Legend of Grimrock - Beta!
 

The Grimrock site announces they have reached Beta…but won't be releasing this year. Here's the text from their blog but head over for some screens and a video:
Thanks, Von Paulus.
More information.

Looks great! This might be my most anticipated game right now.

Shame about the delay, but I'll still be paying attention to this one.

They just better not release it anywhere near the same time as Risen 2. :)

My most anticipated game also..was half expecting a delay really.

Can't wait to play this one!

The interface still still has the character portraits in a line on the top left, and the equipped weapons in a grid on the bottom right. Who the fuck does something like this? And why, after ten different people have pointed it out, do they leave it this way?!

Prefer to download it from GOG.

Looks great! But real-time combat with a party? Seems like a cluster fuck without at least a pause-issue_commands-unpause capability.

I'm waiting eagerly for this game. I remember old Eye of The Beholder games fondly. Eye of the Beholder 2 was my fırst dungeon crawler experience. LoG brings back same old gameplay with superb graphics. Monster animations and textures looks nice and fluently. Best graphics that I have seen in an indie RPG.

There are dozens of games with this type of combat system out there. I suggest giving one of them a go and seeing how it works! Lands of Lore is a nice introduction to this tragically dead sub-genre.

I would start with Eye of the Beholder or Might & Magic 3.

Eye of the Beholder 2 would be better. EYE 1 is good, but two is the best out of that series, imo of course.

Doesn't M&M have a phased option? I've only recently played some of the M&M series, but the ones I played had a phased combat option. Wish this game had that.

Might & Magic 3-5 aren't quite the same (and the rest aren't at all similar). They are fully turn based. When you are in the same square as the enemy it turns into pretty standard menu combat, like M&M 1 and 2 or Wizardry, albeit with icons. When you're wandering around the map, the enemies only move or attack when you do and your party acts entirely as a group (all with bows firing arrows at once). The perspective and tiles are the same, that's certain. But the gameplay isn't.

I suggested Lands of Lore due to its ready availability (everyone around here loves GOG) and generally introductory nature. It's also pretty, generally fun and Patrick Stewart occurs! It does lack character generation and has some weird puzzle type situations that can feel inscrutable but.. I still have more fun replaying it than EOB 2. Only a bit, though. EOB 2 is quite good.

Dungeon Hack combines the few good things about EoB 3 with a roguelike-style random dungeon generator. It's always fun if you like roguelikes, Dungeon Master/EoB clones, and especially if you like both.

I had forgotten about 4 and 5. I did play those. Those were completely turnbased. I liked it, but Wizardry was better.

Lands of Lore is a great game. Didn't care for 2 or 3, but 1 is a classic. Of course Patrick Stewart being in it doesn't hurt either. ;) Wish he had more lines.

Eye of the Beholder II is the best of the bunch imo. Lands of Lore feels a bit generic to me. Graphics and full voice (cd-rom version) are nice but there are no character generation, weird puzzles and a limited RPG character development. EotB 1 is excellent as is Dungeon Master. Eye of the Beholder 3 is shit, also didn`t like Dungeon Master II. There is also a decent EotB spinoff called Dungeon Hack.

There are also some a bit newer dungeon crawling games like decent Menzoberranzan & Stonekeep and superb Anvil of Dawn.

You get mixed reactions when talking about Stonekeep, but I loved that game. No story to speak of, but just some great dungeon hacking. Anvil of Dawn is another classic. The second that GoG releases that game I'm buying it. I've had a hard time getting that to run correctly or with sound or something. It's been awhile since I tried to get it to run.

Dungeon Hack is Forgotten Realms: Unlimited Adventures for first person. Not that bad, but it doesn't hold a candle to FRUA. I missed the boat with Dungeon Master and tried it out a few years ago. Can't say I'm impressed, but being the first of it's kind earns it some brownie points.

You forgot Ravenloft 1 and 2. I enjoyed those a lot better than Menzo though both were good. I preferred the settings for Ravenloft. I may have given up on Menzo too early and didn't read the novels when I first played. Now I'd probably have a different opinion.

I wouldn`t call Ravenloft series a typical dungeon crawler as there aren`t a lot of dungeons in them. There is another one, maybe the best of bunch but unfortunately not for PC - Black Crypt.
http://www.ravengames.com/blackcrypt/screenshots.php

I once tried EOB 2, buit got stuck somehow. I don't remember anymore what I did wrong, but I found myself being followed by enemies to whom it was an easy task to get my group down.

It was easy to get stuck in that game. I think it took me a while to figure out that to progress in the game I had to attack the priests. Odd way to start the game.

Priests: Hello, my son. What can we do for you?

My party: Oh, hai! We have to kill you now. Buh bye!

Priests: But….but…how did you know?

My Party: Know what? We just don't like happy people and you two are too happy.

Priests: *Picard Facepalm"