Okay, so i'm gonna go ahead and assume (even though we all know what happens when you do! (Ugh, my apologies, I get terribly punny this time of year, makes me sick)) that most people reading this haven't even heard of this game, let alone played it. Its only been out for a week so it's understandable. Made by the new indie studio out of Finland, Almost Human, this game is a callback to RPG's of yesteryear. When telling people about this game, the closest I can come to describing it is it resembles the first-person dungeon crawling RPG's from the 90's. Think Might & Magic and Wizardry and you'll have an idea.
Now, i'm not going to claim I was old enough to appreciate those classic series back in their day, but knowing this game is an homage to those titles had me excited to play it. I didn't know what to expect really. But what I got were 2 interesting game design lessons I want to share with you now.
Lesson 1: Simplicity
Alright, so lets ignore the giant troll and the nice graphics in this screen shot for a moment. They look great, but really take a look at the content the SS contains. This is an RPG, same kind of genre that delivered to gaming both Skyrim and Dark Souls within the last year. Think about those games for a moment, then let me hit you with some knowledge; everything pertinent to any and all gameplay, outside of the inventory, is contained within that screenshot alone. Hell, the inventory screen doubles as the level-up/stats screen, so its not like i'm hiding some giant secret from ya. I'd post a picture of it, but honestly its not a big concern for the point i'm trying to make. Those other games I mentioned have a ton of more stuff you need to go through just to do some of the basic stuff you are trying to do here.
Just by glancing at the picture, we already know the obvious UI staples; red bars are health; blue energy/mana, portrait is the individual characters in the party, and the item in the left and right in each portrait is what is held in their individual hands. It's an easy concept to grasp, so I was surprised when I got everything so well considering this is my first time playing an RPG like this. How do we take down that baddie with the stone mallet? Just right click objects in players hands and they will attack him with it. See a key you want to pick up? Right click that shit! That brick in the wall look like a secret button? Click it and find the fuck out, why don't ya.
Movement is pretty simple too, you just move in 4 cardinal directions using W,A,S,D, turn left and right 1 space using Q and E respectively. Notice I just said '1 space'; let me clarify this real quick. This game isn't first-person a la Call of Duty. This is more tile-based movement, where you move 1 tile at a time and inspect the surroundings in that tile. Imagine playing Final Fantasy Tactics in first-person, except 4 party members took up 1 tile and there are no turns to speak of. It sounds stiff, but trust me it ain't, and i'll show you why in lesson 2.
And that is pretty much it. No, seriously, the game's gameplay mechanics are really not much more complex than that. There are systems that dive into things slightly deeper, but really this is all the game has to offer mechanically. Now hold on a second before you judge this thing and let me slam you with why this simplicity is a God-send for this game.
Lesson 2: Beating you softly
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| With spiders that big in your face its no wonder. |
I'll be blunt; this game is pretty fucking hard. It's not even in the same way Dark Souls is considered hard. The way this game confronts you with both its environment and its enemies make it one of the harder games i've played lately, Dark Souls included. Better yet, the game never comes across as cheap or unfair. Should you ever come face to face with that screen above, you will know exactly what you should do to avoid it in the future. How is it accomplishing this level of difficulty? It breaks down to 2 things; environment and enemies.
Enemies adhere to the same movement system you do. They move from tile to tile and must face the direction they wish to attack. They can only attack the front party members they are facing you from, unless its an attack that affects the entire tile. Now, your first reaction is to face enemies and right click weapons until they die. And you'd be right, at first, but then the game will go ahead and take the gloves off. You see, there is more to the combat than just facing the enemy and attacking until they die; you gotta move around the environment and take advantage of the system to really get the most out of the game's combat system. To the game's credit, it presents the enemies you must face in such a way that these lessons are slowly but surely learned.
It gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you finally learn the way the game wants you to dance around the playing field to destroy your enemies. It certainly is interesting seeing how the primary activity the player engages in (combat) will evolve throughout the course of the game without any additions to combat potential. The evolution is achieved only with enemy variety, and its an amazing lesson I want to gleam from going forward.
Also, puzzles. This game has a ton of puzzles you need to solve in order to get from floor to floor. The greatest rewards each floor has to offer can only be gained by solving some of the most basic yet hard to solve puzzles i've seen yet. The puzzles the player comes across play as a refreshing contrast to the pacing the combat sets.
Typical game design often has players following a breadcrumb trail of progression, with each new morsel leading the player to the games conclusion. Many times we do this by offering bigger and better weapons or skills, or new-fresh ways of interactivity for the player and its character. In Legend of Grimrock, we see that sometimes we can setup that ideal pacing with really smart puzzle and enemy design that delivers in player engagement, without bogging down the player with too many buttons he needs to press.
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