When someone mentions “dungeon crawler” to you, your mind doesn’t immediately spark up high resolution textures, dynamic lighting and the first-person perspectives.

Yet that’s exactly what developers Almost Human are delivering in Legend of Grimrock – a contemporary dungeon crawler RPG that’s being set for release at the end of this year (2011)

Far from the static, pixellated crawlers of old; Legend of Grimrock combines awesome visuals and strategically varied gameplay to drag a rather aged genre into the present.

By their own admission, Almost Human realise that the dungeon crawler genre will never really catch onto mainstream success, but they seem really passionate about what they’re doing.

You’d have to be, for four people to produce something that looks this amazing.

Also, with sights set on iOS (iPad and iPhone), mainstream success may very well be on its way.

A recently released gameplay video shows off how some of Grimrock’s features will play out:

Players move through the grid-styled maps, interacting with the environments where possible; and kicking ass in real-time combat when the need arises (i.e. if something big and nasty moves onto the screen).

Taking action entirely through one interface, you attack with your party members while deftly and strategically moving around the area; upgrading your character as you find more loot.

Good to see that picking up anything not tied, glued or bolted down is still very much alive in CRPGs.

The video also shows how magic will be cast – with you having to map out specific patterns on a grid to case different spells – as well as small things that we wish we had in our own homes, like pressing a broken stone to reveal hidden doors and passages.

The game will feature character creation (or the option to select a preset, if you’re lazy) and a respectable goal of 15 different kinds of enemies.

For a 4-man team with a game that looks this good – colour me impressed.

Almost Human is an indie development team of 4 guys who are self-proclaimed “game industry veterans”, with a combined experience of 30 years working on commercial titles; Legend of Grimrock is their first project as a team, and it’s running off of an engine they built themselves.

Legend of Grimrock is aiming for release before the end of 2011; launching first on PC and then following with Mac and iOS.

Check it out at www.grimrock.net

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