Legend of Grimrock...

As I mentioned in my discussion of Basilisk Game's Eschalon: Book I, I've been on a classic gaming kick this year. I think that the title that got me back into the retro mood was yet another indie RPG, Legend of Grimrock (2012), made by Finnish developer Almost Human Games.

Grimrock is an amazing throwback to the classic first-person dungeon crawlers that began with Akalabeth (1980), on through Ultima and Wizardry, and whose legacy lives on in the modern Elder Scrolls titles. If one had to pick a specific game that could most summarize the inspiration for Grimrock, it's definitely Eye of the Beholder (1990), with a little Dungeon Master (1987) thrown in.

You take control of a party of four convicted criminals who are cast into the dungeon of Grimrock Mountain to find whatever fate awaits them. Party options appear relatively limited at first (only Fighters, Rogues, or Mages and a handful of races), but there are a decent variety of skills to choose that can really make characters of identical classes play quite differently. As was the tradition in these titles, your party is arranged into a 2x2 'box' formation, with only those two characters closest to each cardinal direction able to deal or receive damage from melee attacks. The various skills available to each class can mix this up quite a bit: everyone can use long range weapons or cast spells from the rear, but certain weapon skills can eventually allow characters to slip through ranks for the purposes of attacks.

It's really like playing a gorgeously high-res version of the Beholder games. Despite the tiny team size (I think there are four or five main guys on the dev team), the game looks like a professional production when in motion. I've read that some people felt that there wasn't enough diversity in wall art and enemies, but given the title's length, I was satisfied.

While everything moves on a square grid, the game plays in 'real time', which had become fairly common in this genre in the mid 90s (e.g., Stonekeep, Menzoberranzan, etc). Some people prefer the tactical aspect to turn-based, first-person Roguelikes, but I'd take real time any day. Having to think on your toes and plan attack routines based on the various character/ability cool downs keeps combat fresh and fast-paced. Dungeon crawlers in particular are ever susceptible to the danger of becoming boring slogs.

Much as was the case in the Eye of the Beholder titles, Grimrock really pivots around three aspects: 1) the aforementioned combat, 2) limited resources, and 3) devious puzzles. Limited resources come from your need to eat coupled to all items and equipment being scavenged from what you find. You have to keep moving forward and finding efficient ways to overcome challenges as attempting to win by attrition will either exhaust your healing supplies or cause you to run out of food. Oh, you've also got encumbrance, which means that you have to make choices about what items are most important to lug around.

Compared to what I remember, the puzzles are much better than old-school titles. With only one exception that I won't spoil, I was able to solve all of the required conundrums in a way that was personally satisfying. There are no unreasonable map-breaking teleporter mazes, though there are many pits and pressure plates to 'enjoy'.

There isn't a huge variety of enemies, but they do span a variety of challenge levels and have some unique skills and attacks (watch out for those troll charges). 

It's clear that Almost Human really thought this one through - they've provided a variety of settings that allow you to play the type of game you want. You can have the game produce an excellent annotatable automap or force you to pull out the graph paper; and/or, if you really hate yourself, you can try to play in classic dungeon crawler 'iron-man' or 'hardcore' mode. I wouldn't call the game 'easy' - some enemy types such as the one shown above can be tricky and frustrating - but I was able to see it through to the end in ~16 hours.

The devs say that in addition to working on a Mac port (which would make it portable for me!), they're also going to be releasing a dungeon creation tool. I've also read that they're planning on releasing official expansion packs now that the work of building the engine is done. All of this is great, because I'd really like some more Grimrock.

Eschalon: Book 1...

Lately I've had the desire to play some classical-style games, especially RPGs. While there's certainly a strong argument supporting the 'simplification' that characterizes many modern titles - typically in the service of improving user-interface and reducing tedious, unnecessary actions - we've also seen a disappearance of the sort of 'depth' that used to be standard among PC games. This erosion of depth is not always a bad thing, but there's something to be said for how titles used to embrace the 'math' behind the dice rolls and let players fuss over all aspects of the underlying mechanics and strategy.

Encouragingly, I've recently become aware of some indie game companies that have taken the path of combining modern interface tweaks (and play balancing) with classic RPG elements. One such company is Basilisk Games and their 'Eschalon Trilogy' of RPGs, of which the first two are available.

Eschalon: Book I's isometric world is highly reminiscent of classic Ultima, with a few modern amenities thrown in, such as the automap. 

Eschalon: Book I's design is clearly (and explicitly according to the developer's website) influenced by classic Ultima titles, with a bit of Fallout thrown in for good measure. The game takes place in a large, open, isometric world in which you control a solitary adventurer whose attributes and skills are custom selected from a decently sized list. Actions in and out of combat take place in turns, with rolls and chances-of-success stated on screen, much in the vein of the original, also isometric, Fallout titles.

Despite its 800 x 600 resolution and dated feel, the game does incorporate some really interesting ideas that play into its strategy. For instance, there's a very large emphasis on lighting, both when it comes to day/night cycles and in dark dungeons. Torches cast light around you, but you have to leave a hand free to use them. This leads to bows being of dubious utility in darkness. However, you can learn spells that allow you to cast light sources while leaving your hands free for shooting. Or, alternatively, you can place torches into sconces and lead enemies into their light while you fire at them from the cover of darkness. I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that what initially looked like a fairly simple interface disguised a surprising amount of combat complexity and strategy.

Dungeons and caves require careful management of torches/potions/and spells in order to be able to see what threatens you.

I'm sure that most gamers will look at something like Eschalon: Book I and fail to see past its primitive graphics (which actually aren't so 'primitive' as all that, as all equipment is represented on the character). Once the game begins, though it's easy to see how the various skills, weapons, and schools of magic have much more in common with an Elder Scrolls style of open world game than many 'diluted' modern RPGs; not primitive at all, actually. It's also quite well play-balanced: I completed the game in 17 hours without any real frustration and with enough leeway to try out a number of different skills and sub-systems (like potion-brewing, and lock picking). It does seem as though multiple classes and play styles are legitimately possible, unlike many modern titles where playing a mage, for instance, is akin to cranking the game's difficulty to 'insane'.

There are a few aspects to Eschalon that I'd change if given the chance, the most important being that the game's general pace is jarringly slow at first - both in terms of movement and turn speed. You'll get used to it, but it would've been nice to have a double-speed button for when your player is walking across familiar terrain (at least you can quick-travel between towns that you've discovered). The game also errs on the wrong side of a trope of classic RPG combat: You miss a lot. Statistically speaking, missing with 60% of attacks could be equivalent to allowing you to hit far more often while raising enemy hit points. These may be 'equivalent', in terms of combat time and difficulty, but there's something much more satisfying about landing blows compared to 'whiffing' over and over. Thankfully, any other complaints are relatively minor and seem to have been addressed in the sequel, so I'll reserve judgement for once I've explored Book II.

I love the idea of supporting a small company that caters small, niche audience and gives them exactly what they're looking for. If any of this seems remotely appealing, at least give the Eschalon demo a try, or better yet, pick up the game.