Recommend me a First Person Dungeon Crawler?

[Ogremindes]

Having been watching (albeit not closely enough to spoil the puzzles) an LP of Legend of Grimrock, I've got a bug to play a similar game.
The main thing that I'm finding interesting is all the secrets and puzzles. What I'm not finding so appealing is the ring-around-the-rosie with the enemies. But that's not an automatic deal breaker (but graph paper is).

So, anyone know any other good puzzle-y first person dungeon crawlers? I've got a number of platforms at my disposal. The Grimrock games are the only ones I have on my radar ATM.

[FrozenShade]

Hi, I think you might be interested in Skullstone. It's a FPP dungeon crawler inspired by old titles like Dungeon Master and Eye of the Beholder, so be prepared for fighting monsters and solving puzzles.

It is under development and will be released this year.

Here you can find some screenshots: http://skullstonegame.com/media/ (I must do it this way because forum does not allows me to post links)

[Wraith]

Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss and Ultima Underworld 2: Labyrinth of Worlds sound like what you're after, although the combat in both games is notoriously brutal.

[dadada]

try dungeon robber.it's a free,non-graphic,online game based on 1e of d&d.single player though.blogofholding.com/dungeonrobber/(No Links)

[Iruka]

I hear good things about Arx Fatalis from 2002, kind of an unofficial successor to the Ultima Underworld games.
Don't know about the puzzle quality.

[tensai_oni]

Are old games good for you? I'm talking 90s here.

Dungeon Master 1 and 2 were the main inspirations for Grimrock, and have a lot of puzzles. DM1 is very basic in terms of graphics and especially sounds, but it's a long game with good design. DM2 on the other hand is significantly shorter and has some questionable design decisions (certain enemies are very annoying, horrible final boss, a lot of equipment is useless), but a great atmosphere and visual/audio presentation, while still giving you good puzzles.

Anvil of Dawn is BIG. It has really large levels, with a lot of puzzles, and a lot of fighting. It has a very interesting and unusual setting and strange creatures, and is very atmospheric. It has more plot and NPC interaction than usual for the genre, but is still a hardcore dungeon crawler. If you like solving puzzles with pressure plates and teleporters, it's all about that. If you don't, it can get a little tiring but it's a good game regardless.

[Winthur]

For old games I recommend Might & Magic 3-5 - pretty intuitive games even for their age, light plot and overall a lot of fun.

Might & Magic 6-8 are also great and they tie to Heroes of Might & Magic games but they also might look ugly. Still, not even Skyrim lets you fly around and cast Meteor Showers on peasants from above like some death squad.

For new games on PC - Paper Sorcerer is fun, you summon demons to do your bidding. Very interesting artstyle.

Otherwise, for dungeon crawlers, you want PSP and 3DS platforms.

[Knaight]

Grimrock II emphasizes puzzles more, combat less, and makes the graph paper strictly optional*.

*There's an actual setting toggle to turn the map off to graph stuff.

[Fri]

Stranger of Sword City for fantasy theme and Star Crawlers for scifi theme, both on Steam.

Oh waiit, I misread. You want focus to puzzle instead of combat instead of vice versa.

Try Eldritch, also in Steam. It's First-person tongue-in-cheek lovecraft-themed roguelike dungeoncrawler with randomized dungeons and you're supposed to die over and over again before you can reach the next levels. I really like it. I guess rather than puzzle, focus is more on exploration and using your surrounding for survival. Aka, "how can I survive this place crawling with traps and shogots with just this dinky revolver and broken beer bottle."

I mostly like it because I can play it in short runs. I mean, sure you'll die over and over again, but to reach checkpoint usually you'll only need something like 15 to 30 min so I can play a couple of tries until I got bored and do something else, and try again later.

There's also Barony, with similar premise, only fantasy themed instead lovecraft-themed, though I don't like it as much as Eldritch. But you can actually online-multiplayer it.

[Ogremindes]

I picked up Grimrock 2. Not a fan of the combat mechanics but everything else is up my alley. Might and Magic 4 and 5 look interesting, but not for the same reason.

[Celticbear]

Skyrim, Dragon age (origins, the other two suck), Majin and the forsaken kingdom, and finally Darkest Dungeon. I know more, but I can't come up with others.

Speaking of Dragon Age, anyone want a remastered origins for next gen consoles?

[Wookieetank]

If you have access to a 3DS the following are great FPDC (and all by Atlus):

Etrian Odyssey series: Currently 4 main games, with 2 having been remade at this point. Rather on the combat heavy side, but map making is part of the game mechanics (it'll auto map tiles you step on, but walls/doors/points of interest all have to be placed by you). Each installment is a little easier than the last, so if you're wanting to ease into the series starting with EQ4 is the way to go. If you enjoy Dark Souls levels of Fun, start at EQ1.

