Like its predecessor, Legend of Grimrock II is a tile-based real-time dungeon crawler, inspired by traditional titles such as Dungeon Master (video game), but it adds a number of modern features, such as nonlinear open-world gameplay, multi-height levels, persistent injuries, and underwater sequences. In the game, players control a party of one to four characters which they move through a 3D rendered grid-based world in first-person view.[1]

The party characters have skill levels for different types of weapons, magic spells, and additional traits such as evasion or alchemy. Their starting skills vary depending on their race and background, and they gain further skill points by defeating enemies.[1]

Game progress occurs through a combination of puzzle solving and combat. The puzzles vary between observational challenges, riddles, logic puzzles, hidden treasures and environmental mechanical puzzles. Many puzzles are optional, but grant superior items and equipment for solving them. In combat, the characters in the party engage the enemies in real time, which allows for maneuvering in the environment while simultaneously fighting enemies.[3]

The game has additional difficulty modes that disable the automatic map system and allow saving only in predefined locations for a single time.