Legend of Grimrock

This game is a fascinating dungeon-crawler with some problematic flaws. The most interesting aspect of this game is the movement system. It's tile-based (and it takes one "move" to turn) and your enemies are just as subject to that as you are, so you will find that combat encounters require circle-strafing and maneuvering, and that backing around a corner can allow you a moment to strike at an opponent's flanks before they turn to face you. This is fantastic. However, certain fights can start to feel like strafe-fests, and while that's not necessarily terrible, It'd be nice to see environments more cleverly constructed to incentivize movement options that are not "circle-strafe" or "back away." That brings me to the environments. They are beautiful. The art direction on this game was clearly solid, although the pure dungeon-crawling aspect of the game doesn't necessarily allow the most ridiculous of environmental designs. You will see a lot of brick walls and torches, and that's ok. You won't get too terribly tired of seeing them. Then there are the puzzles. Most puzzles are not very difficult. That isn't always a bad thing - certainly a game with a food mechanic can benefit from giving you challenges that don't require hours of head-bashing to solve. However, I'd like them to be more creative and more challenging than they are. One puzzle is solved by winning a staring contest with a gargoyle head, as one reviewer mentioned, and another - a torch-position-swap - is practically given away by a "riddle" scrawled on the wall. This isn't necessarily terrible, but it stretches the suspension of disbelief a little and the riddles (yes, there are others) tend to be pretty easily decipherable. There's nothing functional about the game that should preclude making really interesting puzzles, and it's disappointing that there are very few of them. That's not to say, however, that you won't fist-pump in the air a little when you overcome some of the puzzles or find a new way to use the environment against your foes; it's just that as solutions tend to be fairly basic, it won't necessarily take you very long to figure out the answer and it won't feel like a major intellectual accomplishment, just a routine but pleasant defeat of an environmental foe. The magic problem has been mentioned - you may find yourself using a lot of antidotes when you didn't expect to, and since the scrolls don't seem to be randomly distributed...well, some Mage builds are arguably just better than others. The first spell you get will be fire-based. I'd appreciate seeing more dungeons from the developers in which some of these issues are addressed; I think the puzzle problem is the biggest one, but making the effectiveness of a mage depend so heavily on whether his build matches the predetermined scrolls you find is also a serious flaw. Nevertheless, the art is nice, the movement and combat are interesting and the general feel of the game is solid. I have enjoyed what I've played and I'd like to see more from this developer.

I've been having a blast with this game. Great flow and execution. Recommended to anyone with good taste! ;)

I have played many Rpg's Including all <Eye of the Beholder, Might & Magic, & Wizardry Series games>. I have to say Legend of Grimrock is a pleasent remake of mixed in pieces of all these great Classics. Graphics are very clean and well presented. Game play is smooth and combat is straight forward, elegant but a simple UI. This Game may be new, but I believe it earns 5 stars. for being well designed and having a inovative concept Fantasy world. Well Done!

I preordered this game and have been playing it the past few days. The artistic style and atmosphere of the game is perfect. Monster design is outstanding. Combat is fun and requires strategy so that you don't get trapped in a corner. Official forums suggest a mod scene should eventually emerge. Puzzles aren't impossibly hard, and there are lots of secrets to find. At no point in my playthrough so far have I felt under or overpowered. Everything is doable, but may take a couple of reloads if you mess up. Any aspect of Legend of Grimrock that you may recognize from other dungeon crawlers, Grimrock has improved on greatly. While some people may complain about the lack of hotkeys for quickly swapping weapons, or using healing potions, I feel it creates a sense of urgency and contributes positively to the atmosphere of the game. Looking forward to expansions, and user-generated content.

I've been playing this game for about 4-5 hours and I can say, without doubt, that it is very addictive and thrilling to play. Dark endless corridors, dying torches that need to be replaced and angry (and hungry i'm afraid) monsters capable of slaying the entire party in few seconds... a must buy for every adventurer!!