Persona Q: Cast of P3 & P4 end up in Etrian dungeons essentially. Basically Etrian Odyssey with a persona overcoat, but very much worth playing (I've put 90+ hours into it so far (I regret nothing! :smallwink:) and I haven't started newgame+ yet).

Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey First person dungeon crawler in the SMT universe, taking place somewhere between SMT3 & 4. Uses SMT style combat with typical FPDC exploration/level design. The dungeon crawler bits are more overly complicated mazes than puzzle though.


Might & Magic 4 & 5. I still go back and regularly play these 2. These 2 games set the bar for me on open world RPGs and it is a high one indeed. The only thing preventing you from getting somewhere is lacking the proper navigation abilities/skills (overworld) or not having the key, sometimes password, to get in. You can end up at the final boss, or in the post game areas right from the start if you're unlucky/determined enough (neither is a good idea btw :smallredface:). You even get the option to swap between the worlds of 4 and 5 as soon as you leave the first town.

[Ogremindes]

Aw yeah, I do like me some MegaTen. Are the any of Etrian games notably puzzle-y? I've only played a little of the first game of that series.

[Fri]

I don't think so. That's why I'm not recommending it. It's more about building and managing your party to survive battle/exploring dungeons. Same with Strangers of Sword city (a mechanic is that your party member can get knocked out, but not dying. But they CAN die permanently. So you rotate your party, maybe level up your B team a bit while your A team is resting, have a dedicated money-making team, etc).

[Hiro Protagonest]

I don't think so. That's why I'm not recommending it. It's more about building and managing your party to survive battle/exploring dungeons. Same with Strangers of Sword city (a mechanic is that your party member can get knocked out, but not dying. But they CAN die permanently. So you rotate your party, maybe level up your B team a bit while your A team is resting, have a dedicated money-making team, etc).

Etrian Odyssey almost decided to finally do something with having 30 character slots and being a "guild," with Farmers and their passive EXP skill in Etrian Odyssey 3. Then EO4 just scrapped any ideas for that.

But this isn't what the OP is asking for, anyways.

[TaRix]

Would you be interested in ones without any noticeable combat? There are several first-person puzzle adventures out there, starting with the much-imitated Myst.


On another note, what are everyone's opinions on Might and Magic X? I was interested, but was afraid my compy would barf up a processor (It doesn't have a graphics card to speak of.)

[Ogremindes]

Would you be interested in ones without any noticeable combat? There are several first-person puzzle adventures out there, starting with the much-imitated Myst. I do have some interest in Myst-likes, and indeed played Myst through with someone last year, and we're planning to go into Riven when we both have the time.

An unfortunate thing about most Myst-like games is that they're not much like Myst in the ways that matter, failing to have that sense of exploration and discovery. Honestly none of the games that have felt like Myst to me have used the same presentation.

[WbtE]

This is a tangent, so please bear with me. :smallsmile:

If you're really into the puzzles, it might be worth trying gamebooks rather than video game RPGs. Most gamebooks have a "losing is fun" mentality where the adventure is only going to be cracked over a course of many attempts, but if you can get your head around that there are some real gems. The easiest place to start is Project Aon (https://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Home), which has dozens of gamebooks available free, most of them by legendary Joe Dever.

[Knaight]

This is a bit out of field, but I could see you liking Metroid Prime. It's first person, it's dungeon-crawly, it has puzzle aspects (although they aren't exactly hard), and there's a lot less combat than it seems like there would be. It's a bit odd of a suggestion here, but the actual first person dungeon crawler genre is sufficiently small that rough approximations can be necessary.

[Wookieetank]

An unfortunate thing about most Myst-like games is that they're not much like Myst in the ways that matter, failing to have that sense of exploration and discovery. Honestly none of the games that have felt like Myst to me have used the same presentation.

If you haven't chanced upon/been introduced to it yet, I highly recommend Anti-Chamber. It's kinda like Myst & Portal had an illegitimate love child and then painted it with psychadelics.

There's also The Talos Principle, which is Portal but with Lasers!(tm) and lots of navel gazing.

[Knaight]

If you haven't chanced upon/been introduced to it yet, I highly recommend Anti-Chamber. It's kinda like Myst & Portal had an illegitimate love child and then painted it with psychadelics.

Seconded. It's not a dungeon crawler per se, but it is first person, it is a puzzle game, and it is really cool.