I saw Grimoire when it was in late beta--this is a pause for wild laughter--back around 1999. As I recall, Cleve had a forum site, and he was giving out copies, and taking note of a lot of reports of very small bugs. (I got my copy because I was press. I probably even have it around in the basement somewhere, swimming in dust.) Visually, it was pretty good for the time, almost identical to the late Wizardry series, except for Wizardry 8 (which was yet to come). Music and sound were par for the course. Cleve was touting it as a difficult, complex, richer Wizardry, with more of everything. And just...hearing the discussions of some of the more ornate puzzles reminded me of theoretical arguments among the Medieval Schoolmen about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin.
Then, the game got pulled. Now, it looks and sounds like something out of a timewarp. I hope no reviewer gets the mad idea of suggesting it's been in development for over 20 years. It's been tampered with around the edges for nearly as long, but that's not quite the same thing. (EDIT: I've just seen some of the Steam crowd already justifying the price by pointing to its development period of 20 years. Excuse me for a while as I bang my head against my desk.)
If you enjoy, say, Wizardry 6 or 7 (minus some of the horrible pseudo-Shakespearean dialog of Wizardry 7), then you'll probably like this. If you think that kind of game is antiquated, you'll certainly find this one antiquated. Personally, I don't think it's worth anywhere near $40 to me, but each to their own.
Post edited August 05, 2017 by Glazunov