Legend of Grimrock

Legend of Grimrock (PC)

Gameplay 3/4 (polarization -1)
an classic dungeon crawler updated to the new age.
Huge dungeon to explore? check.
Interesting puzzles? check.
Rewarding secrets to find? check.
Deep character customization? check.
Exciting combat? ... half-check.
the combat isn't bad, but it's kinda basic. except for the magic. the magic is good.
you attack just by clicking the weapons you equipped beforehand to strike with them, then wait for the cooldown to end and click again. you can also sidestep to avoid attacks from you enemies.
if you are fighting 1 on 1 battles, you pretty much unkillable unless you don't sidestep on time. ofc that you won't always fight 1 on 1, but you will more often then you should.
magic on the other hand is cool and refreshing. to cast a spell you need to form it from rune stones.
for example, if you select the "fire" rune and cast the spell, you'll get an short range mediocre-ish firebrust spell. but by selecting the "fire", "air" and "range" runes you'll cast the long ranged, powerful, fireball spell.

back to the topic.
Ability to do things off combat to strategically prepare for battles? check.
what do i mean by that?
1) Alchemy.
2) enchant arrows. (if you have a mage).
3) preparing your next spell so you could fire it right off the bet.
4) stealth (if you build your characters accordingly).
5) pulling your enemies into traps or to strategic locations. (poor t-rexes, they can't reach buttons and open doors :P )
and so on.


Graphics 1.5/2 (polarization -1)
i give it high graphics score because the graphics fit the game perfectly, but it can be a bit primitive sometimes.
all the items of the same type look the same. (a.k.a. all torches are identical)
all the enemies of the same type look the same. (a.k.a. all spiders are identical)
there are only 3 title sets for the backgrounds. the ruins, the temple and another one (avoiding spoilers).
lets take the ruins as an example. the first 3 levels of the game are of this type.
there are something like 5 wall types belonging to this set, and all the first 3 levels are made from them. you have the regular wall, the wall with the moss, the wall with the chains the wall with the secret switch etc.. those will look familiar really fast.
some of you might say now, "darkie, this is an series problem. why are you giving it such high graphic score?"
well like i said, at least for me, it just felt in place. the shadows, the torch light, the vastly different location, it makes all of those levels look different despite the shortcomings.

Story 0.5/1
simple story for a game that isn't focused  on one.
it is told by in the intro, in list of notes that you find and in "dreams" you have.
not an VN. not even an FF7. but the presentation makes it fell cozy enough.

Replyability 3/3
one of it major points. when you start the game, you can build your party.
the amount of possible combination is frigging huge. it WILL alter the gameplay sufficiently.
even choosing the exact same classes for your whole party can neat you one completely different, based of the skills you'll take.
for example i had an fire mage. good nuker but not much tactic is involved. but if i taught him the (less powerful) ice magic i could have used it for solid crowd-control (lame pun intend). air magic on the other hand could make me invisible. this would make backstabs so much more effective.
while playing you only have enough skill points for either maxing one skill or getting the more important perks out of two. that leaves you quite ~6 more skills you never touched.

additionally by doing something in game you can unlock another character for who gameplay is vastly different.

Bottom line: 8/10 + my recommendation.
specially if you nostalgic about old-school RPGs.
hater might think it's little repetitive though.