Legend of Grimrock 2 is a dungeon crawler with a modern execution and an old-school heart. Four prisoners wash ashore on the secluded Isle of Nex, a place of crumbled ruins, mysterious shrines and a vast network of dungeons and mines running beneath it all. Someone is watching them, and the only way off the island is through every trial its master has devised. Almost Human's sequel takes everything that made the original Grimrock a cult favorite and opens it up into a whole island of grid-based exploration, punishing puzzles and tactical combat.
Shipwrecked on the Isle of Nex
The first Legend of Grimrock sent you down a single mountain, level by level. Nex is different. The island is the dungeon, and it is built for non-linear exploration: ancient forests dotted with strange magical statues, swamps that fume with poison, a Forgotten River you can dive into in search of sunken treasure, and hidden chambers deep below the surface. Regions connect to one another through gates, keys and secret passages, so you decide where to push next and which mysteries to leave for later. As day turns to night above ground, the mood shifts, and the ominous Island Master's challenges keep pulling you deeper toward the truth of why you are here.
Perception Over Brute Force
Grimrock 2 rewards players who look closely. Thousands of grid squares hide switches, pressure plates, secret doors, riddles and deadly traps, and the game trusts you to notice the one wall that looks slightly wrong or the pattern of alcoves that only makes sense once you have mapped a room. Expect more than 20 hours of pure dungeon crawling where logic and observation open more doors than any weapon does. The game ships with its manual and printable graph paper, and plenty of players still map Nex by hand exactly the way the classics intended.
Your Four Champions
You build the party from scratch, and the choices shape the whole run.
- Five races, eight classes
- Humans, Minotaurs, Lizardmen, Insectoids and Ratlings each bring their own stats and quirks. Layer on classes like the Knight, Rogue, Wizard, Battle Mage, Alchemist and Barbarian, or the famously unusual Farmer, who levels up by eating rather than fighting. Skills and traits then hone each champion as experience accumulates.
- Runes, potions and bombs
- Spells are cast by tracing rune combinations, so a Wizard who has learned a sequence can fire it off mid-fight. Alchemy turns the herbs you gather into healing draughts, resistance potions and throwable bombs, and the crafting system is generous enough that a dedicated Alchemist changes how the whole party approaches danger.
- Real-time combat on the grid
- Fights play out in real time, square by square. Positioning, sidestepping and backpedaling matter as much as damage, and the enhanced AI on Nex flanks, retreats and lures. Melee, ranged and thrown weapons all have a place, and the sequel adds firearms for champions who prefer to end an argument from a distance.
The Creatures of Nex
Forty-two kinds of monsters roam the island, thirty of them new to this sequel. Ancient artifacts recovered from buried treasure rooms and sealed chambers give you the edge you need against the nastier residents, and every new region tends to introduce a threat that forces a rethink of your formation and your spell loadout.
Make Your Own Dungeons
The included Dungeon Editor is the same kind of toolset Almost Human used to build the game, and it comes with the purchase. Lay out maps, script puzzles and traps, and go far beyond the stock assets with entirely new items, monsters and environments using custom graphics and audio. Share your scenarios with other players, or download the adventures they have made and find out how devious the Grimrock community can be.
If you have ever mapped a dungeon on paper, argued with a friend about which lever to pull, or felt the particular thrill of a wall sliding open where you were sure there was nothing, the Isle of Nex is waiting. Assemble your four, step off the wreck and start looking for the first hidden switch.
