Legend of Grimrock 2 - New Game Review

Hardcore Games Al Jackson notified me of another review on his site for Legend of Grimrock 2, and the game was given a final score of 92/100. Here is a small sample why.

Packed with puzzles and secrets and sporting a smart and enjoyable combat system, this is more than just a worthy sequel to the first Legend of Grimrock. It’s a beautiful game that measures up to its spiritual predecessor, Dungeon Master, and a master class in how to make RPGs.

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More information.

Very good game, indeed.

I'll second that.

It's a great game as a Dungeon Master clone (what it sets out to do), but as an RPG in general, I found myself fairly exhausted after a while from the back to back to back to back puzzles and lack of little else. There's certainly a lot more freeform exploration than found in the first, but the story is still fairly non-existent and you often find yourself wanting something to break up the monotony of solving one puzzle and being immediately greeted by another.

And some of those puzzles are just so contrived that you feel not one iota of guilt for seeking out the answer on a forum (Cemetary gate for example).

A good game for what it is, but unless puzzles are your life, M&MX beats it by a longshot in this year's First Person Blob category.

Drithius said:

It's a great game as a Dungeon Master clone (what it sets out to do), but as an RPG in general, I found myself fairly exhausted after a while from the back to back to back to back puzzles and lack of little else. There's certainly a lot more freeform exploration than found in the first, but the story is still fairly non-existent and you often find yourself wanting something to break up the monotony of solving one puzzle and being immediately greeted by another.

And some of those puzzles are just so contrived that you feel not one iota of guilt for seeking out the answer on a forum (Cemetary gate for example).

A good game for what it is, but unless puzzles are your life, M&MX beats it by a longshot in this year's First Person Blob category.

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You are bumming me out. Someone tell me he is wrong-- and there is plenty of fun combat..

Lol, there's plenty of square dancing to be had by all. And, again, it's a good game, recommend trying it out if you like dungeon crawlers and puzzles.

A Dungeon Master clone with better character customization would be right up my alley right now. Waiting for that paycheck though.

Replaying Dungeon Master II though, I have to say, the atmosphere in that game was very tense IMO. Great stuff to play in Q4. The screens I've seen so far for LoG2 all seemed rather gaudy.

The game is very good, but the realtime combat system is a big failure from my point of view, especially for mage characters. I don't mind real time, but there should be at least some kind of spell memorization or spacebar to pause the game in order to buffer the characters actions.

I would totally prefer it to be turn based myself, and that is basically the only thing I have bad to say about Grimrock Two. So, with that caveat, it is an excellent game, quite likely my game of the year, this or Blackguards are far ahead of any other contenders.

Who ever did create this silly "blobber" phrase to refer to first person dungeon crawlers incidentally? I've always found it so bafflingly odd and somehow off-putting.

Drithius said:

A good game for what it is, but unless puzzles are your life, M&MX beats it by a longshot in this year's First Person Blob category.

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I respectfully disagree with this assessment. I'm finding the dungeons in Grimrock 2 to be much more satisfying to explore and certainly much more interesting overall in terms of design and atmosphere. Due to the nature of the secrets and well concealed and hand placed items, I also prefer Grimrock's delivery - I had a ridiculous amount of money at the end of M&MX which I simply couldn't find a use for due to the crazy random loot in that game. The dungeons were also more sparse and less innovative than in Grimrock 2.

I would even go so far as saying that some of the puzzles in Grimrock 2 (particularly in the Sewers/Archives section which I've just finished) even approach the Ultima Underworld level in terms of satisfaction when you solve them correctly.

I'm over 20 hours in and have a party at around level 9. I just defeated the Ratling boss in an unbelievably long and drawn out encounter, definitely a generous helping of luck involved.
One final note regarding the review: It would probably make much more sense to make comparisons to the games most directly related to its lineage (i.e Eye of the Beholder, Dungeon Master, Lands of Lore etc) rather than make loose comparisons to Baldur's Gate and other less relevant games. Otherwise, it's a solid review.

This game is boring as hell. I appreciate a nod to an old school experience, but this thing is a boring puzzle game with terrible combat.

I'm about 15 hours in and enjoying it the same way I enjoyed LoG 1. I have to agree with Carnifex and Pessimeister, it really is an excellent game.

Ovenall said:

This game is boring as hell. I appreciate a nod to an old school experience, but this thing is a boring puzzle game with terrible combat.

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Betting you dont use mages.