I posted this review on the game's Steam Forum, but i thought it'll be appropriate to post on here too.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... st31851433
Legend of Grimrock is an old-school RPG that harkens back to old first-person dungeon crawlers such as the venerable Eye of the Beholder series, the older Might and Magics or the Wizardry series. My first playthrough on normal difficulty took close to 20 hours and this was considering that i had skipped a couple of puzzles and also had to consult the net for solutions to some of them.
Puzzles are the core of the game. Some of them are essential for game progression, most are optional, and ALL of them are very cleverly crafted and are absolutely fun and challenging. You will definitely get a sense of satisfaction if you manage to solve it without any help.
However because of this, I personally felt that the game focused too much on puzzle solving, and the game sometimes felt more like a puzzle game with RPG elements instead of an RPG with puzzles. Instead of having puzzles subtly presented like in the old Eye of the Beholder series, Grimrock literally hands you a puzzle room and even puts out a label of the puzzle's name. On the whole, this makes the whole game feel more like 13 levels of puzzle rooms where you just need to solve it to progress instead of an RPG with a coherent story that gives context to the puzzles.
Story is definitely not Grimrock's strong point, and it only provides an introductory excuse to let the player know why he is in a dungeon. As a game touted as an RPG, the treasure and loot selection are unfortunately not exciting. There are only a couple of limited choices. This game also features the most rediculous looking final boss in an RPG ever.
Music is very well done and sounds appropriately cinematic and epic. However, there are only 2 tracks in the whole game. The art style while looking very modern, recycles alot of textures and makes every dungeon level feel the same as the earlier ones.
The main gripe I had was the magic system, which was overly complicated and too frustrating to use. It actually requires you to remember spell combinations and click on them fast during battle. I felt that they should have had a simpler approach to this, or at least provide a simpler alternative style. (Eg: why can't we right click on the mage's hand, choose the spell i want and just cast it?)
Despite its flaws, Legend of Grimrock is still a very good game and is a worthy addition to the past glorious dungeon-crawlers. The fact that the entire game was made by only a 4 man team with a limited budget really blows the mind. Whats more, they even allowed player modding on this game which is probably a first time for games of this type and genre.
For veterans of old-school RPG dungeon-crawlers, this game is a definite must buy. For newer gamers who have never experienced such old-school gameplay before however, it is better to review the gameplay videos before deciding if this game is for you. The play style in this game may not appeal to modern gamers.
Overall Rating: 8.0 / 10
An excellent and authentic old-school dungeon crawler that veterans would enjoy. I cannot wait to see a sequel to this game. Two thumbs up. Don't miss it.