Legend of Grimrock 2 Walkthrough

Castle Nex

Secrets: 4, Treasures: 0, Power Gems: 1, Skulls: 1, Epic Items: 0, Gold Keys: 0, Gold Locks: 0

Cursed Compass On this pedestal is a Cursed Compass and a Letter. You’ll need the Cursed Compass in a short while.
Button The button will open the gates flanking it, as well as a secret door near the castle’s entrance. Go there to get a secret before proceeding.
Windgate Step into this windgate to be transported to 4.
Secret #74 This chest holds a Potion of Resurrection, a Potion of Strength, and a Greater Healing Potion.
Button The button under the bridge opens the secret door to the north for a very short period. You can’t waste any time in reaching the door. Press the button and, without turning around, move back, left five times, forward three times, left, back five times, right, and back. You may need to try this a few times to be successful.

It is surprising that indoor water features are not depicted as water on the map. To me, this seems like an oversight.

Secret #75 In this corner is a Tome of Knowledge.
Skull #9 On the floor here is the last Skull.
Throwing Axes Two Throwing Axes can be picked up from this corner. Next to them are five Cannon Balls. Press the button above the Cannon Balls to temporarily re-open the secret door. There is nothing else you can do on this floor for now, so proceed into the next room and climb the stairs at B into the Library.
Locked Portal After you have defeated the Island Master, use the Master Key to unlock this portal and walk into it to roll the end cinematics.

Entrance from the Forgotten River.
Stairs to the Library.
Two-way windgate from the Void.

Library

Everything from 1 to 8 is totally optional. You could directly jump to 9, correctly enter the code, and exit this floor.

Greater Healing Potion Sitting on this window sill (if one can call it that—I’ve just found out that sans a window they are called window stools!) is a Greater Healing Potion.
Broadhead Arrows From this window stool you can pick up three Broadhead Arrows.
Bookshelf Walk around this pillar until you hear two clicks. One side of the pillar will then reveal a code, and a dark acolyte will spawn somewhere nearby to destroy you.
Potion of Resurrection On these two window stools are a Potion of Resurrection and a Note.
Ancient Map From on top of a stack of books, you’ll be able to pick up an Ancient Map.
Bookshelf As before, walk around this pillar until you hear two clicks and can see a code. One or two more dark acolytes will spawn somewhere nearby.
Pellets You’ll find 10 Pellets here.
Bookshelf This is the last pillar you need to walk around, yielding the same results as before.
Locked Gate I have no idea how the developers intended non-programmers to solve this puzzle apart from trial-and-error: the codes you acquired from the pillars must be converted into binary form, and you must toggle the levers accordingly. The solution is (from left to right while facing the levers): up-down-up, press the button here, down-up-down, press the button, and up-down-down. Press the button one final time to open the gate and go up.

Stairs from Castle Nex.
Stairs to the Twisted Passage.

Twisted Passage

Twisted Passage Open up your inventory so that you can see the Cursed Compass (or have someone hold it in a hand). Wherever the red compass arrow is pointing (it may flicker to point in more than one direction), those are tiles you should not step on otherwise you will be teleported back here. The path is random in every game.
Safe Zone From here on you are safe and can walk freely. You no longer require the Cursed Compass (unless you step into the previous room again).
Sack Sitting on this window stool is a Sack containing a Bread, a Horned Fruit, a Baked Maggot, and a Burrow Rat Shank. Go up the stairs at B into the Test Chamber.

Stairs from the Library.
Stairs to the Test Chamber.

Test Chamber

This area is made up of four levels so a flat map can appear confusing at first, but the instructions should be clear as you travel from point to point. To reduce some consternation, the following marker colours have been used: bottom level markers are in black, (there are no features that need numbering on the main level that you start on), one level higher are in green, and the top level are in brown. Although the map tries to capture all the features on all levels, the Test Chamber is not as complicated as it looks.

