Overview
Legend Of Grimrock is a classic style dungeon-crawler by Finnish developers Almost Human. The template is almost identical to great grandfather Dungeon Master (1987) but with modern graphics and smoother gameplay. It's platform is the PC & Mac (as with most RPGs of this type) but in May 2015 was adapted for the iPad.
The game is a couple of years old now and there is also a sequel which I will be trying and reviewing at some point. With a recent re-release for iOS and the fact that time does not exist in the dungeon (for those of you who read my first ever post) I thought it was time to take another look at this game.
Plot Summary
One fateful day four prisoners are taken to dreaded Mount Grimrock to be cast into the dark depths where they will either die or emerge as free people. They awake in a prison cell with nothing to aid them except their own will to survive.
As the prisoners delve deeper into the mountain they fight monsters, scavenge for whatever food they can find and uncover clues left to them by those that tried and failed before them. But something else is alive in Grimrock... something that comes to them in their dreams and is trying to guide them.
Gameplay
Like Dungeon Master this game uses a grid-based movement with real-time combat. The same feelings of isolation and impending dread have been put into this game. Grimrock improves over the games that inspired it by using WASD to move your party around and a slightly better inventory system. Your character sheet & inventory pop up at the side, meaning you can access items more easily during a battle.
Also present in Grimrock is the inclusion of skills and some flexibility in your character development. You can choose to specialise in different weapons and armour depending on your class. Dungeon Master did use a behind the scenes skill system but Grimrock really makes it part of your gameplay. The choices you make determine what items you can equip and which spells you can cast with your wizard.
Grimrock gives you an auto-map that develops as you explore, which is very handy and helps you not to get yourself lost. However for the die-hard dungeon delver there is Old-School mode which removes the feature, leaving you to get out the graph paper and put the work in yourself like we had to in the 1980s.
Graphics & SFX
Obviously comparing a 2012 game to those that came out in the late 80s is going to be unfair so from an impartial point of view I'd say all round good textures and dynamic lighting effects. The creature animations are very slick and give genuine menace as spiders scuttle about you and ogres charge you.
The creature sounds are simple but work extremely well. One big difference Grimrock has brought to this old genre is the inclusion of ambiance, giving the game genuine menace and atmosphere. The opening theme of the game is also brilliant and dramatic.
Yes there are better games out there if you want pure graphics but I have never come across a game so professionally put together from an indie developer before.
Conclusion
An awesome game with a fresh look at the classic RPG genre. All those hours of battling monsters, fumbling through runes and navigating grid-based traps nearly 30 years ago have been distilled, refined and unleashed once more into the dark dungeons of Grimrock.
Upon release I'm giving this game 9/10.
Buy it online through the developers or you can get it via Steam and GOG services.
