Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest

Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest is a tactical turn-based RPG set in a fantasy world. Players lead a party of heroes on a quest to restore a mystical druid circle and uncover the secrets of a corrupted forest. Developed by former creators of Legend of Grimrock, the game features challenging, tabletop-inspired combat, intricate level design with traps and puzzles, and a story told through text dialogues.

Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest: A Tactical Masterpiece Lost in the Mists of Time

In the annals of turn-based tactical RPGs, certain titles achieve legendary status, while others, despite their brilliance, become cherished secrets known only to a discerning few. Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest, released in May 2019 by Finnish studio Ctrl Alt Ninja Ltd., firmly belongs in the latter category. A labor of love from the co-creators of the critically acclaimed Legend of Grimrock series, Druidstone represents a bold pivot from first-person dungeon crawling to meticulous, isometric tactics. It is a game that demands to be played not with reckless abandon, but with the careful consideration of a chess grandmaster, and it stands as one of the most intelligently designed, albeit underappreciated, strategy games of its generation.

Development History & Context: From Dungeons to Forests

To understand Druidstone, one must first understand its creators. Ctrl Alt Ninja Ltd. was founded by Petri Häkkinen and Juho Salila, key figures behind the modern dungeon-crawling renaissance ignited by Legend of Grimrock (2012). After two successful Grimrock titles, the team made a conscious decision to avoid being pigeonholed. They sought a new challenge, a new genre to conquer with their signature ethos of meticulous, hand-crafted design.

The gaming landscape of 2019 was dominated by live-service titans and open-world epics. In the strategy space, Firaxis’s XCOM 2 loomed large, defining the genre for many with its emphasis on percentage-based chance and permadeath-driven narratives. Ctrl Alt Ninja aimed to create something different: a tactics game that traded random chance for deterministic, puzzle-like precision. Early plans for procedural generation were scrapped in favor of 35 entirely hand-designed missions, a decision that would come to define the game’s core identity. They built the game using their proprietary “Shinobi Game Engine,” a testament to their technical prowess and desire for complete creative control.

This was not a studio chasing trends; it was one refining its craft. The shift from real-time exploration to turn-based tactics was seismic, but the throughline was an unwavering commitment to environmental interaction, clever puzzles, and a palpable sense of place—hallmarks of the Grimrock legacy now translated onto a new battlefield.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive: A Personal Quest in a World of Decay

The story of Druidstone is a classic fantasy setup executed with a refreshingly personal scale. The archdruid of the Menhir Forest has vanished under suspicious circumstances, and a corrupting plague of purple cysts is spreading sickness across the land. Into this crisis step three unlikely heroes:
* Aava: The archdruid’s daughter, suddenly burdened with responsibilities she never asked for. Her journey is one of reluctant leadership and confronting the legacy of her father.
* Leonhard: A warden with a amnesiac past and a lethal, prophesied destiny. He is the brooding warrior archetype, but his mystery is woven directly into the central plot, including a murderous doppelgänger stalking the forest.
* Oiko: A failed Red Priest and the game’s standout character. Oiko provides the comic relief but is far more than a simple jester; he is “living proof that one may be very smart without being particularly wise.” His dialogue, penned by writers including Mikko Rautalahti, is witty, self-deprecating, and genuinely hilarious.

The narrative explores themes of inherited duty, the weight of the past, and the definition of wisdom. It’s a story less about saving the entire world and more about saving a specific, cherished place—the Menhir Forest—from a very intimate corruption. While some critics, like those from Game World Navigator Magazine, found the characters and story unmemorable, this critique misses the point. The plot is not an epic saga but a tightly focused character drama that serves as a compelling vehicle to move the player from one brilliantly designed tactical scenario to the next. The dialogue is snappy and charming, ensuring the party feels like a cohesive, if quirky, group rather than a generic collection of archetypes.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems: Where Every Turn is a Puzzle

This is where Druidstone truly shines and carves out its unique identity. This is not XCOM; it is tactical combat as a pure logic puzzle.

The Core Loop: The game is structured around a world map from which you select missions. Each mission is a self-contained tactical challenge with a primary objective (e.g., defeat all enemies, escort an NPC, activate ancient menhirs) and often punishingly difficult optional objectives (e.g., complete within a turn limit, open all chests, kill a specific powerful enemy). Success grants experience points (for upgrading core stats like Health and Power) and gold (for buying new gear). However, the most coveted rewards—Gems—are earned solely by completing those optional objectives. Gems are used to upgrade your characters’ powerful special abilities, creating a compelling risk-reward cycle: do you play it safe to complete the mission, or do you risk a total failure for a chance at a permanent power boost?

