Grimoire : Heralds of the Winged Exemplar (V2) Review Summary

A spiritual successor to True Wizardry with abundant races, classes, skills, and excellent QoL features, but marred by a clunky UI, numerous bugs, and frequent crashes.

True Wizardry spiritual successor: Many reviewers describe this game as the true successor to Wizardry 6/7 and Might and Magic, capturing the same feeling and containing everything Wizardry 7 had and more.

Abundant races, classes, skills: The game features a large number of races, classes, skills, and items, providing extensive depth and variety for character building and exploration.

Excellent quality of life features: Auto-mapping, auto-movement, in-game journal, quest tracking, and full mouse support make the experience smoother and more accessible.

Interesting and complex puzzles: Puzzles are described as interesting, complicated, and requiring thinking, with well-designed hints available to assist players.

Fun character creation options: Character creation is highlighted as fun and extensive, with boatloads of options in races, classes, and skills to personalize your party.

UI is clunky and unintuitive: Players report the interface is extremely cumbersome, requiring multiple clicks for simple actions, with inconsistent information presentation and small font sizes.

Missing manual despite promises: The developer promised a manual over a year ago but has not delivered one, leaving players without essential guidance.

Numerous bugs present: The game contains a significant number of bugs, both minor and major, even after release, making it feel unfinished.

Blurry graphics and small text: Graphics are blurry even by 90s standards, and text is very small and hard to read.

Developer trust issues: The developer has a history of lying, missing deadlines, and banning players for criticism, damaging community trust.

Classic dungeon crawler game: The game is frequently described as an old-school dungeon crawler, specifically a 'blobber' and a turn-based, grid-based, first-person party-based RPG. It strongly evokes the style of early 1990s and Wizardry 7.

Wizardry-inspired gameplay: Many reviews directly compare the game to the Wizardry series, calling it a 'Wizardry-like' or 'clone' with similar mechanics. The influence of Wizardry 6, 7, and 8 is heavily noted in the turn-based combat and system design.

Extensive character creation: The game offers deep character customization with many races, classes, and abilities, allowing for complex party building. The creation process is detailed and takes place in a 'Library' from the main menu.

Keyword-based NPC dialogue: A distinct feature is the keyword-based or text input system for interacting with NPCs. Players type specific keywords to ask about topics, which is a classic and sometimes challenging mechanic.

Large party size: Players can create and manage a party of up to eight characters, often arranged in a two-column formation. This allows for a front line of warriors and a back line of mages or support.

Frequent crashes reported: Players report frequent crashes, including random crashes, crashes when casting spells, clicking portraits, loading saves, or viewing character stats. Some crashes are game-breaking.

Fullscreen and resolution issues: Fullscreen mode has problems on modern systems, requiring manual desktop resolution changes to 1024x768. Black borders and inability to alt-tab are also noted.

Game performance is janky: General performance is described as janky or floaty, with mouse lag in fullscreen and forced loading times of 20 seconds. Outdated engine is blamed.

Save files deleted by updates: Updates or patches delete all saved games or wipe saves randomly, causing loss of progress. Players cannot overwrite saves after patching.

Windowed mode problems: Windowed mode triggers crashes, black screens, or cursor artifacts. The game may not switch between modes smoothly.

Target audience is retro fans: The game is strongly recommended for fans of classic RPGs like Wizardry, Might and Magic, and Bard's Tale. It is explicitly not recommended for casual or modern gamers.

Not recommended in current state: Many reviews advise against buying the game now due to bugs, incomplete status, and technical issues. Some suggest waiting for patches or a 2.0 version.

Worth buying only for genre fans: For dedicated fans of old-school blobbers or Wizardry, the game is a worthwhile purchase. For others, it is not recommended.

Should be early access or wait for patches: Multiple reviews state the game should be listed as Early Access. Players are advised to wait for fixes or a finished version before purchasing.

High difficulty and jank tolerance needed: The game is very difficult and requires patience, with high jank tolerance. It is not for new players or those expecting hand-holding.

Community fair range: $15.00 - $20.00.

Game completion: 90.0h.

Story completion: 90.0h.

Session length: 4.0h.

Grimoire has a punishing early game with a steep learning curve, but once players overcome the initial friction and learn the mechanics, the game becomes highly addictive and fun for a period, though many report that mid and late game become tedious and infuriating.

Friction: steep learning curve; unintuitive UI requiring many extra clicks; tedious early gameplay and confusing puzzles; repetitive and annoying sound design; bugs and technical issues from a one-man team; unbalanced encounters and character options.

Unlock drivers: learning game mechanics through trial and error; power gain acceleration as party builds synergy; patience to get through the first few hours; watching streams to reduce learning curve.

Old-School Blobber Devotee: Methodical exploration and grinding; accepts savescumming and high difficulty; invests dozens of hours to uncover hidden depth. Motivation: Nostalgia for classic blobber RPGs and the satisfaction of overcoming punishing, old-school challenges. Stance: buy.

Disillusioned Genre Fan: Initially engaged but quickly frustrated by obtuse design, grind, and lack of QoL; may abandon the game or only play with extensive research and walkthroughs. Motivation: Hope for a worthy successor to classic blobbers, but ultimately disappointed by unbalanced gameplay and incomplete features. Stance: no buy.

Steam Deck: The game suffers from severe crash bugs, save data corruption, and updates that break launching or loading. Stability is consistently poor, affecting core gameplay.

External guides: The primary driver of 'Wiki Tax' is the forced need for external spreadsheets and manual tracking, indicative of Tier 2: The Hoarder. A single review explicitly references creating an Excel sheet, which matches the strict 'Spreadsheet' keyword. While other complaints about missing information, walkthrough requirements, navigation difficulties, and technical bugs are present, the priority scoring algorithm assigns a score of 75 based on this Tier 2 evidence.