Oh my goodness, I’m having Dungeon Master flashbacks of purest/purist happiness. Thank you to reader Mikko-Pentti for pointing us toward Finnish indie project, Legend Of Grimrock. Developers Almost Human Ltd. have just released their first in-game video (below), and it has me clawing at the screen. Tile-based, first-person Dungeon Master-style gaming, but with gorgeous shiny graphics. I want it. I want it now.

Almost Human are four self-described industry veterans, who I’m extremely delighted to learn work in a region called Espoo. The four of them have previously worked variously for Remedy (Alan Wake, Max Payne 2), and Futuremark (Shattered Horizon).

They’re describing Legend Of Grimrock as a “dungeon crawl game”, which sends your brain off into the wrong direction really. This is a first-person RPG, built in their own engine, like they made back when the world was pure and there were rainbows over every hillside. Just watch:



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Despite the tile-based movement, as you’ll see you can still look around nice and easily – that’s the barrier that I find makes it so difficult to go back and play those games of yore. I’m desperate to replay Ultima Underworld II, but each time I try I bounce off the horrible lack of mouselook and find my modern brain is too rewired. Please, someone create a System Shock-style mouselook patch for UU2. Pleeeeeease.

But back to Grimrock – look, it even has spell casting! It’s like opening the cork on a bottle of my childhood happiness. Pressing the tiny button in the stone wall to open a secret passage! Oh oh oh, I want one. But I’ll likely have to wait until the end of this year when the game should be out.