After spending 12 hours playing this during my last vacation, I think I have spent enough time with it to render a decision. And that decision is, I don't want to play this anymore. I'm currently halfway through the game and my impetus to continue simply doesn't exist.
Legend of Grimrock is an independently produced dungeon crawler created by all of just four people. Being an indie game in a hardcore niche genre is nothing new. However, Grimrock also happened to have really nice graphics. That aspect is always a bonus in the indie space, and a real treat in the dungeon crawler genre. But while Grimrock might look pretty on the outside, what's running under the hood is a different story entirely. Yes, Grimrock is a very pretty game for its genre. Its environs look quite realistic, with incredibly good lighting and shadows. Monsters appear truly vicious and are animated convincingly. Excellent sound effects help to congeal the atmosphere as well (there's not really any music though). So from an audio visual angle, Grimrock rocks indeed. And its aesthetics are part of why this game remains so overrated.
Overrated? Yes, I said that. Legend of Grimrock is incredibly overrated. You see, this is one of those "hardcore" games that people are afraid to say they don't actually enjoy, for fear of being labeled a "casual". So average gamers play through it on easy difficulty while using a walkthrough to blitzkrieg the puzzles. That's a real shame too, because although Grimrock has some very strong enemies it also has quicksave and quickload. That means players can just savescum their way through any "tough" battles. This leaves only the actual puzzles remaining as a challenge, and walkthroughs mitigate that for the average player without doubt if people's HLTB times are to be believed.
So yeah, Grimrock's puzzles. Well, they consist of pressure plates, hidden buttons on walls, warp portals, lighting torches, collecting keys... the usual stuff you do in a dungeon crawler. Now a game like Zelda might take such rote puzzle ingredients and turn them into intuitive and clever challenges. Grimrock instead creates trial and error cesspools of sadistic busywork. Do you fancy exploring every single wall you come across for a hidden button (hundreds of walls await)? Do you enjoy timed pitfall sequences that are easy to deduce, but have such insanely tight timing, that even a quarter second lapse causes you to need to redo the entire sequence ad nauseam? Do you enjoy meandering randomly through a maze of warp portals until you eventually pop out on the right spot? Howabout pressure plates that sometimes accept thrown rocks as a weight, but other times might only accept a thrown weapon, without any inclination as to why? Howabout random torch holders that will sometimes open a secret door, but usually don't. But because they do you will have to put a torch in every single one you come across just because.
Even if you could somehow find enjoyment in Grimrock's asinine puzzle design, its battles will leave you bored silly. Grimrock's combat system is dirt simple. You right click on a character's weapon and they attack. That's it. No special combos, no dual wielding tricks, no affinity traits, none of that. Click. Attack. Click. Attack. That's it. Spell casting exists but is so time consuming to do in battle that it's more a liability than an asset. That's because battles are real time in this game, which was a terrible idea given the clunky control interface. Every time one of your characters attack, you have a cool down period, and while you're waiting on your party to be able to attack again, you simply dance around the enemy to avoid getting hit. Now while kiting enemies is actually engaging in a game like Brandish or King's Field, Grimrock still manages to make this a pain in the ass due to its terrible interface. Casting a spell in battle? Right click the wizard's staff. Click every corresponding rune icon to create the spell you want. Click the cast button. Now disregard while you're doing all that, you're being attacked and none of your other party members can do anything on their own.
Even if somehow you enjoyed the tedious puzzles and discombobulated combat, Grimrock's repetitiveness will likely do you in. I made it to level 7 and I'd only seen two texture themes for the dungeon. Two. Two themes don't go very far and it wasn't long until I felt like I was constantly playing a level remix of the last level I just beat. And while enemies look nice, there aren't many of them. There were maybe six or seven different types of enemies I'd come across after twelve hours of playing. Party equipment? Boring as wool socks. The only remotely interesting piece of gear I'd found after twelve hours was a flaming sword. Let's just say that Grimrock takes a very small pool of art assets and stretches them incredibly thin. And the plot? What plot? You might get a great plot in a dungeon crawler classic like Ultima Underworld. But Grimrock's plot consists of: "You are a prisoner cast into a dungeon, if you can escape you will be a free man." If there's more to it than that, I hadn't seen it after making it halfway through.
I love a good dungeon crawler. And I can tell Grimrock's developers love one too. They were obviously influenced by classics such as Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder, Anvil of Dawn, Ultima Underworld, and the like. But Grimrock is a pale imitation of what made those games classics in the first place. I am sure Grimrock's pretty graphics attract people to it. Then the "love it or you're a casual" angle induces enough Stockholm syndrome for them to bother finishing it (via savescumming with a walkthrough in tow). But anyone who's old enough to have played the vintage games that influenced Grimrock's existence will be able to recognize it for the sloppy attempt it really is. Trial and error puzzles, boring combat, repetitive environments, non-existent plot, clunky user interface, all leave no impetus to keep playing (beyond sheer self loathing I suppose). There have been other labors of love to this genre that are worth your time (such as Arx Fatalis, Orcs & Elves, and King's Field: The Ancient City), but Grimrock simply is not. This is one overrated grim legend that deserves to be locked. 5/10
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