Walkthrough

Let us guide your way

Legend of Grimrock 2 is not as linear as it's predecessor. Which means you can go many directions and will perhaps not be able to continue on in one direction because you need to go another direction first and then backtracking. This is not a problem, the game is designed to easily do this.

We will try to explain globally what needs to be done, you can find details to all the maps in their separate section, indicated in the list on the right.

The Arrival

You're shipwrecked! You start out in a small jail cell, stranded on an area called Shipwreck beach.
You escape from your cell and scout the beach. There's a few puzzles here, fairly simple.

Once you arrive north, you will see a sign for your first challenge: to step into the circle and call out the guardians.

For this you need to find the Horn of Summoning, it's not located here, for this you need to go down into the Dead Sailor's Cave to find it. Once you found it, take it back up, and blow the horn from that circle.

This is your first boss fight, you will be fighting some plants, by this time you should be able to hold quite well on your own to defeat it. After it's defeat, it will drop the first powergem (we'll get to that later) and the door towards the north will open. Now you can travel towards Twigroot Forest.

You can scout ahead through twigroot forest, but you'll soon encounter a round keyhole that requires the round key. This can be found in the dungeon below twigroot forest. You will find the entrance in the south west.

This part of the dungeon is rather small, get the iron key from this dungeon first, it's in the west, this allows you to open the room in the east which contains the round key you need to open the gate in the forest upstairs.

You can now wander forward and you will see a building. It's called the Shrine of Fire.

Shrines, Power gems and Essences

There are four elements of magic. Each element has it's own shrine.
There is also a 5th element which shrine is hidden from sight. The 5th element balances all the other elements.

In order to reach the end of the game, you need to enter Castle Nex and in order to enter, you will need to create 4 elemental essences. An elemental essence is created by collecting 4 powergems and placing them on the altar inside the shrine. The shrine will fuse the powergems together into the essence belonging to that shrine.
The shrine of fire will create the essence of fire, the shrine of earth will create the essence of earth, and so forth.

As said there are 4 shrines and a hidden 5th.
You only need the four shrines to create the essences needed to enter Castle Nex.

Click here for the Shrine Locations

Click here for the Powergem Locations

So your task now is to gather these powergems.

In twigroot forest, you will already find one at 23.

In the north is the entrance to the twigroot tunnels. Go in there and you will find another 2 powergems.

Together with the one you found on the surface and the one back at Shipwreck beach, that makes four, so you can create your first essence at the shrine: the essence of fire.

Be warned, even though it's not confirmed yet what exactly triggers it, but we have the impression that creating an essence will increase the amount and difficulty of enemies in the Forgotten River and Sleet island.
If you have trouble fighting your enemies already, don't fuse the powergems yet until you have all that you need.

Now that you have your first essence, head east towards the Forgotten River.

The Forgotten River & the Hub

At the forgotten river, the route will no longer be linear. You can go in any direction.
You can go north to sleet island where you can again go into 3 different directions, and you can go south into Keelbreach Bog.

The Forgotten river houses the entrance to castle nex at 29, here you can put the essences onto the altars.

Head north east, from there you will be able to jump down into the water and climb out on the other side to pick up the powergem that's out there at 48 on the map.

In the north east, there's a pathway down that leads to the hub. The hub is like a high speed train station that takes you back and forth to places where you have activated the hub teleporter. The teleporter to Shipwreck beach is already activated for you. This is useful if you need food from those tasty turtles.

We will give you an idea in which order to visit certain places, since you need certain items from other areas, we can recommend to take the route that we describe here.

Keelbreach Bog and the Herder's Den

First, we go south to the Keelbreach Bog.

There are 2 powergems here on the surface.
Follow the instructions on the detailmap for Keelbreach Bog.
Make sure to take the hub key and activate the hub teleporter.

Afterwards, go down into the Herder's Den.
You will have a tough fight on your hands here, but you will be rewarded with another powergem, but more importantly, make sure you finish the Runemaster's trial in the south east. This gives you the serpent staff. You need it to enter another area.

Move back to the Forgotten river and head north into Sleet Island.

Sleet Island

Sleet island is currently not greatly important to the story, for now, you cannot enter the castle on the island yet.
Head towards the ruins of desarune

Ruins of Desarune, Archives and Lexiconary

This dungeon is fairly straightforward, ofcourse with many puzzles which are described in detail on the map. You will first go through the northeast section of the map, then the southeast, until you get into the room to the west that has the powergem. From here you need 2 keys, one can be found in the northwest and the other in the southwest. Bring them back so you can retrieve the powergem and this will also open the door to the Archives.

