Legend of Grimrock Review (Debeli)
I played Legend of Grimrock when it came out, but never got past the first couple of levels. I've always said that I'll play through it one day. Over 10 years later, that day has finally come.
Legend of Grimrock is a dungeon-crawling RPG with lots of puzzles. The game has no real story to speak of, but rather a semblance of one. You control a party of convicts that have been imprisoned in a huge tower which no one ever comes out of. The tower is befitting a true dungeon and is filled with all kinds of monsters, traps and puzzles. The real emphasis in Legend of Grimrock is on puzzles and secrets, while combat and RPG elements come secondary.
Speaking of combat, I find it utterly terrible. The combat is in real-time and consist of moving your characters with keyboard while performing actions by mouse. Like in all old-school dungeon crawlers, the map is divided by square spaces and you control your party in first-person view. Most of the time, the combat will resemble you strafing around a monster and hitting it, while it turns hopelessly around in circles trying to follow you. The game is designed so you need to isolate the monsters by kiting, killing them one at a time by using glitches. So yes, terrible combat. On the other hand, the puzzles are pretty well-designed and generally quite rewarding, but their sheer quantity is overwhelming. There is literally a puzzle or a secret at every corner and I was glad to be rid of them by the time I finished the game.
In terms of presentation, Legend of Grimrock looks fairly decent. It also lacks any kind of musical background, so you'll be wandering around in silence. However, this silence adds to the distinct dungeon-crawling atmosphere that is present in the game. All in all, I consider Legend of Grimrock more of a puzzle game than a RPG.
This game has gained legendary status over the years, but I wasn't impressed by it in any way. There are better dungeon crawlers out there, both older and newer.
Score (out of 10):
6.5