Diablo IV has been a fairly surprising success (given everyone’s low expectations of Blizzard these days), and it’s likely to be the dominant ARPG for the foreseeable future. But for those of you who don’t want to track Helltide timers and worry about battle passes -–- or if charming pixel graphics are more your thing -–- you may want to keep an eye on Hammerwatch II. It comes courtesy of Swedish developer Crackshell, creators of both Hammerwatch and Serious Sam’s Bogus Detour. (Crackshell also has a hilariously bad website that we hope is an intentional homage to late 90s Geocities).
Hammerwatch II is another title in the top-down, pixel-art mold that their previous efforts utilized, but with significantly expanded scope: while Hammerwatch was a 4-act dungeon crawler, the sequel features an open-world, complete with dynamic weather and a day/night cycle (including the always-fun mechanic of having to wait until day to interact with the town’s NPCs). These weather patterns are surprisingly detailed, ranging from rain that legitimately obscures the screen to pleasantly pink, foggy mornings.
Makes you wanna take off your helm and smell the flowers
The game’s dungeons and landscapes have also received a lot of attention, with landscapes that feel lush and alive, and dungeons full of details -–- although it can sometimes be a little hard to figure out what’s a path and what’s impassable terrain at first. Plenty of what you see can be collected (like the red flowers and the mushrooms in the image above); folks who loved wandering the countryside picking flowers in Skyrim will feel right at home in Hammerwatch II’s forests.
This is important, because if the preview we played is anything to go by, you’ll be doing a fair bit of wandering, and without Skyrim’s ever-present quest cmpass to guide you. In Hammerwatch II, the quest log is often all you have to guide you to the cave or pirate hideout in question. While trekking, you’ll run into enemies that seem to respawn fairly often, and their strength is dependent on the region rather than your character’s level. Wander into an area you aren’t ready for, and you’ll find yourself dead in short order, and a few gold poorer upon respawn.
Thanks Ruth, very helpful
Combat isn’t particularly complex, but it can be challenging if you aren’t careful -–- playing as the frontline Paladin, I died a number of times while exploring the small island the preview restricted us to, leaving my ranged Ranger partner to kite the remaining foes or perish. The characters we played were straightforward archetypes, but ones that were satisfying when played together (Rogue, Wizard, and Warlock round out the five character options). If you played the original Hammerwatch, combat should feel familiar -–- local co-op is sadly gone, but this is likely due to the new UI (which helpfully displays stuff like HP and Stamina in huge bars on either side of the screen) and the fact that you need to be able to go into your character menu fairly often.
It’s unlikely the gameplay will be a revelation to anyone, but it’s also unlikely that fans of the original won’t find more to enjoy with Hammerwatch II. The way co-op is handled is excellent, and should make this title a great choice for anyone looking to explore the kingdom of Herian with (1-3) friends. No release date has been announced as yet, but the game is slated to arrive in 2023, and it’s available to wishlist now on Steam.
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DanielD
Unabashed FromSoftware fanboy still learning to take his time with games (and everything else, really). The time he doesn't spend on games is spent on music, books, or occasionally going outside.