The Archives is a very small leve. It's basically an intersection leading to other areas. Firstly in the north is a windpath that takes you to the top of sleet island so you don't have to walk all the way back, nice and easy.
Towards the west are the sewers where we will go later. First we go east and then south to get into the archive. There's a puzzle there that's explained on the map. The archives hold some notes about a story. These are actually instructions on how to get into the cemetary, so bring them along.
Go back and head east into the Lexiconary.

The lexiconary sends you on a mission to gather 4 figurines that you need to retrieve from the outer reaches of the Lexiconary, each requiring your wits to solve the puzzles it brings to you.
In the northwest is a puzzle with 3 alcoves where you need to put certain items into them to retrieve the figurine.
More westward is a puzzle with a teleporter where you need to press all the pressure plates on the other side of the gates so you can reach the next figurine.
In the southeast, you'll find a puzzle where you need to walk an invisible path, back and forth to reach the figurine.
In the northeast, you will need to put something on the pressure plates to activate the philosophers stones. With the right positioning you can shoot across the room onto the last pressure plate to activate the last stone, so you can move it and cross the gap to get the last figurine.
Go back to the center and move into the northern room. Put the figurines in the right order and the door to the powergem will open.

Move back to the archives and you can choose to go to the sewers or back to sleet island so you can head towarde the cemetery.
We chose to go to the sewers.

Hamlet of Stormbreach and the Sewers

The only way into the Hamlet of Stormbreach is through the Sewers. But when entering through the Archives, you can immediately go up the stairs, so go up the stairs. It's a small little beach, but you can walk into the water and head west to find the other part of the beach. Move south from there and you will reach the center area. You will find the hub teleporter there, and the hub key can be found close to the Crystal of Life. In the northwest, there's a puzzle with spikes, where you need to flip switches to open the three doors that lead to the powergem.
In the west, there's a staircase down that leads back into the sewers.
And in the south, there's a path leading down to the Crystal Mines which we will visit later.

Once you cleared the Hamlet, go down the west staircase down to the sewers.

Clear the sewers, it's pretty straightforward. In the southwest, you will find the Ratling Boss, and in the southeast you will find another Power Gem.

Now, in the center-south you will find another staircase leading up, this leads to the Shrine of Air. It's only accessible through the sewers. Go there and use 4 powergems to create the essence of Air. There's a statue outside that tells you to "To get into the Crystal Mines, take the path of the snail". Go down the stairs to the sewers again, and go to the east and take the stairs up into the Hamlet again.
From the hamlet, go south towards the crystal mines. To enter, you must cross the path really slowly, wait at least 3 seconds before taking another step, wait 3 seconds, take another step, until you're there, ready to enter the Crystal Mine.

Crystal Mine

Inside the mine, you will encounter a new foe, we can best describe it as a flying squid. It does a lot of damage and it blinds you for about 10 seconds. A big blur of blackness covers your eyes, making it very difficult to see anything. On top of that, there are many chasms that you can fall down into, so, when blinded, trust your map to guide you and not your eyes, or you will fall down and get hurt even more.

When you enter, you'll first want to check on your right where there's a secret button that opens up the pathway back into Twigroot Forest, so you have a shortcut back inside.
Continue on, you'll first need a Mine key to continue on to the western part of the map. You will find it in the south by solving the similacrus puzzle.
Use the key to get into the mine, you will see a huge chasm. You can explore it, but there's a staircase leading down to the core. Even though there's a power gem on this level, you will need to go down and go back up somewhere else in order to claim it, so go down.

Once down, you'll see a part in the north you cannot enter. And you'll need a mine key to continue on south, so that won't work either. There's a pressure plate in the north that needs to be pressed, but you cannot reach it. Head to the center of the chasm and go north on it. From there you can shoot an item across the chasm onto the pressure plate opening the door. This allows you to go north, pick up the mine key and continue on south. There's a little puzzle on the way, but you'll eventually find some stairs leading up. Go there, and you will find another power gem.
Go down again. The next Power Gem is down the chasm, but there are no stairs. You will either need to jump down into the chasm, or use the rope. There's a rope in the north of this map.

Once down, you will need to head north-west where there's a puzzle to get the mine key (shoot a lightning bolt into a receptacle to activate the machine that opens the door)
With that mine key, go east and you will find the powergem there.
You can use the teleporter in the center of the great abyss to get back up.

Cemetery and the Wormbound Family

The cemetery is inhabited by many undead foes. Most important foes here are the Wormbound family, you fight Xarant Wormbound in the Wormbound Catacombs and you fight Orul Wormbound in Orul's Crypt.
But before that, you will first need to enter the cemetery. Use the notes you picked up from the archive to figure out what direction to move the philosopher's stone in.
Done right will open the cemetery.
In the middle of the cemetery is the entrance to the catacombs. You will also find a powergem at the pit rotation puzzle, and a noteworthy weapon: the ethereal dagger, which is the only weapon that can harm non material beings like the air elemental.
You will also find the hub key and the hub teleporter here to bring you back.

