Giant Bomb just did a Quick Look:

Well, there are stats and your weapon/magic damage does vary, but it is an action RPG, so skill can make up for a lot of that. The only cutscenes in the game are at the very beginning and the very end, and they're pretty short. The story is conveyed in a Dark Souls-esque manner. And yeah, there's no set-pieces of any sort, although there are traps....many, many traps, but to be fair, a lot of those traps warn you. For instance: there's one trap where you stumble across a really nice item just laying about on a shelf waiting for you to grab it with a piece of paper next to it that says "I dare you."

Not remotely true. There very much is a story. The Island Master, the island of Nex, and your arrival there were for a reason and the game clearly conveys it so long as you unlock the right ending and make sure to read the lore around the islan. But you are right that it doesn't convey the story through direct dialogue and such--it's revealed through notes, paintings and writings on walls and stonework, and via the end game cutscenes.

Yeah, even the devs in that thread were astonished that the guy managed it, and on his first playthrough at that, which is really hard because it takes a while to really memorize those crazy huge maps. Even they admitted that they probably couldn't do what he did.

I don't know about that. A guy on the Grimrock forums just beat the game on ironman hard with old school mode and single crystal use only mode enabled, and from the sound of it, it seems like it was one of the hardest things he's ever played (Link). Normal mode with none of the crazy shit checked off I would say is probably easier than Dark Souls.

I am not being salty; I just fail to see how you can adequately compare two games which you've never even played. It's asinine. btw, the first Grimrock sold 900,000 copies

Well, first off, RPG is one of the broadest genres in gaming. Divinity Original Sin and Dark Souls are both RPGs, but they're completely different styles. Second, nobody gives a shit about you comparing the two games, because you've played neither and thus don't have a fucking clue what you're talking about. Thirdly, Bioware can suck a bag of dicks.

I'd be surprised if the Souls games cost anywhere near the amount of money that most AAA Western games blow through.

I don't really see how it limits it. The game has incredibly expansive levels utterly jam-packed with secrets that take you underground, underwater, in deserts, in swamps, and bogs, and what have you. Here's some pics showing off the majority of the maps in the game:

Now, is it any good? Yes....it's incredible. I am seriously torn between this and Divinity: OS as best RPG of the year. I just beat it a few hours ago; totaled I believe around 30hrs--loved every minute of it. I can't wait to see what the community is gonna put together with the dungeon editor tools now that there's so many more assets to work with.

Oh god damn it, why was Kevin wasting his time reviewing this garbage instead of Grimrock 2?