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First Person Dungeon Crawlers Making a Return

Posted by Soulskill on from the what's-old-is-new dept.

jjp9999 writes "Anyone who remembers Eye of the Beholder should be glad to know a group of developers is trying to bring back the first person dungeon crawl genre while holding true to the classic style. Legend of Grimrock is still in its pre-alpha state, but could breathe new life into a genre that many a geek still remembers fondly. The game gives players control of four characters as they try to escape a prison labyrinth. The graphics and lighting are what you'd expect from a modern game, but early videos show it doesn't stray too far from everything that was done right by Eye of the Beholder."

9 of 163 comments (clear)

  1. Is it really that important? by msobkow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Personally I'm far more interested in the gameplay than the viewpoint of the camera.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:Is it really that important? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Not a tomb raider fan then.

    2. Re:Is it really that important? by eugene2k · · Score: 2

      The viewpoint is a part of gameplay. BTW, in this particular game the viewpoint isn't the only thing that's different from modern first person rpgs. Watch a video of the gameplay on youtube for example. It has a distinct feel of dungeon crawlers of the past while still being visually appealing to the audiences of today.

      --
      Apple has "Mac vs PC", Microsoft has "Laptop Hunters", Linux has recession
  2. Etrian Odyssey by maugle · · Score: 3, Informative

    The genre hasn't been totally dead. Tried Etrian Odyssey?

  3. Imo by meerling · · Score: 2

    I always thought Dungeon Master was much better than Eye of the Beholder.

    1. Re:Imo by Taty'sEyes · · Score: 2

      You can still play DM, http://homepage.mac.com/aberfield/dmj/

      I thought EOB was better, but only because EOB was AD&D...

      I spent too many months of my life in front of my A500 due to those games.

      --
      We show geeks how to get their dream girl at EyesOfOdessa.com
  4. Genre is alive and well, by Nationless · · Score: 2

    On handhelds.

    The DS has several including Etrian Odyssey 1-3, Deep Labyrinth, Orcs&Elves and Dark Spire.

    And I don't even know how many there are for the iPod/iPad hardware.

    1. Re:Genre is alive and well, by xhrit · · Score: 2

      First Person Dungeon crawls are huge today, for example Skyrim is a AAA title that will feature a large amount of dungeon crawling. The reason you do not see old school grid style first person dunegon crawls is because true fps style dunegon crawls are much more realistic and immersive.

      It is the same reason you don't see many AAA 2d sprite based games anymore; 3d animation has a smaller filesize, is faster to create, and scales better then 2d animation. The old style games remain popular on portable devices but for anything without a hardware constraint it is just an artificial limitation on the game design.

      --
      Dungeon Tactics : Free Open Source SRPG
  5. While we're on the subject of missing genres... by DRMShill · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How about resurrecting space flight simulators such as the Wing Commander series. Aren't we getting a little burned out on Modern Ware fare?