Legend of Grimrock Goes Old-School Dungeon Crawling

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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Legend of Grimrock Goes Old-School Dungeon Crawling

The first Legend of Grimrock gameplay video promises to make old-school dungeon crawl fans weep tears of pure joy.

Remember the great first-person, grid-based RPGs of old, like the Bard's Tale [http://www.amazon.com/Eye-Beholder-Trilogy-II-III-PC/dp/B001B4A4K0/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1314374740&sr=1-1] games? Advances in technology have rendered the style a relic of the past but Legend of Grimrock is bringing it back with what looks to be an all-out, old-fashioned dungeon crawl with plenty of modern-day trimmings.

The game is being developed by Almost Human, a four-man indie team of industry veterans who have worked on games including Shattered Horizon [http://www.amazon.com/Max-Payne-2-Fall-Windows/dp/B0000D12XI/ref=sr_1_3?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1314374910&sr=1-3]. It appears to have a grid-based movement system but plays in real time, a system the team says improves the game in a number of ways and also helps differentiate it from other dungeon crawl releases. A roster of pre-made characters will be included but a character generator is planned as well, and a level editor is also likely but won't be included with the initial release as all efforts are focused entirely on making the game.

Legend of Grimrock was actually revealed to the public back in July but flew under the radar until Minecraft creator Markus "Notch" Persson Facebook page [http://twitter.com/#!/notch/status/107095387105538049] and other resources while it rides out the storm.

Legend of Grimrock, which by the way looks ridiculously awesome, is currently being developed for the PC, Mac and iOS, with other platforms possible in the future. No definite release date has been but developers are aiming to have it out by the end of the year.


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rembrandtqeinstein

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this looks like the best thing ever made ever

my gawd I spent so many hours in the eye of the beholder games, and ordered the cluebooks mailorder (how you got information the days before internet kiddies)
 

The Shade

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From that video, it would appear combat is mainly composed of clicking the weapon icons in the bottom corner while simultaneously backing up.
Seems like a weird format for a four-person adventuring party to all be combined into a single first-person view.
I miss King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity watching this...
 

Wuffykins

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*drools*

Damn. I am one giddy schoolgirl right now. Still, I have to admit I hold some hope that the boxy, tile based level design means there's a chance to have random dungeon creation a la Dungeon Hack. I will be set for freakin' years if that can happen.

rembrandtqeinstein said:
and ordered the cluebooks mailorder (how you got information the days before internet kiddies)
Don't forget you could also send a letter to the game publisher asking how to get past a certain bit, and they would mail you the answer (Good ol' Sierra, how I miss them).
 

Wuffykins

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ZippyDSMlee said:
This is not a dungeon crawl its a first person RPG!
Actually this is what the term Dungeon Crawler used to describe before Diablo came around and nicked it (eg: Wizardry, Might & Magic, Dungeon Master, etc ...), hence the 'Old-School' moniker.
 

Ghengis John

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There is something wrong with this. I shall tell you what it is. It is that this is a game called "Legend of Grimrock", a game about some folks who climb down into a dungeon in search of riches as opposed to being called "Legend of Grimlock", a game about a 10 story tall robotic t-rex with laser eyes who shoots down from the stars in search of things to fuck up.
 

synobal

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Looks like it could be fun, it does need lore, some sort of story though to keep me interested. The rune magic system looked particularly interesting.
 

Andy Chalk

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rembrandtqeinstein said:
my gawd I spent so many hours in the eye of the beholder games, and ordered the cluebooks mailorder (how you got information the days before internet kiddies)
Ha! Me too, I still have my EOB2 clue book kicking around. I treasure that thing. :)

The Shade said:
Seems like a weird format for a four-person adventuring party to all be combined into a single first-person view.
Welcome to old-school. Siddown, shuddup, listen and learn!

Seriously, this was a very common perspective back in the 80s and early 90s. The Eye of the Beholder series, Wizardry, Bard's Tale and others all used a single POV for multi-character parties, and it actually worked out pretty well. It may sound weird if you have no experience with it, but you'll probably find that it's a lot easier to adjust to than you think.
 

