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 Eye of the Beholder or Bard’s Tale 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 Max Payne 2, Alan Wake and Shattered Horizon. 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 tweeted about today’s release of the first gameplay trailer. The sudden rush of attention has brought the game’s website crashing down, although the team has posted links to the FAQ, Facebook page 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.