Legend of Grimrock

Stay your hand a moment. Pull yourself away from the next twitch shooter, the almost jetpack-propelled jumping in an MMORPG, turn off the lights if you have them on, close the door and load Legend of Grimrock into your machine. Oh, and play it in old-school mode; get some paper and a pen, and map these levels out the traditional way for a much more rewarding experience. This review is based on my experiences in old-school mode. You are one of four prisoners sent to Grimrock to absolve yourself from your crimes and earn a pardon, but to do so you must all journey through a labyrinth full of gigantic slugs, reanimated skeletons and who knows what else that haven't eaten fresh flesh in... well, since the last batch of criminals. All of that sounds easy, doesn't it? Well, it isn't. Party members are arranged in a box formation with front row party members capable of melee combat and the back row capable of casting. This allows for splitting of damage if a party member is taking too much; rotate your formation. Each party member has a hunger meter and it's up to you to ensure you're all well fed, which means more scampering around in the dark trying to find a source of food to prevent health and energy penalties. In addition, you have to explore each level of the dungeon for keys to unlock certain doors, solutions to puzzles you find yourself walking into, uses for other items you find along the way, whilst tackling monsters unarmed until you happen across a weapon or object that can be used as one. Don't throw rocks at slugs if it's all you have to fight with, they'll chase you, as will all monsters (to a certain extent). The puzzles that I've encountered seem to have a good balance of difficulty. If you're wanting a brain-teaser similar to Portal, don't expect that. The puzzles in Legend of Grimrock are enough to tickle the mind and break up the exploring and mapping, which is appreciated as variety never hurts anyone. Dungeon levels also contain secret rooms and passages, traps and lever- and switch-bound triggers, so there's plenty of variety in dungeon tiles. Due to the size of each dungeon some players might consider everything to be very much the same per level, but for myself the constant vigilance as I turn around the next corner blindly, mapping the room ahead and planning out my options brings enough satisfaction to not be worried. Movement, player-driven and AI, follows the traditional square-by-square movement and the food meter for each party member dwindles very partially per square you travel, which not only makes it important to map while you travel instead of backtracking, but it makes you plan out your combat possibilities before entering a fight; running backwards 20 steps isn't a good use of resources. Attacks are handled simply, with each party member having a left- and right-hand slot to equip items or cast spells from and both attacks and spells are actioned by right-clicking the respective slot of choice. The graphics, which to myself are not the most important focus of a game such as this, are beautiful to look at, which I do appreciate as I would've enjoyed the game if it were 16-bit, but am far more immersed with the high-resolution details provided. Each dark wall visually echoes the eerie atmosphere trying to unsettle your nerves, reflecting torch light, ambient light (where visible) and each object within the game has been crafted to near-realism. The audio is simple but effective, providing enough ambience to make your wary of your location but not too jarring as to halt you in your tracks crying in the corner of the only torch-lit room in the dungeon. It's enjoyable, standard dungeon faire, so while it doesn't lure me in with intensity or worry, it isn't bad at all. The game comes with a dungeon editor, which allows you to create your own dungeons and share them with others to play, which I think is pretty cool. Unlike games with modding capabilities such as Skyrim, where making a dungeon can have it's immersion ruined by players using bright lighting mods or rainbow ponies, the game keeps that in check by not allowing import of custom models, which to some will be considered to not be very modder-friendly, but I think it's a good thing for the sake of the immersion I crave in games such as these. Now, for my scoring. I decided to give it five out of five stars, because there was simply nothing within the game that I could not personally fault. This game, while not grabbing me by the edge of my seat as I explore the dark depths of Grimrock, did not have me in the back of my seat in boredom, drinking and eating as if I were watching a movie. It was engaging, entertaining and exactly what traditional dungeon-dwellers like myself enjoy. If you love the thrill of exploring the unknown, managing resources and locations so you don't get lost and love atmosphere while doing thus, for the current price ($7.49 within the Christmas Sale, until January 3), you can't go wrong.

As a fan of classic dungeon crawlers such as DUNGEON MASTER, LEGEND OF GRIMROCK is a must own. Like DUNGEON MASTER this game is hard. Unlike the paragon you can tweak the difficulty a bit by disabling the optional automap function - the game also comes with printable graph paper if you want to go oldschool. There however is NO optional 360 degree turning and smooth scrolling. The HUD is minimalist and only displays the protraits , the hitpoints and magic points as well as the items in hand of your party of four. The rest of the screen is reserved for the environment, and never have these 90 degrees dungeons looked better. There are 4 races to pick from (human, minotaur, lizardman and insectoid, cause who needs dwarves and elves, right) and three classes (fighter, rogue and wizard, cause healers are for sissies). Finally the party being glued together and moving as one has a logical explanation as well: you are prisoners chained together rather than "heroes", the goal of the game is to escape from the mega gaol Grimrock, working your way down to the exit. If you make it there and manage to kill the head gaoler freedom is granted. Not bad for a background, really. Puzzles are numerous and some are quite hard with a few being optional, usually yielding better loot. The enemies in LEGEND OF GRIMROCK are hard but some could have used a remake at the drawing board. Still LEGEND OF GRIMROCK ranks No. 3 as my favorite dungeon crawlers of all time, right after BLACK CRYPT and DUNGEON MASTER II. LEGEND OF GRIMROCK comes with modding support and a dungeon creator.

I purchased the Mac version and love it. It plays great on my 2013 Macbook Air. This game is reminiscent of Eye of the Beholder, Dungeon Master, or the old Bard's Tale and Wizardry games, except brought up to date with a great UI and interesting real-time mechanics. I generally prefer turn-based systems, but this one adds a frantic quality to the fights. The game is a solid challenge that will reward smart tactics as well as puzzle solving. If you're a fan of old-school first person RPGs, this is a must buy.

After 4 hours of play I have to say that this is a great game. Rich chargen system, good tactical combat and mindbending puzzles. It's the first game in a long time that forced me to think while playing (and I'm not an FPS lover). Everybody should give it a try.

This game is incredibly addictive, good old fun. No gimmicks here folks, this game is nothing but action and puzzles. The environments and ambient sounds are beautifully done and every second spent in the game feels like you are in a real dungeon endlessly searching for a way out. The game rewards explorers and those willing to spend a little time looking with rare treasure and equipment, so far I have been having a blast learning the combat system and playing around with my different characters (I am playing with 2 lizard rogues, 1 minotaur warrior and 1 human mage atm on the hard difficulty). I've already died multiple times and saving frequently is a must. You will not regret this game! It is very fun to play, never played any of the old dungeon master games but I see what all the fuzz is about, very addictive, very enjoyable right off the get go.