I'm going to stay spoiler-free, don't panic!
Guys, this was so refreshing. I hadn't heard about the game until last month, when a friend pointed it out to me at work. "Hey", he said, "you should totally have a look at this game being made."
I had a look. And a blast. Before it was even released. The promise of going back to the very genre that defined my youth as a gamer, before vanishing into nothingness, suddenly, quicker and more mysteriously than the Dinosaurs did, was a total dream come true.
I started my long journey into the videogames world at the age of 7, with an old Amiga 500, and Dungeon Master. I was crapping my pants when I was hearing a freaking mummy, somewhere, stalking me, behind the closed doors, or... Wherever it was. To be fair, I never finished the game then, I was too scared and it was too hard for a 7-years-old boy barely discovering the whole thing. I finished it year later, thanks to Dosbox, when I was already a working grown up.
Then, there was Chaos Strikes Back, which I yet have to play. Yeah, I wanted so bad to import my previous party... And it seems it's a bit hard to do that using dosbox. To be honest, I haven't tried again over the last 3 or 4 years. Maybe it does work, now.
Then, there was Eye of the Beholder Trilogy. At first, I barely advanced into the game. Man, was I a chicken, and a bad one, then! Fortunately, I managed to go through.
Then, there was Dungeon Master 2.
Then, there was Shining in the Darkness, on Genesis.
Then, there was Crystal of Arborea, Ishar 1, 2 and 3.
Then, there was Hired Guns, a quite unknown game, playing like a futuristic Dungeon Crawler game, where the screen would be split in 4 and you could play with the 4 guys individually.
It took me years before I finally grabbed, again, Dosbox, and decided to finish all those titles. Well, apart from SitD, which I finished on Genesis.
- Dungeon Master was the King of them all, being the oldest, the scariest in my opinion. I will always remember the starting area, with all the portraits of fallen heroes to choose from and resurrect. And the noise when you would hit a wall and hurt yourselves, haha !
- [/color]Eye of the Beholder trilogy, which I had mistakenly took as as an average Dungeon Master lookalike, turned out to have an exceptional feature, which CSB had, but it managed to turn it into a very powerful tool : the party importer. Not a lot of games had this... Baldur's Gate 2, I think, and after that, it goes all the way up to Mass Effect trilogy. Anyway, I just kept my original party from the start of the first episode to the end of the last. This convey a rare sense of accomplishment, which has almost never been revived in any other game I played.
- [/color]Ishar trilogy was a perfect blast. Probably my favorite, equal to EoB and its import system. Ishar had a scenario, a lot of environments ( I especially remember the second game ), characters you would meet on the way and add to your party and who could betray you, should the other people in your party not strike their fancy. You can think of it as an ancestor to Baldur's Gate, actually. But in a Dungeon Crawling form. Now I can't remember all the details, but this game was huge, and quite hard.
- [/color]Dungeon Master 2 was a letdown. Sure, there was some nice ideas, exterior and interior environments, traders, and stuff. But... The feeling of the first game was not there.
I hadn't heard about Knightmare nor Blackcrypt. So I didn't play those ones.
And now, almost 25 years later, you guys release Legend of Grimrock. And it's my youth all over again. You stuck to the old principles, to the old rules. You loved those games, and your love shows. Everything is here. Intact, but more beautiful ( in a technical, and artistic, way ). And there is only one thing that we could possibly blame the game on : even if it took me 20 hours to complete with almost 100% secrets found, I wanted MOAR !
More secrets. More level to explore and to descend to. More monsters. More spells. More weapons. More enigmas. More scenario. More wall textures. More pewpew. More explosions. More maniac laughs in the darkness. No wait, scratch those last three
Now don't get me wrong : I absolutely, wholeheartedly, unconditionally, loved your game ( especially at that price
). From start to finish. Even when I hated you for those "WTF IS THAT DAMN F**CKING MONSTER THAT KEEPS KILLING ME ??§§" moments.A game that provides a raw, pure, uncompromising experience.
A game that we feel was made out of love and nostalgia.
A game we haven't seen since a long, long time.
A gem, in a word.
So I can only hope for one thing : that you will sell enough copies and, as a result, get enough money, to grace us with a sequel.
A vast sequel, exploring more of your world, with, please, the Import Characters option!
No need for a continous, overtime scenario, involving the characters - just independant adventures, with more environments, maybe a backstory unfolding in the kingdom following the end events, in which we would not be interfering, but that would help establish and enforce your world and the timeline. A bit like the Elder Scrolls, now that I think of it - one era, one story, no real links except the changing world in which we are adventuring.
Here are my simple hopes for the future. Just... More of the same.
I trust you guys want to put in some new official content, much like Amnesia : the Dark Descend did with "Justine". I will be eagerly waiting. As long as we can play the same guys, from one adventure to another, I will be happy!
And, Almost Human team:
THANK YOU!
- A very happy player/customer/fan/guy, whatever you like the most.