The “Puzzle-Combat” Synthesis: As noted in the Rock, Paper, Shotgun review, this is the game’s masterstroke. There is almost no randomness. Damage values are fixed. Enemy behavior is predictable and scripted. This removes the frustration of a missed 95% shot and replaces it with the intense satisfaction of solving a complex spatial problem. A single turn might involve: using Leonhard to shove an enemy into a trap, having Aava use a Vine ability to create a barrier, and then positioning Oiko to hit three enemies with a single well-placed Fireblast. The game constantly introduces new mechanics—pressure plates, explosive barrels, enemy spawn points, environmental hazards—ensuring that no two puzzles, sorry, battles, feel the same.

Character Progression & Flexibility: The three core characters (a fourth joins later) have clearly defined roles—Fighter, Ranger, Mage—but the gem-based ability upgrade system allows for significant customization. You can build Oiko as a pure glass cannon or give him supportive crowd-control spells. You can focus Leonhard on raw damage or make him a resilient tank. This flexibility allows players to tailor their strategies to their preferred playstyle and the specific demands of each mission.

The Level Editor: A crucial, often-overlooked feature is the inclusion of a level editor. This tool extended the game’s life far beyond its 15-20 hour campaign, allowing the community to create and share custom missions, a feature praised by players in Steam discussions for adding immense replay value.

World-Building, Art & Sound: A Painterly Tabletop Come to Life

Druidstone’s audiovisual presentation is a key ingredient in its charm. The art direction, led by Juho Salila, is often compared to the Trine series, and for good reason. It employs a vibrant, almost oversaturated color palette that makes the world of Elo Sphaera pop off the screen. The isometric environments are beautifully rendered, from the lush, sun-dappled forests and ancient stone ruins to the sinister, purple-veined areas of corruption. The character and enemy designs are charming and full of personality, blending “the epic of western RPGs with the putzige [quaint] of eastern tradition,” as noted by 4Players.de.

The sound design is equally superb. The score, composed by Perttu Vänskä, Hannu Honkonen, and Henri Vartio of Scoring Helsinki, is a highlight. It’s not the typical bombastic fantasy orchestration; it’s often melancholic, atmospheric, and strangely calming, perfectly complementing the game’s more thoughtful pace. The sound effects are crisp and impactful, making every ability use and sword strike feel potent.

Together, the art and sound create an atmosphere that feels both like a classic fairy tale and a sophisticated tactical boardgame, making every mission feel like a unique diorama brought to life.

Reception & Legacy: A Cult Classic’s Curse

Upon release, Druidstone garnered generally favorable reviews, holding a Metascore of 79/100 and a “Very Positive” rating from users on Steam. Critics universally praised its clever design, challenging gameplay, and beautiful presentation. Ragequit.gr called it “another spectacular result from the makers of the Legend of Grimrock series,” while RPG Site highlighted it as a “perfect entry point” for the genre due to its focused scope.

However, its very strengths also limited its mass appeal. The puzzle-like, deterministic nature divided players accustomed to the tension of XCOM‘s RNG. Some found it “frustrating” and “unfair,” as noted in a Gameplay (Benelux) review, criticizing the feeling of being forced into a “single solution.” Its commercial performance was likely modest, as is the fate of many intricate, mid-budget indie strategy games.

Its legacy, therefore, is not one of blockbuster sales or industry-wide imitation, but of deep reverence among a dedicated cult following. It is a game that, as one Steam user noted, “becomes better and better every year” as players revisit and fully appreciate its nuanced design. It stands as a testament to the power of hand-crafted levels over procedural generation and a bold experiment in merging the tactical RPG with the logic puzzle. It influenced no major trends but instead remains a singular, polished gem—a benchmark for thoughtful, concentrated tactical design that fans continue to discover and cherish years later.

Conclusion: A Definitive Verdict for the Tactical Connoisseur

Druidstone: The Secret of the Menhir Forest is not a game for everyone. It will frustate players who crave chaotic improvisation and the thrilling uncertainty of a dice roll. It is, instead, a game for the strategist, the planner, the puzzle-solver. It is a game that respects your intelligence and demands your full attention.

Ctrl Alt Ninja Ltd. crafted a experience that is tight, focused, and exceptionally executed. From its charming story and witty writing to its breathtaking art and sublime score, every element is polished to a mirror sheen. But its heart and soul lie in its gameplay—a deeply rewarding, chess-like combat system that makes every victory feel earned through intellect rather than luck.

It is a masterpiece of its specific niche. A captivating, challenging, and utterly unique tactical RPG that deserves to be remembered not as a footnote from the Grimrock team, but as a brilliant, self-contained triumph in its own right. For those with the patience to engage with its intricate challenges, the secrets of the Menhir Forest offer one of the most rewarding tactical experiences of the last decade.