Pressure Plate This pressure plate is on the lower level. Drop an item on it through the grate above it to deactivate the magical bridge to the west, and fall down the opening the bridge was protecting.
Pressure Plate Drop an item on this pressure plate to open the gate on the top level at 4 to the north.
Windgate This windgate is on the lowest level. Use it to return to where you started.
Locked Gate This gate will open when the pressure plate at 2 is weighed down.
Cannon Balls Fall down here to obtain three Cannon Balls, then return to the top level using the ladder to the south.
Venomfang Pick Lying on this pressure plate is a Venomfang Pick…
Pellets … and on this one are 10 Pellets.
Spectral Orb Pressing this button will cause a spectral orb to be shot out towards 7 (north-south), and a magical bridge to form next to you. If any pressure plate is weighed down, a windgate will form over it, which will turn the spectral orb around. If the orb reaches its receptacle (to the east of 7, past the ladder), the door at 9 will open and the magical bridge will disappear.
This puzzle can be solved in any number of ways. The easiest is to weigh down the four corner pressure plates (blue and red crosses), but weighing down the ‘entry’ plate (red cross) only after the spectral orb is fired. This will cause the orb to constantly rotate around the room, giving you unlimited time for the rest of the puzzle. This setup will be particularly useful when going for a secret later.
Once the orb is set up, walk across the magical bridge to the ladder, take the item off the pressure plate next to the ladder (avoiding the spectral orb), and move to 9. The gate will open soon.
Closed Gate This gate will open when the spectral orb hits its receptacle.
Lever Drop down to the south from 9 to reach this lever and flip it to activate a windgate under it (on the level you started). The windgate will send you back up to 9, so as long as you don’t cause the gate there to close again (by pressing the button at 8), you won’t have to solve the puzzle again. Unfortunately, you will have to do it at least once more for a secret in a little while. For now, drop down once more and use the new windgate to return to 9, follow the moving magical bridge, and fall down to 11.
Potion of Dexterity On the window stool here you’ll find a Potion of Dexterity. Drop down once more, take the windgate under 10 back up to 9, and this time follow the moving bridge to the end.
Lever This lever will open the gate to B and also a secret door near 8. Fall down to 10, and wind your way to 8 (via 10 and 9 or via 4) and re-setup and restart the puzzle to form the magical bridge once more. This will give you access to 13.
Secret #76 There are two Potions of Resurrection on this window stool. Once you’ve taken them, return to the ladder north of 1, take the item off the pressure plate and allow the orb to hit the receptacle to open the gate at 9 once more. You can now follow the moving bridge back to 12 and finally take the stairs at B to the Void.

Stairs from the Twisted Passage.
Stairs to the Void.

Void

The west wing of this area is made up of five levels, making the flat map potentially more confusing than the Test Chamber, but there are lesser features to mark on the map so hopefully that makes it easier to follow. Marker colours employed for the west wing are as follows: bottom level (where you start) markers are in grey, level 1 (which actually forms the main floor of this wing) are in black, level 2 are in green, level 3 are in brown, and level 4 in purple. The east wing is all one flat level, so although it’s at the very top, the markers are all black.

Sack Perched on this window stool is a Sack with a Salted Sausage, Bread, and a Borra.
Ladder Follow the passage to the end and climb up this ladder to the ‘main’ floor.
Pellets 10 Pellets are lying against the wall here…
Cannon Balls … and five Cannon Balls are here.
Sack The Sack at the end of this passage contains four Blooddrop Caps, two Falconskyres, and seven Etherweeds.
Ladder Climb this ladder to get up to level 2.
Button If you are using it, equip a weapon other than the Meteor Hammer. Pressing the button here will spawn three fire elementals (one will be out of view on the lowest level), and create a magical bridge that will let you cross over to a ladder to level 3.
Greater Healing Potion A Greater Healing Potion rests on this window stool.
Ladder Climb this ladder up to level 3.
Ladder Climb this ladder up to level 4.
Drop Point Drop down two levels to the west here. You will take some damage, but this is the only way to reach the chest.
Locked Chest In this locked chest are four Frost Bombs and four Fire Bombs. Walk under 11 and the magical bridge will appear, letting you access a set of ladders back up to level 4.
Drop Point Drop down to the west from here to level 3.
Button Once again, put away the Meteor hammer and press this button to spawn three more fire elementals and create a magical bridge to the exit. You’ll have to drop down (to the south to avoid damage and then to the north) and climb the ladders at 6, 9 and 10 to reach it. Go across all the way to the Crystal of Life.
Sickle Sword On the floor here is a Sickle Sword, and on the window stool are three Poison Bombs.
Potions of Resurrection On this window stool are two Potions of Resurrection.
Scaled Cloak On this one is a Scaled Cloak…
Pellets … and on this one are 20 Pellets.
Greater Energy Potion A Greater Energy Potion rests in this corner.
Crossbow Quarrels Four Crossbow Quarrels lie at this spot.

