Grimrock

I'm mostly interested in some key factors.
1)How long did it take you to beat the game? Official game time and approximate real time? If you played a difficulty other then normal please state it. If you went old school without automap state it.
2)Did you need help? (A walkthrough, this forum, etc.) If so how many times?
3)How complete was your win? How many secrets did you find?
4)What level were your characters?
5)What do you rate the game out of 10?

To start off:
1) Game time: 12h37m Real time: Maybe 17? I died a lot. I used automap. I killed every mob I saw except for the first stampede of green lizards where I just ran.
2) Yes, several times. Some of the puzzles that stumped: The four random items puzzle. The checkered room made me feel dumb. The first time you have to put an item on a pressure plate behind a gate. The bone necklace. The infusor. The final boss.
3)Not very complete. I got 49 secrets. I actually never found any treasure till level 13, where i found 2.
4)Two level 13s and two level 12s.
5)I give it 8. The storyline is weak and uninvolved as is the ending. The enjoyment was in the difficulty of the game. But I have no desire to play it again. To be fair I rarely replay games anyway.

1. Around 15 hours, don't know how much of that was spent paused while I did something else.
2. Only for the last puzzle in Temple level 1
3. Found most of the sets, and around 80-90% percent of the secrets. 4 or 5 treasures.
4. 13, I think
5. 8

1:
Last save says 8h 24min (last boss was heavily damaged, so add another min or two for the actual end time). Actual time: Probably in the region of 10½h.
2:
No, I was looking for one at one point, but could not find any help online. So I had to solve the puzzle "the hard way" (with my own brain).
3:
Secrets found: 21 I thought I had found more, but no, 21 secrets found in total. A replay might be in order
4:
First warrior: Level 13, Second Warrior: Level 12, Rogue: 13, Mage: 12
5:
10. I've not been sucked in like this by a game in ages, and I've nearly lived in front of my computer since launch. Story could have been a tad bit better, I would not have minded if there were a few more sound effects and the game could have been a bit longer, but a 10/10 does not mean that the game is flawless, just that it is one of my top games (other games deserving this honor includes: Civ 2, Victoria 2, Jagged Alliance 2, Riven, Planescape, Majesty 1, Thief, Super Metroid, System Shock 2 and a few others. Not a whole lot of games though)

Being old scholl myself I love this game reminded me of the old days so I can't wait for more.

1. Played 18:54 according to stats ( I have 2 kids might have beat it sooner otherwise).
2. Human fighter lvl 14, minotaur fighter lvl 13, Lizard mage lvl 13, insect rogue lvl 13
3. Played on easy mode for first run to see if i liked it and easy isn't even that easy lol.
4. found 53/71 secrets didn't try to hard since it was a easy test drive run.
5. Found 14/16 notes, 3/7 treasures, 4 skulls and 732 items.
6. Didn't play old school but even with the map it wasn't a piece of cake.

At around lvl 8 used the internet about 4x total after getting hopelessly stuck only after clearing amost all of the map and for strategy on the boss although I didn't really find anything useful I do have a really good strategy of my own now lol.

I rate it a 9/10 I don't always care too much for the storyline but considering the size of the world map there is more to come. Loved the graphics and the gameplay and in made me jump a couple of times which doesn't normally happen being I am an extreme horror buff not much scares me.

Gonna play through this again on normal and hard to see the differences but even on easy it took alot to defeat the boss before I figured out a strategy.

1)How long did it take you to beat the game? Official game time and approximate real time?
Game time 7:50, real time around 11-12 (i restarted after lvl 3)
2)Did you need help? (A walkthrough, this forum, etc.) If so how many times?
Yes, twice
3)How complete was your win? How many secrets did you find?
49/71, 2/7, 11/16, 4, 10/10
Playing it again to get 100%
4)What level were your characters?
13
5)What do you rate the game out of 10?
8

1)How long did it take you to beat the game? Official game time and approximate real time? If you played a difficulty other then normal please state it. If you went old school without automap state it.


Real time - for sure over 24hours even more, lots of reload, walking around trying to solve puzzles, reloading and trying again... played on normal with automap.

