Almost Human se ze své lásky k žánru krokovacích dungeonů (nezaměňovat s krokovacími RPGčky jako je z nedávných kupříkladu Might & Magic X) dostatečně a kvalitně vyznali již v prvním díle, který umně kombinoval důraz na klasické staromilské mechaniky v přístupném hávu. Zadařila se jim tak málokdy vídaná věc, kdy oslovili i uspokojili jak nostalgiky mezi námi, tak tímto svébytným žánrem dosud nepolíbené hráče. Ve své podstatě mrtvý žánr resuscitovali.

Od té doby se však díky vzedmuté indie/Kickstarter vlně urodilo hned několik zdařilých titulů a tak nestačilo nabídnout pouze „podruhé to samé“. A věděli to i tvůrci, kteří se poučili z chyb jedničky (souboje, jednotvárnost), dokázali celý koncept posunout zase o něco výše, ale přitom zůstali staromilsky (skoro až zpátečnicky) věrni pravidlům žánru a tak stále jde o dungeon crawler (jakkoli zde mnohdy pod otevřeným nebem) až do morku kostí; tedy žádné questy, NPCčka, obchodování, dialogy, příběh… Jen a pouze přežití nástrah jednoho ostrova skrze souboje, časté (jakože opravdu časté!) puzzly a objevování skrytých zákoutí. Nic více a nic méně.

Akorát se znatelně přitvrdilo v obtížnosti a tak i bez zapnutých hardcore modulací (žádná mapa, žádné libovolné ukládání) jde o výzvu jak v soubojích (již nefunguje postupné upižlávání nepřátel skrze „tile dancing“ z jedničky, kdy se tímto způsobem bojovalo od úvodních potvor až po ty závěrečné; zde většina soupeřů má proti tomu obranu a vyžadován je tedy jiný přístup „potvora od potvory“), tak i hádankách a puzzlech (většina současných logických her i adventur může jen tiše závidět nad jejich nápaditostí, rozmanitostí i obtížností).

Navíc se tu výtečně pracuje s atmosférou. Nejsou na hráče vrhány zástupy nepřátel. Naopak se tvůrci nebojí nechat ho celé minuty bloumat po prázdných chodbách. Jenomže ve hře, která ve své škodolibosti nedává nic zadarmo (uvidíte-li bednu v místnosti bez protivníků/puzzlů, tak si můžete být jisti, že to bude mít háček) to má za následek, že budete napjati „tady zatím rohem už to musí přijít, zase nějaká ta zákeřnost, po které budu opětovně nahrávat pozici“. A i nadále platí, že zdejší posedlost zkoumáním každého centimetru všech stěn při hledání tajných tlačítek mnohdy hraničí až s náběhem na diagnózu obsedantně kompulzivní poruchy.

Druhý Grimrock tedy je v technickém hávu odpovídajícímu roku vydání (opětovně) úspěchem po všech stránkách, který na ploše několika desítek hodin důsledně razí přístup „minule jsme vám dali vzpomenout, jaké to bylo v dobách, kdy světu her vládly dungeon crawlery, a nyní vám konečně ukážeme zač je toho loket a jakou výzvou ty hry tenkrát byly“. A díky za to!

Did you ever said or though that modern games are too handhold-y? Did you wished for puzzles that treat you like an adult and not a toddler? If so, you're legally complied to play this game.

If I were to be fully objective about it, the game's around 4 stars, but it gets full marks from me for having such a strong design and sticking to their guns. It's an old-school dungeon crawler/RPG with "outdated" controls (which are still fun if I'm being honest) and an amazing level design.

I mean, let me just end this review with an personal anecdote so that you understand what kind of game this is, and why I love it so much:

I was walking around a dungeon and spotted a small button hidden among the stones. It opened up an ambush and a large subsection of the dungeon. At its end I found some loot and a scroll. The scroll is a cypher with things like AR UHU LAM written alonside some symbols. I went back to a part of the dungeon where I remembered using these words. Spent a while theorycrafting and put my guess to work. The gate opened! Inside there were... Three letters. Telling a story. Out of order. After putting these in chronological order and deciphering the sentences into directions, I remembered one place in another biome entirely where this might've been pointing at. I went there, tried the combination, nothing. Then I remembered I needed an additional item to further give context to the instruction and then, BAM. Solved.

Know what was my reward for it?

I got to continue the story.

That wasn't a secret, the game expects you to do all that just to finish it.

I absolutely love this "ur problem, make it work" design. The game isn't afraid to have you stumped. It's not interested in having you LOOK badass, it actively challenges you to beat it. People praise From Software for this kind of design and I kinda agree. But this here? This is the real, unfiltered thing. Because this game isn't just intentionally cryptic in directions, it's also hard as fuck.

