Legend of Grimrock Review (Alazar Ramir)
I first got into the first-person dungeon crawler experience when I played Stonekeep. I know others had come out before it, but this was the one that intrigued me as a kid. I probably even have the CD somewhere.
Now Legend of Grimrock was a game that piqued my interest around the time it had first come out because it reminded me of Stonekeep. When I first tried it out, I hadn't made it far - maybe two floors - before I moved on. It wasn't because of boredom or lack of interest. It was simply a case of installing something else and never getting back around to it.
Well, I am now pleased to say that is no longer the case.
As I played the game, it brought back all the fond memories of my time on Stonekeep. I did have to change some of the control schemes to mimic that game because even though I had completed it in 2023 I was still expecting certain key presses to behave the same way.
I loved the exploration within the game. At no point did it feel tedious. There were some back-and-forth moments, but never anything that felt dragged out. Most of it was because I finished exploring a section and found a clue or key to get past an area that I had not yet gotten through. So obviously, I would travel to that section to get past it. There were a couple of times when I had to go back to a floor to retrieve an item - for example, I needed three torches to solve a puzzle and unlock a door. I merely went up a floor, grabbed the first three torches from their wall sconce, and viola, I was moving ahead again.
One element that I really liked in Legend of Grimrock but was not present in Stonekeep was the use of lighting and shadows. At the start of the game, you need to carry a torch with you if you want any hope of seeing what's in front of you. Later on, you can find other light sources that end up freeing your hands for other important things. But the light also has another use - to cast shadows. At one point, I was in an area where I was facing a wall. There was an empty space behind me and on the wall, there was a torch. I happened to be reading a note that I had found - and keep in mind, note reading; inventory checking, and map reviewing do NOT pause the game - when a skeleton walked into the space behind me. How did I know? Well, the torch on the wall behind us cast his shadow on the wall in front of me. It was an absolutely brilliant touch!
A game like this also has a ton of secrets which makes exploring even more worthwhile. Now the secrets varied from easy to how in God's name was I meant to figure that out?!
One other feature that I liked, which saved me plenty of headaches, especially during the final fight, was that I could disengage from an enemy and retreat to a safe spot to heal (and save if need be).
I will eventually get around to Legend of Grimrock 2 (which honestly, I don't know how the game has a sequel with the way things ended). Hopefully, it will be just as good, if not better, than its predecessor.
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