2)Did you need help? (A walkthrough, this forum, etc.) If so how many times?
Didn't use any walkthrough, though asked on forum 2 time - first on iron door on lvl 4 but didn't use the hint and just played without opening it in the end and at last boss is second one, couldn't find the damn Infusor for over 2 hours (real time, not game time as I reloaded a lot whiles searching lvl12 and 13) but solved it myself as no one replied in that time So in the end, all Puzzles solved by myself - and really only seek helped for this 2 technical stuff.

3)How complete was your win? How many secrets did you find?
Look at answer N1 Didn't really start to get into the game untill level 7-8 so I missed a lot of secrets and pits on the first levels for sure (and Fighters Challenge was close door etc so couldn't try it, or return to it as I think at lvl 8 door closed behind you.

4)What level were your characters?
All lvl 13 but no maxed skill, played more of balanced approached - Had one Human Fighter focus on Armor Mace and Athletics, Minotaur Fighter focus on Axe, Insectoid Mage focus on fire+spellcraft, Human Rogue focus on bows.

I think there is big problem with the progression, even if you maxed out one skill at 50, you will be already at the Final Boss, so its more or less useless, there should be some increase of XP gain so ppl can get at least to lvl 15 before last boss with some grind.

5)What do you rate the game out of 10?
Definitely is 10 out of 10 for me. Even if there some flaws and Improvements needed, the game is just epic by itself.

1) 18:54 hours, normal, oldschool mode. Although Steam says 27 hours, which is closer to the truth. I spent some extra time on puzzles (3 hours on one damnit) where after figuring out I loaded the game (was running out of food)

2) Only twice. The pillared hallway I looked up, and the four item puzzle. Only looked up hints for these though.

3) 45 secrets, 15 notes, 3 skulls, 8 iron doors, 29k tiles moved. I found one complete armor set, found Dismantler, gave Toorim a hand, found the Orb, and the pie.

4) all characters at level 13

5) 10+. Havent had this much fun with RPG's for as long as I can remember. Sure, Skyrim was awesome, but in a different way. They are too different games to be compared properly, and Grimlock feels more like a game. I love it because it forces me to use my brain, as no other games I have played over recent years ever did. The atmosphere and drive to find more stuff forced me to not give up when meeting a dead end (3 hours spent on the damn checkered room, i should have listened to the note to not let it fool me, haha). I liked the story as well, I think it was very fitting for the whole old school feel of the game.

I am starting a new playthrough on hard in oldschool mode (I like mapping it in my head, it's like a brain work-out). I can't wait for more content! And I wish there were more new games like this.

1)16 hours according to the game, probably something like 20-25 in RL. Lots of reloading if anyone died as I cba backtracking to a crystal. On hard, with automap
2)No
3)66/71 5/7 15/16 10/10 5/5 - completed all the armor sets, but probably missed some weapons and other stuff
4)13-14
5)7/10 some levels were too linear/boring, puzzle solutions too obvious. not enough magic spells/variety, character system lacking depth, apart from that good game

hard
automap on
2)several times

1) 11:53 on Normal, without the automap. Probably an extra hour of play on top of that.
2) I had to look up the checkered room puzzle. It wouldn't have been so frustrating if it weren't for that stupid note mocking me!
3) 32/71, 7/10, only one treasure(wow, those must be hard to find!)
4) Human Fighter at 12, Lizardman Fighter at 12, Human Air Mage at 13, Human Fire Mage at 12
5) 9/10 I loved it, but I feel like I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't burned myself out on it. I was really enjoying the first 5 or 6 levels but then I just couldn't stop, it gave me such a headache because I had trouble pulling myself away. I would have enjoyed it more it I limited myself to 1-2 levels a day. I liked almost everything about it, the story and setting (some people don't agree), the graphics, the monsters, the puzzles and the items. However I wish there was more spell variety and I did get really sick of playing ring around the rosy time after time with some of those tough monsters. It mystifies me that some people think that is a cool feature just because that's the way things were in the 90s. And the final battle was AWESOME!

I was secretly hoping that at the end of the game but I can see why a small indie developer would lack the resources to do that convincingly.

Like most people in this forum I think that games have been getting worse over the last 10 years, almost without exception. I appreciate that this game is actively trying to emulate the feel and complete experience of a 90s era game, instead of just bringing back one or two niche gameplay features. I would love to play another low level dungeon in LOG, but even more I would love to use my party again on a higher level dungeon. I can't wait until they make more.