out of food or pull up a guide and ALT+TAB every minute, neither approach was fun and they broke my immersion. After a while getting to the next level was like unlocking an easter egg in other Dungeon Crawler or Hack & Slash games, it was combat that broke the flow of a puzzle game rather than the other way around. I wish this was split into two games instead, I would've loved the combat half where I was shoved into a cramped dungeon and had to punch my way out through armies of giant slugs and shrieking mushrooms - 4/5 for that.

I love this game. When I was younger, I played games like Black Crypt and Eye of the Beholder on the Commodore Amiga. I don't remember getting very far in those games back then and in recent years I wished for similar games with an updated look but retaining the same feel. Then I came across Legend of Grimrock and was enamoured. It didn't disappoint all the way through to the end. It gave me exactly was I was looking for and that is enough for me. Thanks, Almost Human! Moving on to part II now.