Go down into the crypt, into the Wormbound Catacombs.

You will fight Xarant Wormbound in the northeast of the map, and you will find the next powergem in the southwest. From there take the steps down into Orul's Crypt

Directly to the west is a windgate that will take you back to the surface at the cemetery.

From the center room are 3 teleporters that teleport you to 3 areas of the map: the laboratory in the south, the mausoleum in the northeast and the sanctuary in the northwest.
Each area will have a skull key, you need 3 skull keys in the center room to activate the fight with Orul Wormbound. And after the fight, you will receive another powergem.

The Trickster will make a brief appearance in the Mausoleum as he unleashes all the enemies upon you.

Leave the cemetery and go back to sleet island and head north towards the pyramid.

Pyramid of Umas

To enter the Pyramid of Umas, you need to use the serpent staff you found in the Herder's Den at the Runemaster Trial, and fire it at the door.

The Pyramid of Umas houses many tombs and wallpaintings of what the inhabitants of the island thought and felt. Worth it to look around.

The Pyramids are inhabited by Cobras and Ancient Amazons. The Amazons have one particularly nasty treat and that's that they can frighten a party member so much they will never fight again. We found no cure for this, except for returning to the Crystal of Life.
Wearing the Crystal Amulet, found in the Crystal Mine can give you immunity for at least one of your party members.

You will first need to obtain the tomb keys. Cross the big hallway and take the teleporters into the tombs. West for the tomb of the forgotten, east for the tomb of the Highborn
You can pick either direction, but we're going west first to the Tomb of the forgotten.
You need to reach the north where there's the tomb key, but first you need to close the pits by stepping on the pressure plates in the surrounding area. Once that's done, you can move onward to get the tomb key.

Return through the teleporter and head into the tomb of the Highborn. This is where highborn are buried in their sarcophagusses. Each familymember is buried in a sarcophagus the same room. You will first need to find the gifts that were brought to the families, a moonblade and a wand of fear. Read the notes and figure out where the families of the one who received the gift are buried and place it on their sarcophagus to open the door, leading towards the tomb key.

With 2 tomb keys, open the tombs and solve the puzzle that follows (details are on the pyramid of umas walkthrough)

Continue on towards the Tomb of Rites

Going south and finishing the teleporter and pit puzzle will allow you to go on towards the Ceremonial Chamber but you need 2 tomb keys to do anything useful there. These keys are located on this floor.
One in the Tomb of Offerings and one in the Tomb of Sacrifice.

Note: Inside the tomb of sacrifice, notice that you'll find another tomb with 6 sarcophagusses. Remember the note with the mirror gauntlets, about the bloated fat guy who needed 6 vessels? This is his tomb.

Once you have the 2 tomb keys, head south, cross the teleporter and pit puzzle, pick up the powergem and head towards the stairs to enter the Ceremonial Chamber.

This is where the people of old were enbalmed and prepared for the afterlife. Get ready for a big fight, get an abundance of potions ready, use up your crystal flowers to prepare potions of strength, willpower and vitality and use it all up, the coming fight is a long one and it's about endurance.
Place the 2 tomb keys into their locks and you will notice a teleporter appearing, and many mummies will walk in.

Tip: your wizard should be trained well enough to cast the Meteor Storm spell now, which will desintegrate a pack of 4 mummies in one shot.

Once you clear this room, step into the teleporter and you will be teleported to the Barren Desert.

The Barren Desert is basically a very large open place with lots and lots and LOTS of mummies. They all don't like you very much, but they're not the real threat here. The only problem with them is that they easily get in the way.
The real threat are the two huge magma monsters.
They deal a big punch and throw fire bombs that have a radius of 3x3 tiles, evading those is more difficult than a regular spell cast at you, especially with the mummies being in your way.
On top of that, you also get visited by the trickster, throwing even more bombs at you.
Focus on the Magma monsters first, they have roughly 1500 hitpoints. They are immune to fire, so if you have a firemage, use him to shoot at mummies instead to keep the area clear.
Melee damage seems to impact them well, so attack them from behind (to prevent him punching you in your face)
You do get rewarded handsomely by killing them. The first one will drop a power gem, the other will drop meteor armor, the toughest armor in the game.

There's not much more of great importance here, so head northwest to the teleporter that brings you back to sleet island.

Entering Castle Nex

You should by now have 19 power gems, you may have already visited the shrines in Twigroot Forest, Keelbreach Bog and the Hamlet of Stormbreach to fuse 3 essences together, the essence of water is still missing.
If you paid some attention to what the statue heads were saying, you may have heard something about the silent one.
On sleet island is a statue that says '...', that's the silent one. Close to it is another saying the silent one has a friend towards the sunrise, meaning east of sleet island: the cemetery. And this one says that the silent one sees something at night.
So, go to the silent one in sleet island, wait until it's night, and then look into the direction that the statue is looking.
Wait for a couple of seconds (10 or so), and you will see the trickster raising a bridge to the center of sleet Island. This is where you will find the shrine of air, allowing you to complete all required essences to enter castle nex.

