Legend of Grimrock

Very reminicent of old school dungeon crawlers, with enough innovation to make it worthwhile. If you're a fan of the genre, I'd give Grimrock a try without hesitation. If you new, however, it might be a harder sell. Most of the mechanics are solid, but some of the big ones are pretty egregiously flawed. Chief complaint: the combat, at it's highest efficiency, comes down to singling out opponents and square dancing with them to the death. I remember I thought this game was so hard when I played it the first time because I figured using the real-time combat to avoid damage was an exploit. After your first ogre, you figure out pretty quick that the game is designed around this. Many of the puzzles also require some speedy reflexes. This wouldn't be so bad if the game didn't use a tile system with an arcane control scheme. I've got no problem with pixel-precise, twitch gameplay, but for God's sake at least use WASD if you want me to do this. If you can get past these (and some seriously annoying puzzles on the later floors,) the game is fresh and exciting. The magic system is simple, but surprisingly hectic during combat. The enemies are varied and the level design is excellent at catching you flatfooted. The alchemy system encourages experimentation. Character races/skills/abilities are all varied and are much deeper than they appear. It's not what I'd call balanced, but it's a singleplayer RPG so who cares? There are LOADS of secrets too, and there's usually something pretty useful. Although it's counter-intuitive, you'll want to jump down every hole you see. The puzzles are mostly pretty logical and don't require a lot of backtracking (except THAT one). The atmosphere is great, the tilesets are beautiful, the fire effects are stunning and the game runs well both in Windows and Linux! For such a budget price, it's hard not to recommend Grimrock. For veterans and curious newcomers who want a challenge, this is an easy recommendation.

I can't compare this game to any other game in the genre-nor would I want to. Coming from an adventure game (point and click) background, I am surprised I enjoyed this game so much. The puzzles were a blast-the split second timed puzzles gave me some grief. But I got over it.... I wish I had played this before I played LoG2, but it didn't ruin my experience. Too bad there will not be a LoG3...we would all be better for it if the Dev's reunited for an encore. I think the only thing I was not crazy about was the keyboard layout. I had to remap a few keys and I was off to the races. I heartily recommend both games!

Legend of Grimrock is a fantastic take on the old school dungeon crawler, similar to old school Bard's Tale, Wizardry, Might and Magic with a modern update to combat and puzzles, with an automapper and save points included. The storyline is simple, you must escape the Island of Grimrock by exploring the depths and the mysteries within. The interface is simple. Graphics, sound effects and atmosphere are excellent! Twitch action RPG gamers may find the combat a bit easy compared to other games, but for me, the real time combat was a nice update compared to the turn-based combat of older dungeon crawlers. There is also includes the Dungeon Editor utility which allows you to build out your own custom dungeons and puzzles (albeit with a bit of training and googling). This first game was very well developed and then perfected in the sequel, aptly named, "Legend of Grimrock II". I highly recommend picking up both as they are both excellent games. However, if you can only choose one, pick up the sequel as you may find this one is more of a tech engine demo compared to the sequel, and the sequel's Dungeon Editor is far superior.

The game wanted to bring old school dungeon crawler to life back then. Now it's even 10 years old again. how time flies. Long story short: the game is great. The classes, the mazes, the story that is cleverly told. Legend of Grimrock manages to create an exciting atmosphere. It's better than LoG 2.

Legend of Grimrock 1 is great for fans of oldschool dungeon crawler RPGs. Character creation is fun with lots of races and classes to choose from. The game itself is a massive dungeon with very little story, which is a positive or a negative depending on your preferences. It's also has plenty of puzzles, some of them have pretty obscure solutions and honestly might frustrate impatient players who stink at puzzles (like me). So Grimrock 1 will work your brain quite a bit too. This game aged pretty well too, performs well and didn't crash once. If you're itching for a fun RPG, Legend of Grimrock 1 is definitely a title you shouldn't brush aside.