Legend of Grimrock is a throwback to games like Dungeon Master, Stonekeep, and Dungeon Hack. It is to Eye of the Beholder as Torchlight is to Diablo II, and let me tell you - it is a lot of fun.
Naturally, I made my own characters and turned off the automap (they call it "old-school mode"), and became involved with the story right away. Like in Ultima Underworld, you are thrust naked into an abyss full of monsters for a crime you may or may not have committed, and must use your brain and brawn to escape alive. There are many wonderful secrets to discover, spells and alchemy to figure out, and lots of monsters to fight. I really loved the graphics, and discovered that right clicking and dragging allows you to "free look" around rooms. Releasing the button gently centers your view again. Another thing which impressed me was the way it handled leveling up, with your choice of class-based skills to pick and choose, giving the game pretty good replay value. I would also love to see a level creation kit, so that we can make our own.
I did find the game to be a lot easier than EOB, however, and thus did not give it the full 5 out of 5 stars, but trust me when I say that you could do a lot worse for fifteen bucks.