Go to the entrance at the forgotten river,
you will be attacked by some underground tree things, so try to not be scared when they jump out. After you killed them, put the essences on the corresponding altars (you will hear a humming from that altar if the correct essence is placed).
The door will then open.

Castle Nex

We are still charting Castle Nex, even though we already finished the game, we can only give brief guidance until Castle Nex has been completely charted.

You will first enter a large hallway, with a pedestal in the middle with a note, asking you to meet the Island Master upstairs. There is also a cursed compass you will need later on.
Continue onwards, you will see a door and some signs on the wall, but this door will not open until a later time, continue onwards to the library. There are no enemies on this level, unless you're unlucky to get a trapped treasure chest.

In the library, you need to find the clues in which order to put the levers to open the door upstairs. There are 3 levers and a button, and you need to put the levers in a certain combination and press the button, then another combination and press it again, and again for a third time. To find the combinations, you need to listen to the clicks when you click the button and they have to correspond with the descriptions you will find when walking around the columns of books. If you walk around them 3 times, a sign will appear with a clue to the combination. Combine all 3 clues and you can find your way through.

The twisted passage is really simple if you know what to do. There's a random amount of invisible teleporters in this room, that teleport you back to the start. In order to detect the teleporters, use the cursed compass you found downstairs.

The test chamber is a bit more tricky.
First, look down, you'll find a tile where there's a pressure plate behind a gate. Drop an item through, this will open the forcefield allowing you to go down. Down there is another pressureplate that needs to be pressed.
This opens the door to the northwest, where you will reach the spark/teleporter puzzle.
Pressing the button will fire a spark and it needs to land in the receptacle, this opens the door to the next challenge. You cannot run faster than the sparkle, so you will need to delay it somehow. You will find the instructions to delay it in the detail map.
Once through there's a magic moving bridge, you need to step on it and move with it to get across.

The void is a very high room with 5 levels, you start in the basement, go to the main floor and then crawl up to the next level. There's a button in the southwest, this will extend a bridge so you can climb up again.
On this level is another button, but you cannot access it. Climb up again. Head to the west and look down, there's a spot where you can jump down to reach that area you couldn't reach, so you can press the button that will activate the bridge on the top level, so you can leave the void. Heal up and get ready, you're going to the Castle Roof and meet the boss!

Castle Roof Battle

This is the moment you've been waiting for!
Prepare well, make all the potions you can make, use all your crystal flowers and upgrade your stats as much as you can.

You will face Lindworm, he's the one who's been riding the dragon.

He will throw waves of enemies at you, during those waves, he cannot be harmed, so focus on taking out the other enemies. But make sure you save your special attacks for Lindworm.

Once defeated, he will drop the final power gem and the gate towards the ending will open.

Normal ending and True ending

You can step right into the portal and the game will end, you and your party will board an airship and leave Isle Nex for good.
But you will see that the Island Master is still on the castle, looking disappointed that you left.

Is this an indication of another sequel of the game? Or...

What about the trickster? What about the 4 power gems you have now, and that portal downstairs? What about this 5th element you've heard people talk about? And what about this door in the hub that never opened?
Truth is, taking this portal on top of the roof of will show you the normal ending of the game.

However, you can play on and watch the true ending of the game!

Go downstairs and leave the Castle. You will see the trickster running away towards the hub and when you follow him, the door in the hub is open, allowing you to get into the trickster's lair. But it's deserted!
However, you do see an altar that's very much like the altars at the castle that hold the essences.

This one has another icon in it. The one that's in the middle of your rune table for casting. Do you remember the shrines saying that fire is strongest in the northwest, Earth in the Southwest, Air in the Northeast, and water in the south east?
This resembles the locations on your casting tablet as well. Meaning that the 'balance' icon is in the middle.
Go back to the entrance of the castle where the essences are, and cast the balance spell (the middle rune) and if you stand right in the middle of the essences, you will be teleported to the hidden shrine of balance. Here you can make the essence of balance.
Take the teleporter back up and go to the Trickster's lair and place the essence onto the altar.

The Trickster will visit you and this time you have to beat him. When you beat him, you learn his secret: he is in fact the Island Master in disguise, and he's coming for you.
The fight continues. He seems to have mirror images, each mirror image is immune to another school of magic.
When you beat him, he will finally disappear and leave you his master key and testament:
You inherit Castle Nex, and therefore the Island. When you go into the castle and unlock the master gate for the true ending, you will end the game, but this time, you take his place as the new island master!

Legend of Grimrock II