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
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