Blast! When will the Kingdom of Herian finally get a break? Blight the Horrible is really living up to his name and is hellbent on bringing chaos to the land. King Roland needs to call upon his heroes again and who better than gamers who want to experience another victory within the world of Hammerwatch. Developed by Crackshell and published by Modus Games, Hammerwatch II is the sequel and the latest continuation of its universe. With its pixelated art style and Dungeons & Dragon-esqe theme, Hammerwatch II feels like a solid throwback to those Nintendo games of days past.
Like with most adventuring games, players are the protagonist and must go on a long journey full of quests, enemies, and dialogue. There are five classes to choose from: Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Wizard, and Warlock. Each with their own distinct skills and strengths that is later expanded with their specific skill tree. Playing solo in an adventure RPG is fine and dandy, but with Hammerwatch II, the multiplayer is a definite boon. The larger the party, the faster players can beatdown their foes and finish those quests. There’s no ability to fast travel within the game and when you have 8-10 quests and a huge map to cover, an extra helping hand can make all the difference.
Along with no fast travel, there are other small aspects to Hammerwatch II that could be improved. For starters, the map overlay is stationary and cannot be moved or shifted around. Only a limited portion of the map can be seen at a time, regardless of how explored the map is. There’s not a way to zoom in or out on the map. In fact, there’s not a way to zoom in closer to examine details within the game at all. This makes it a challenge to find and differentiate objects. Especially if items blend into the environment too well. With all these inconvenient elements layered together, it makes looting and exploring a tedious task. Even after walking throughout an entire map, fighting for hours in caves, the items dropped don’t feel worth the time to collect.
It’s not necessary to have played the first Hammerwatch or any of the other games in this series to appreciate Hammerwatch II. However, jumping right into this game felt like being thrown into the middle of a reality TV show. Yes, you can adjust and pick up the generally gist, but you feel like you’re also missing some important context that would help you appreciate everything happening. This game has potential, but it’s not for beginners. This isn’t to say it’s difficult to play, instead it’s more like a an acquired taste to enjoy everything it can offer.
PROS: Fun pixelated style with matching theme and music. Multiplayer.
CONS: Completing quests and exploring takes too long due to sizes of the map and the inability for fast travel.
Hammerwatch II is available for PC via Steam.
Related: Reviews by Vivian Chen
Video games have always been a huge influence in my life and have definitely shaped me to who I am today . Some of my best memories growing up were the many adventures and stories I was able to experience and become immersed in. If my hands aren't either covered in clay, typing, editing, creating, or helping shoving food in my mouth, they would either be gripped to a controller, tapping away at the screen of my phone, or clicking away on my PC. I am always up for trying something new because why live just one life when you can live many.
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