The first Legend of Grimrock entry is a first-person dungeon crawler that pays homage to classic grid-based RPGs like Dungeon Master. Developed by an indie studio, the game combines real-time combat, exploration, and intricate puzzles within a 3D dungeon environment. Its design emphasizes strategic thinking and careful navigation, creating a tense and immersive atmosphere. This was the first game of this genre that I've ever played, and I immediately became a fan. Though I don't consider this something I would use to decide if I would like to play the RPG or not, in my opinion, anybody that likes party RPGs, to any extent, will also enjoy this game.

The puzzles are clever and varied, requiring observation, logic, and experimentation, especially because they use your senses a lot, things like visual details on walls (similar to Doom secrets) and audio queues, will definitely make a difference, so I recommend trying to enhance the immersion using headphones. You must manage their party’s resources carefully while solving environmental challenges, which adds depth to the gameplay. Especially because you can easily soft-lock yourself if you don't level up your party properly, or use a party combination with zero synergy, for example.

The dungeon’s atmospheric design, with detailed visuals and moody lighting, enhances the sense of immersion and danger. While the combat is functional, it can feel repetitive at times, and enemy AI is relatively simple, making some encounters predictable, though this doesn't mean they are not challenging, quite the opposite, form start to finish you can easily face a game over screen, especially at the very beginning, or at the very end of the game, which it escalates a lot, forcing you to use your party to the max. Despite these minor drawbacks, the game succeeds in capturing the spirit of classic dungeon crawlers, offering a challenging and nostalgic experience for fans of retro party RPGs, it is a must-play for fans of this genre.

Legend of Grimrock seeks to bring back that first-person, semi-real time dungeon crawling trailblazed and popularized by games like Dungeon Master. While its quality of life improvements are certainly welcome and its visuals a step up, it's a fairly run of the mill dungeon crawler with a few obtuse bits and frustrations here and there.

Players can choose a party of four prisoners that have been sent to Mount Grimrock to be absolved of their crimes. While sealed in the mountain, the prisoners make their way to the bottom of Grimrock Dungeon and the mysteries that lie beneath. It's a pretty straightforward story with some intriguing twists but nothing that will make the bits of lore strewn throughout the game a must-read.

The players have tile-based movement but move and act in somewhat real time. Each player action recharges for reuse but the player can move in full real time. There is a variety of skills such as axes, swords, maces, missile weapons, throwing weapons, and magic spells, along with some additional skills like alchemy for mixing potions and armor/dodging abilities. The amount of experience the player will encounter is low enough that they'll only have room for very specific builds, making it a bit stiff.

Enemies range from harmless snails to terrifying ogres as enemies curve upwards in difficulty from top to bottom and can sometimes have nasty (read: NASTY) status effects and damage output in store. The disease status effect is particularly irritating, especially with the rarity of materials for crafting an antidote.

Puzzles are also spread throughout the game, either featuring tricky dexterity puzzles or some cruel and obtuse ones that will send players looking for a walkthrough. The game is gracious enough to have an automap but also has an option for players to grid-map their way by hand if they have a lot of time on their hands.

As for graphics, that's probably where Grimrock shines. Featuring full 3D with impressive lighting and creature movement/animation that is sometimes quite terrifying to see, the game excels in the presentation department while sticking to old-school roots. Apart from the heroic main theme, the game's soundtrack is very minimal and uses ambient dungeon noises for the most part.

The game isn't particularly long or short and features a lot of secrets to offer amidst its deadly enemies and head-scratching puzzles. It's not the most fun game in the world but it's a good fully 3D revival of the first-person dungeon crawling genre.

TL;DR A great game with fantastic atmosphere

Pros:

• Atmosphere: I cannot reiterate how much fun I had with this games atmosphere. It's atmosphere oozes pulpy fantasy and everything from the ambient sounds to creature design adds to the games sword and board feel.
• Music: The music in this game is fantastic and really captures the pulp fantasy feel the game is going for. -Combat: Combat is perhaps a tad bit too slow for my liking but still very fun and the class system also feels very intuitive.

Neutral:

• Length: I personally felt the game was of a decent length. It took me around 10 hours to complete a play through which I personally find fine but your mileage may vary. There is a decent amount of replayability (especially with the games class system) and the game comes with a level editor which from what I've seen has led to some very well put together levels being available on the workshop.
• Puzzling: If you do not like puzzles you will not enjoy this game. Some of these puzzles also involve backtracking. I enjoyed them but can see how others might find them frustrating

Flaws:

• Story: A very minor flaw made up for by the excellent atmosphere of the game but still one worth noting is that the story for this game is far from great. By the end of my first playthrough I had a fairly decent idea of what was going on but the story overall is very bland. Your mileage may vary.

Conclusion:

An excellent dungeon crawler. Fun atmosphere and engaging combat. Worth playing and a decent place to start for those new to the genre.