This is a gem in the rough, and I wish more games were made with this design in mind. It doesn't need to be AAA 6 billion USD budget titles, but it wish it wasn't something once every 10 years...

Thought I had a lot of fun with the first game, now I see how pitifully it falls short compared to this. This game has so much and improves on every single aspect from progression, fairness of secrets, openness, build variety...wish I had skipped the first game so I wouldn't burn out so quickly. Very solid blobber. The difficulty curve is extremely rough on the serious settings.

Random note, playing without map on this one is a lot more comfortable compared to the first game since there's real scenery. Very immersive. Such a good blob.

Grimrock 1 é uma carta de amor aos dungeon-crawlers clássicos. Já o 2 é um sucessor de fato: não tenta emular experiências passadas, ele usa o que aprendeu com antecessores para criar sua própria experiência — e, se me permitir a ousadia de assim o dizer, avançar o gênero.

A ambientação numa ilha em vez de um calabouço subterrâneo não é só enfeite. É um jogo variado, não-linear e cheio de segredos em cada canto. Ao mesmo tempo, consegue ser bem intuitivo e muito fácil de pegar, graças ao excelente level design e a narrativa. A liberdade que o jogo te dá não é um ônus, nunca deságua numa forma de paralisia de escolha. A sensação de progressão é constante e engajante. Assim Grimrock consegue superar dois dos problemas comuns a muitos jogos do gênero, a repetitividade e obtusidade.

O melhor de tudo é que Grimrock 2 faz isso sem desrespeitar a inteligência do jogador. Não é um game que vai te carregar pela mão; dominar a ilha do Nexus é desafiante, mas cada passo dessa aventura é recompensador.

The first Legend of Grimrock was a game that I learned about mostly through accident when I saw it on a Youtuber's channel a little after it came out. I picked it up and ended up loving it way more than I thought I could love a game like that. I was extatic when I heard a sequel was coming out, so as I usually do, I proceeded to wait years to even pick it up and then longer to even give it a go. All the talk around this month's FPDC theme for TR gave me all the motivation I needed to finally give it a go, and I'm so glad I did! Grimrock 2 is everything about the first game cranked up a few notches. I played on normal difficulty with ironman saving (couldn't save other than at save points, so no quick save/quick load) and it took me around 23 hours.

Legend of Grimrock is a series of first person dungeon crawlers very much in homage to games like Lands of Lore. Grid-based, first person movement is the name of the game as you kite around monsters, hunt walls for secret buttons, and solve brain-bending puzzles in an effort to escape the island you've been marooned on. I really only have experience in the genre with the Grimrock games, so this review will basically only talk about them in relation to one another.

The main thing that separates Grimrock 2 from 1 is that the game is far less linear because of the island setting. Grimrock 1 took place entirely inside a giant tower you were descending, and had a very linear map design as a result. Even if you backtracked a little at times, you were always going towards the goal of finding the real exit to that particular floor. Grimrock 2 has a giant island to explore where you're hunting for gems of power to unlock the giant castle in the middle. You can go to almost anywhere on the island as soon as you're done with the starting area, so the game has a very non-linear feel to it in comparison to its predecessor. This led to me spending hours just following the next little clue, the next passageway, a new piece of loot. The expanded, non-linear map really gave the game a flair of exploration the previous game lacked, which I really loved. The only down-side to this is that, at least on normal mode, there were some areas I'd go to and get fucking destroyed by the monsters in while some I'd go to and have no problem at all. Some of that I think was down to thematic reasons (of course the pyramid has mummies, even though they suck), but it definitely felt like the enemy balance wasn't exactly perfect. I never felt like I was in an unwinnable situation though. It just took getting slightly more crafty with how I handled enemies in that area, as even the weaker enemies always had stronger, scarier friends not too far behind x3

You make a party of four characters of five different races each with their own racial perks, pick some starting abilities for them, and give them a class. The cool thing about Grimrock 2 is that your class only very slightly restricts what you can actually do in the game, as it really only influences the permanent stat boosts you get when you level up as well as some other small passives (like how only alchemists can have herbs grow in their inventory, or only farmers level up by eating food instead of fighting monsters). Any character can level up any skill as easier as any other, so any class can effectively wield any equipment if you decide to level them that way. Want a wizard who can wear heavy armor? You can do that! A berserker who can cast spells? As long as he has a wand to use, he can do that! Most weapons also have a special move that can be used by holding down the button for them, so even non-caster characters get a chance to have mana as a valuable resource now :)

