Legend of Grimrock

It is not often that you see a game advertised and wonder if it would ever meet your expectations and find out that it has surpassed them. I did not pre-order but waited it to be released on sale on Steam and now I am laughing inside like a giddy school boy – Dungeon Master was one of my favourite games of all time – and now I am re-living that experience 25 years later – my congratulations to the developers – will be looking out to hear about your future work. The graphics and sounds are really immersive – my main way of judging these sort of things are: would I play this game in the dark? whether I need to change my pants after playing? The answer to these are no and yes – and yes I have had a few jumps out of my chair moments – excellent. I quite like the way you can develop your characters as you level up with experience – I am using the default group but will definitely be making up my own group once I complete the game. Each of the default chars can eventually learn how to use at least light armour. You can develop “evasion” skills and specialise in different weapons and uses of magic – plus ++. The dungeon levels are well designed and various monsters you encounter are different – some you know can be beaten easily enough and others you soon realise require a quick panic, frantic mouse movements and clicking, then running around the dungeon in various directions trying to escape – all good ++ On the negative then – I am happy to accept that some of the problems with the interface actually lead to the really cool atmosphere as described above, BUT For ranged fighters like the rogue – why isn’t there a quick way to switch between weapons? The magic system seems way too complicated – firstly I could not even figure out how to use it – then although I think my mage is great – click, click, click and click – just to fire off a fireball – c’mon – why can’t we pre load more than one spell? or why isn't the last one used saved as a template? On the difficulty – either my IQ has halved whilst my waist line has doubled these last 25 years – or the puzzles are just too difficult, some I would say impossible unless you had days and days of spare time just to figure out how to open a door or how to close a trap – we need more clues in those areas! Not as good as Dungeon Master but the next best thing – great game, fiendish puzzles – I will play it – then play it again.

All in all, this is a good game--a nice atmosphere, a cool bestiary, lots of loot, a few interesting mechanics, and a good old-school feel. In short, it's about what you expect. As many have said, the combat system is a mixed bag, perhaps a bit weak. I don't find that fights are long and tedious, but they *are* repetitive--most of your tactics will involve either side-stepping a circle around the monster you're fighting or, if you're in a narrow space, backing up a step, hitting the monster as it comes into the adjacent square, backing up again before it can hit you, and repeat until it's dead. A few monsters add a little extra tactical consideration to the mix, such as the charging, side-swiping ogres, but not many. The fighting only gets really interesting when you have multiple enemies in an open space and have to maneuver and watch your back constantly--there are maybe half a dozen of those fights in the game. The spell system is a similar story. The basic mechanics of selecting runes on the fly are really cool, but your library of spells is extremely limited, and worse, it doesn't vary based on the school of magic you choose. Whether you're a fire, ice, air, or earth mage, you will get one close-range weak attack, one elemental shield, one long-range powerful attack, and one arrow enchantment. And that's literally it (except one extra spell, invisibility, which comes with air). It would be nice if there were different strategies for different mages, but alas. The skill sets and four-party system do give you lots of different possible strategies, though, and most of the skills are well balanced against each other. Your rogue can be a backstabbing, critical hitting shredding machine who can reach with melee attacks from the back row, or a ranger-type character with bow mastery and an assortment of enchanted arrows to choose from. Level design is a key strength, and the puzzles in particular are meticulously put together. Unfortunately, this often means that you face extremely frustrating races against time. On the other hand, it often means that you always have a perfectly placed alcove to duck into for cover, and that you will always be able to find exactly the item set you need for the upcoming fights if you look hard for it. The thing that most makes this game shine is its attention to detail, and especially the thrill of finding each new treasure, most of which are unique, tucked away in a corner or hidden behind a secret door. There's always some new puzzle, some surprising challenge, some cool little piece of a world to find around the next bend. That's what made the Ultima games at the peak of the series some of the best games of all time, and it's what makes Legend of Grimrock a game well worth playing.

I've been playing for 2.5 hours and am already headed to bed late. "Just one more encounter...What's that strange light up ahead?" I just can't get enough of the old school greatness. If you are a fan of old school RPG's, Eye of the Beholder, Dungeon Master, Bard's Tale, Might & Magic, etc., you can't pass this up. Great job Almost Human! Great price! I hope sales are going well and we can look forward to a level editor, expansions, etc. I'm gong to be almost late for work if I don't pull myself away!

I suppose for the price this is a decent value. But I found the combat to be especially boring and repetitive after a few hours of play. Maybe I'll revise my score later if things improve but I need to play something else that exciting and come back to it.

Like in the good old days, but with nice graphics :) For modern gamers the game is hardcore even in normal difficulty. It is a strange feeling to be commited to READ and THINK in a game. Not your everyday CoD ^^