TsunamiWombat

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Ghengis John said:
There is something wrong with this. I shall tell you what it is. It is that this is a game called "Legend of Grimrock", a game about some folks who climb down into a dungeon in search of riches as opposed to being called "Legend of Grimlock", a game about a 10 story tall robotic t-rex with laser eyes who shoots down from the stars in search of things to fuck up.
This response is win and also exactly what I was thinking.

I gotta say though, watching this...I got a serious giddy nerd erection. And I never even PLAYED games like this back in the day. Closest thing I had to a Dungeon Crawler was Zelda.
 

rembrandtqeinstein

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Andy Chalk said:
Welcome to old-school. Siddown, shuddup, listen and learn!

Seriously, this was a very common perspective back in the 80s and early 90s. The Eye of the Beholder series, Wizardry, Bard's Tale and others all used a single POV for multi-character parties, and it actually worked out pretty well. It may sound weird if you have no experience with it, but you'll probably find that it's a lot easier to adjust to than you think.
If you haven't played it yet get Wizardry 8 if you can. It is a lovingly made goodbye letter to the "first person party" genre. Not sure it plays on vista/7 though but that is what dosbox is for.

Its a 10 year old game and used copies still go for $60, but let me tell you it is WORTH $60.
 

SwimmingRock

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*squeals of joy* I loved Eye of the Beholder when I was a kid. Unfortunately, I ended up stuck in a country where they didn't ship any clue books or guides, so I had to leave it unfinished. Still, every now and then I think to myself:"I wish they'd make a game like that again, but they won't, because it wouldn't sell." Hooray for indie developers!
 

Andy Chalk

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Nov 12, 2002
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I actually replayed EOB2 recently, it works surprisingly well under WinXP with a little help from DOSBox. My god, that game is *****-ass hard. I beat it when it was new but the Drow level kicked my ass so hard this time around that I was eventually forced to give up. I have become a new-school pussy. :(

Still a fantastic game, though, loved every minute of it while I was playing and I might yet go back and hit it again. That style of gameplay in a modern release? Oh yes, I am SO there.
 

Anjel

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rembrandtqeinstein said:
this looks like the best thing ever made ever

my gawd I spent so many hours in the eye of the beholder games, and ordered the cluebooks mailorder (how you got information the days before internet kiddies)
This made me LOL... was it Discworld that came with a cardboard disc that you had to turn to find answers? Also pre-internet cheat/walkthrough sites.
 

rembrandtqeinstein

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Anjel said:
rembrandtqeinstein said:
this looks like the best thing ever made ever

my gawd I spent so many hours in the eye of the beholder games, and ordered the cluebooks mailorder (how you got information the days before internet kiddies)
This made me LOL... was it Discworld that came with a cardboard disc that you had to turn to find answers? Also pre-internet cheat/walkthrough sites.
Pre-internet there were walkthroughs on BBS download pages

And the several games had disks but the most famous IMO was the Pool of Radiance SSI Gold Box game that had a disk as the copy protection. I memorized those crazy runes.
 

Anjel

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rembrandtqeinstein said:
Anjel said:
rembrandtqeinstein said:
this looks like the best thing ever made ever

my gawd I spent so many hours in the eye of the beholder games, and ordered the cluebooks mailorder (how you got information the days before internet kiddies)
This made me LOL... was it Discworld that came with a cardboard disc that you had to turn to find answers? Also pre-internet cheat/walkthrough sites.
Pre-internet there were walkthroughs on BBS download pages

And the several games had disks but the most famous IMO was the Pool of Radiance SSI Gold Box game that had a disk as the copy protection. I memorized those crazy runes.
Thinking about it I must have been 8 or 9... I can't remember much about it only that you had to turn one of the discs to reveal an image or word in the window through to the backing disc which would help you ingame. I say discworld because I'm sure that Doom, Aliens (which was affectionately known as 'Alien' Doom in our house) and Discworld were the only games we had... until Fallout 1 saved the day some years later.

Thanks for the nostalgia :D