The puzzles in this game are damn hard. There was only one, maybe two puzzles I had to look up in the original Grimrock, but there were at least half a dozen or more I had to for this game. They're all online, often with hints followed by the actual solution, which was nice, but they really cranked up the amount of vague hints you need to decipher or environmental clues you gotta gather to understand how to get through an area Xp

Verdict: Highly Recommended. Legend of Grimrock was a fantastic homage to old FPDC's, and the sequel expands on its mechanics in ideas in just about only good ways. If you like FPDC's, you will probably love this game. If you just like RPG's or adventure games, you'll probably like this game as well. It's a fantastic modern entry to the genre that I can't recommend well enough :D

Straight improvement on the first in almost every way! I was worried that the overworld traveling would diminish the dungeon crawling but it just added to the overall experience by having very interesting navigation. The greatly increased customization of your character builds and whatnot is a gigantic improvement but the balancing that comes with it doesn't land as well as it could. Alchemists are ridiculously overpowered for example, there's never a reason to not have one. Game ate it up though!!

this may become one of my favorite games of all time. the first one blew me away with how good it was, and this one being such a improvement over it, they finessed it so well, that i don't think anyone should play this one by itself, people owe it to themselves to play the first one, be amazed by it, and then be amazed even more by this one
the mechanics of party building, the combinations of races, classes and traits is almost a game in itself, at least i spent a long time on it. the combat is great, and the world is incredibly varies, even though it loses some of the atmosphere the first one had. this is a fantastic game, and i think everyone that likes dungeoncrawlers should at least take a crack at it (and at the first one if you have the time)

Your adventurers are a clean slate. Just stats and a portrait, no sad back stories or motivations besides "gotta get the hell off this grim rock". There's three main things you're doing: solving puzzles, fighting enemies, keeping yourself fed.

The puzzles are pretty good. There are dozens of them, from simple "look around for a tile on this wall that looks like a switch" to "manipulate the entire dungeon to place yourself where you ought". Only a few felt like bullshit, and I'm not particularly patient.

I saw frustrations in some reviews regarding enemy encounter placements. Often you'll be mobbed by monsters either upon entering a puzzle room or after completion. This actually gives you space to think, and with a very generous save/quicksave anywhere system (unless you're playing specific modes with it disabled) it shouldnt be a problem of losing progress.

And about fighting those enemies. I ran with the default team comp, but it was definitely not considered the ideal. Wizards are very squishy and I gave my alchemist a firearm (a big no-no supposedly) and while some encounters were difficult, nothing felt like I had stuck myself with no way out.

The combat is in real time, in a sense. You don't move to a different 'plane' for combat, it all takes place in the grid space you're traversing on. Square dancing is a reliable cheese for most monsters, including those above your level, but then suddenly new tactics are needed in narrow corridors and dark dungeons. Like turn-based dungeon crawlers, there's a consideration of resources and exposure when trying to fill every corner of the map. It's very addictive.

The last bit is eating. Literally, your characters grow hungry and require food. This food takes up space in your inventory but it does not go rotten. For 99% of the time (on normal at least) you will hardly notice this, even as a hindrance. Food is abundant both as drops from certain enemies and as spawning resources in water areas (you can pluck fish to your heart's content).

It is fairly useless as a survival mechanic, but I think it has value as an appendage to the inventory tetris. Weighing the likelihood of hunger striking and realizing it is not as threatening as it first appears can help assuage inventory hoarders into maybe letting go of other items as well. After all, who are you gonna sell that shitty starting sword to anyway?

Grimrock II's story is simple. It's all mysterious letters and foreboding diary entries. Leprechauns and evil wizards pop up to visibly alter the world and remind you you're trapped on this island, it aint no vacation. But your characters never speak, any characterization comes entirely from the player's brain. It reminds me of Myst and its legion of copycats, of which I only played bits and of pieces of when I was a kid but was still so memorable.

So yea, a seriously dense and fun adventure. Grimrock II is one of those games in a genre that makes you go "Oh I get it! Maybe I'll try etrian odyssey now, or one of those old gold box games." We'll see how that goes

Good variety of puzzles. More open than the first game with more varied areas but easy to get lost and some areas will be more difficult and are meant to be explored later or require clues gathered in other sections. Some enemies have been given more interesting attack patterns that makes exploiting them a bit more difficult but still involves a lot of waiting for them to move and you only really being in danger if surrounded. Has a similar problem to the previous games with not all the skills explained well and some skills, traits, stats, weapons, and even a class just not being useful. The game hates being minimized and will eventually start showing black on the bottom half of the screen until you open and close it a few more times, and will eventually just crash when trying to save if you have been minimizing it.