Cannon Balls You’ll find five Cannon Balls here. Press the button nearby to activate the windgate (B), which takes you back to the very beginning of Castle Nex. I like to go into it at this point to open the secret door there just to open up the access. You can now avoid all the travel and puzzles between the five floors of the castle in case you want to leave it and return for any reason (like getting food stocked in the Hub).
Go back around to the south and climb the stairs at C to the Castle Roof.

Stairs from the Twisted Passage.
Two-way windgate to Castle Nex.
Stairs to the Castle Roof.

Castle Roof

Lightning Bombs You’ll find three Lightning Bombs here.
Boss Fight & Power Gem #20 When you go step across here, the gates at both ends will close, and the Lindworm will spawn, apparently with the Island Master riding it, who will taunt you into battle. They start out protected by an invulnerability shield, and he will summon a number of enemies to occupy your attention. After you’ve decimated enough of the mob, the Lindworm will lose its shield and itself join the battle, potentially crushing any surviving enemies in its path (although it doesn’t actively attack you before this, it’s not averse to damaging you if you get too close).
A short while later, the rider will summon another group of monsters, re-apply the invulnerability shield, and the cycle will continue. Depending on how many Healing and Resurrection potions as well as Crystal Shards of Healing you have, you can choose to end the Lindworm very quickly or stretch out the battle to farm XP—or just to have fun. Apart from stray monsters, there is only one real battle left after this one so XP by itself may not be very valuable. However, that also means you can be quite liberal with your consumables. Bombs are quite useful in this battle.
Note that if you take the combat deep enough, you will encounter almost all monsters in the game, including one of the Wormbound brothers, magma golems and frogs. They don’t come in any particular order of difficulty either—you’ll face magma golems well before turtles. Frogs are the worst because they can steal your items and, depending on how crowded it gets, you may not be able to re-acquire them for a while. Worse still, frogs appear alongside herders who shroud you in poison clouds, obscuring your vision, making it that much harder to locate your stolen items. After several rounds of changing varieties of monsters, they will repeat in different patterns until the Lindworm is defeated.
Depending on which monsters you defeat, they themselves may drop a lot of consumables: foods, potions, bombs, Pellets, Crystal Shards of Healing, etc. The Lindworm will drop the last Power Gem upon death, and both gates will open.

The first 15 rounds of the battle proceed with the following monsters: 1: ghouls; 2: ratlings and wargs; 3: dark acolytes, medusae and snakes; 4: magma golems and uggardians; 5: wasps; 6: mimics and xeleroids; 7: mummies; 8: turtles; 9: one of the Wormbounds (probably Xarant because of the accompaniment of ghouls), ghouls and skeletons; 10: herders with spore pods and frogs; 11: spiders; 12: ice guardians; 13: wyverns; 14: air and fire elementals; 15: zarchtons and crabs. After this the magma golems and uggardians repeated, so I decided to end the assault.

Optional Game Ending This portal has a caricature of a ship on it. If you walk into it, you will take a ship off the island to return to wherever homeland is, and the game will end. However, there is still more to do in the game so don’t walk into this portal. Instead, go down to the Void (A), teleport down to Castle Nex (B), and exit the castle (A). As you exit the castle (14 on the Forgotten River map), you will briefly see the Trickster escaping to the north.

Stairs from the Void.

Forgotten River

Secret #77 Stand at this spot and cast the Balance spell (only the central rune). There is no scroll that teaches you this spell. You have to deduce its existence from a clue. You will be teleported to the Shrine of Balance (7 in the River Tunnels; finding the shrine is the secret), where you can place the four Power Gems to acquire an Essence of Balance. The windgate there will bring you back to the courtyard.

Into Castle Nex.

River Tunnels

Secret #77 Arriving at the Shrine of Balance the first time counts as a secret. As usual, four Power Gems can be transformed into an Essence of Balance. The windgate will take you back to the castle’s courtyard.
Closed Door This door will open only after the Lindworm has been decimated on the Castle Roof.

Stairs from the Forgotten River.
Stairs to the Trickster’s Lair.

Forgotten River

True Endgame Go to the Hub (C), and into the Trickster’s Lair (G in the River Tunnels) for the last boss encounter.

Stairs down to The Hub in the River Tunnels.

Next » Trickster’s Lair