Legend of Grimrock 2 gameplay video — our first impressions

Our Legend of Grimrock 2 review is in the works, but until then, here's about an hour of gameplay from the grid-based RPG. The short of it: I really like Legend of Grimrock 2 so far. It's wonderfully inviting—I can launch it and be playing in seconds, without any need for a tutorial as its rules are picked up through experimenting. And in as much as I've played, it distills a classic genre into a few great qualities: an understated mystery, characters I can imagine on my own, and RPG systems complex enough to surprise and challenge me. (Although you may note my dramatic lack of tactical skill, which I sheepishly blame on my attention being set to talking.)

Not even mentioned in this video is the custom dungeon creator and Steam Workshop support for sharing. We'll surely hit on that in our review, which will come soon. And if our verdict ends up contradicting all my gushing here, it's worth restating that aside from this video, I've only played a few hours—these are just our initial impressions, however positive. We did like the first game quite a bit.

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.