Recently, I've played a bunch of puzzles games and a good friend told me to play Grimrock because of the puzzles... But to me, it was mostly the gameplay that I really liked about this one. I really loved fighting in this game. It started so slow. I wasn't even sure I was liking it at first, but after an hour or so. Bam. I was in. I was in it for good. Nothing else really interested me. All I wanted was to level up, gain abilities, gear my characters, kill more stuff, walk further, discover more secrets, and of course get confused by the puzzles.
Grimrock is a perfect example of a typical indie game that takes an old 90's (even maybe late 80's) gameplay design and redo it in our modern era. It is kind of a slow game. Every time you move is tile by tile and when you attack or so you click on the attack, do it on front of you, wait for the cooldown and repeat. But in the end, it's only like if it would be a turn based combat system, but sometimes, you can get a turn faster than your opponent. Also, it gets pretty hard. You can facetank the first level or 2 but the gameplay gets pretty crazy pretty fast. You discover new types of weapons and new monsters. You have to kite them in order to survive. They are hard. You have to act fast and think fast too. You are not always fighting in the same environment. It's a really great mechanic. Any limitations you may have, the monsters have them too. You have to learn their pattern, and execute yours.
There is just so much stuff to discover. The whole world is begging you to find the hidden stuff everywhere. You will have to face really hard puzzles just to keep going on the main tract. They always comes with clues, so it's really fair. But some of them are really obnoxious and if you are not in it for the puzzles, you might want to consider looking for a guide. Or maybe just relax and take notes for an hour or two because some of the puzzles really require you to do so.
It might be a good idea to look for character guides too before starting to play. The way you build and play your character really matters. Like you might completely ruin your run if you put stats in stuff you end up not using. The game gets pretty hard later. You have to have good gear and especially specialized characters. So if you consider playing, but you only have time for 1 playthrough. Do a bit of research, look out recommendations, and get the game because it is really fun to play.
I give it 8/10. I can't wait to play the second one !