Legend of Grimrock

For a dungeon crawler it is not too bad but not the best. The main problem with this game is getting it to run without overheating your computer and force shutting it down on overheat. I highly recommend as soon as you start the game to immediately go into options and start changing most of the settings. With that aside the game itself could of been better. Some of the puzzles are downright ridiculous when you get to dungeon level 6. If you want a great dungeon crawler go with Might & Magic 7 you'll thank me later.

I usualy find dungeon games to be too complicated for my taste. But I find that Legend of Grimrock is simple and lots of fun. I'm only at level four up to now, but I really like it, and it keeps on getting better. Enjoy!

I mostly play games for the adventure and the story. This one tells you so little that you treasure everything you find. The mechanics are odd but i like them, gives you more time to develop a strategy instead of button mashing. Hooray for an indie game that isn't a side scroller! ;)

Fantastic modern rendition of classic dungeon crawlers from the 90s. If “Stonekeep” (one of my teenage favorites, along with the Realms of Arkania series) could be remade today, it would be called “Grimrock”. There is no epic storyline to contend with; it is a straight forward, grid based, atmospheric, dungeon exploration and action RPG game with little puzzles here and there to figure out. It is a great game for old school casual gamers to jump into to kill 10-15 minutes, or turn the lights off and delve into it for an hour or more. Though, I don’t need a Mass Effect epic story to enjoy a game, I do think that at least some interaction with NPCs (which there aren’t any) with some B+ standard voice acting (which there is none either) would draw players in more. “Stonekeep”, which “Grimrock” borrows heavily from, did at least introduce a more structured story with some memorable characters (which I remember to this day – nearly 20 years later). Getting old. :(

I just finished my first playthrough, here is what I think: Graphics: The graphics are a bit repetitive, large parts of the world look very similar and due to the tile-nature of the game, structures are repeated a lot. The graphics also can make you feel a bit dizzy, when you walk around the room looking at the wall searching for clues (which you will do a lot). However, they are very rich and detailed and they add a lot to the atmosphere of the game. All in all, I think it’s brillantly made. Sound: Background sound is very minimalistic, which sometimes feels a bit strange, but it fits well into the setting (or do you expect an orchestra inside a prison dungeon?). Additionally, it is really nice (and frightening) to suddenly hear the clicking sound of a large insect walking in the distance, which would not be possible with heavy background music. The sound effects are well done (even if female characters cry out with a male voice when they die). Story (no spoilers): While not extraordinary, the story is certainly well enough for a dungeon crawler game and doubtlessly thrilling; it will probably surprise you at least a few times. Controls: The controls take a bit getting used to, but that’s what the first level is for. The combination of realtime combat and tile based movement is sometimes marvellous, sometimes annoying. Fighting several enemies at once is very hard and not easily feasible because you will quickly become surrounded and trapped, but it is delightful to be alone in a large room with an ogre and dancing around it, evading it, striking out every now and then, until it is defeated. Inventory control is not very good. In combat, you can easily misclick and open the inventory, which will disturb your view on enemies and thus your combat decisions and reaction. Dragging a potion from one character to another one who should then drink it is also neither easy nor fun. Atmosphere: The atmosphere is dark and moody, as it is supposed to. The game is so convincing and immersive it will make you become claustrophobic and paranoid. Every time a spider jumped at me I got a little heart attack. Every time I heard the sound of a dangerous enemy roaming around, I broke down a little. And every time I was successful in a fight, I exhaled in relief. The atmosphere is simply superb. You should also look at the screenshots and admire the amazing work to get an idea. Magic System: I love the principle of the magic system. There are nine runes which are combined to cast spells. To cast a spell, you need to know its runic representation and meet its level requirement. To learn spells, you can either look for scrolls explaining them or just combine some runes to see if it works. The nice thing is that you do not have to try out runes randomly; if you already learned a few spells from scrolls and are a little observant, you may spot a pattern and discover new spells more easily. However, the implementation of this principle is not as great. Each time you want to cast a spell, you will have to select the correct runes (there is no possibility to have a default spell which is preset for combat or similar). To do that, you need to click on the mage’s hand/wand, then on the correct runes, then on the „cast“-button. Even for a simple one-rune spell, that’s already three clicks, which is too much in comparison to fighters or rogues, where one click is enough to attack. This can make combat pretty hard (and not in a good, challenging way, but in a rather annoying and needless way). Potion System: The potion system is very minimalistic (there are flasks, five or so ingredients and mortar and pestle to combine them), but that’s okay, you will have a lot of stuff that is not making potions to do. What’s also nice is that both complete and fragmentary receipts, as well as some other hints, which can be starting point for experimentation, can be found in the dungeon. Puzzles: I cannot say a lot about the puzzles. They’re well made, challenging, not too hard, not too easy. There are puzzles of varied difficulty. Most puzzles are even optional, but they always reward you in some way. There are some hard and very hard puzzles, but you only have to do them if you want the most epic loot (which you do, of course; good luck!). Other comments: If you are a hardcore gamer, you can make use of the menu options to disable automapping, damage text and item property descriptions and figure out everything by yourself. Advice: Don’t add rogues to your party. They’re useless and weak. Unfortunately, it is not possible to quicksave/quickload. The puzzles, loot, and enemies in the game are arranged pretty densely. You will rarely have to walk a long distance to find something new or to go on, deeper into the dungeon. In addition, you will very frequently have the opportunity to get loot, if you look closely for hidden buttons. tl;dr Summary: Some annoying flaws; very immersive; great game; would buy again.