After being dragged out of my early game-reviewing retirement, I couldn’t have asked for a better comeback than Heroes of Hammerwatch II. For those who don’t know me (I’m guessing that’s a lot of you!), many moons ago I was an Editor at Gamereactor UK. Now, I’ve picked back up the pen and reunited with my former colleague and good friend Mike to write about some fun and addictive roguelikes.
Oh, anyway, so back to Heroes of Hammerwatch II. This roguelite action-RPG combines town-building, deep customisation, and – of course – permadeath, to create one of the most addictive gameplay loops I’ve encountered in recent memory. It’s out now on Steam, and I’m clearly not alone in my praise, as it’s already found a dedicated audience of thousands of players on Steam.
What is Heroes of Hammerwatch II?
The main gameplay loop of Heroes of Hammerwatch II should be familiar to anyone with even limited experience of roguelikes. Playing as one of seven unique character classes (Paladin, Warrior, Rogue, Ranger, Warlock, Sorcerer, or Wizard), you embark on an adventure across a series of randomly generated dungeons, collecting power-ups and trinkets along the way to boost your chances of survival.
As a die-hard fan of melee-focused games like Souls-likes, I opted for the Warrior class and stuck with it for the bulk of my playthrough. Each class here has its strengths and weaknesses, but your choice becomes especially important in online sessions (we’ll get into that more later). Having a Paladin for healing was a must, along with a Warlock for powerful close-quarters attacks and a Wizard for ranged spells. An appreciated touch is that you can re-spec your character’s skills at any point, allowing you to undo any hasty decisions.
Each dungeon gets progressively more difficult and you’ll need to gather materials along the way to upgrade your town for permanent upgrades. Buildings like the Blacksmith let you craft stronger weapons and armor, while the Hunter’s Cabin allows you to harvest resources from slain enemies, which can be sold for extra gold. Watching your town expand after each run really scratches a satisfying itch and it takes the sting out of the repeated permadeath. By leveling up my character, equipping stronger gear, and purchasing additional potions, it also made me hungry for each new run, as each time I felt progressively stronger.
Another addictive quality of Heroes of Hammerwatch II is how each run feels dramatically different. As mentioned earlier, each dungeon is completely randomised, from enemy placement to temporary buffs and stat-altering trinkets found in chests. There’s also a risk-and-reward element, where you’re constantly faced with the difficult choice of whether to press on with your journey or challenge hordes of enemies for tempting upgrades.
A potato PC’s dream
Despite being primarily a console player, I found the PC controls to be intuitive, with left-click used for primary attacks, right-click for blocking, and the number keys to summon spells. And for those rocking a potato PC (myself included), you’ll be pleased to know the system requirements are pretty lenient. The game’s SNES-inspired pixelated visuals looked wonderfully crisp on my aging laptop and the only frame-rate dips I encountered occurred during large-scale battles in later dungeons while playing in multiplayer.
Cooperative fun, with some hiccups
Whilst single player was a blast, the online experience I found to be a bit of a mixed bag. On the plus side, playing as a group of up to four players makes it significantly easier to gather resources, making runs feel much less repetitive. Clearing dungeons with a group of real-world players was much more efficient than braving it alone or relying on the often dimwitted AI allies. Group runs were often where I made the most progress, and fortunately, the servers at the time of writing are healthily populated.
When it came to setting up a private game though, we repeatedly ran into loading issues. In the end, we had to set up a public game and manually join each other from the available games list. From a quick scan of Reddit, this doesn’t appear to be a widely reported issue, but we did find it frustrating having to continually set up new matches.
The other major hiccup encountered when it comes to online play is difficulty scaling. When playing as a group, the difficulty appears to scale to the player with the highest level. This led to some tedium during later dungeons, where I was constantly watching the action as a spectator as the difficulty ramped too quickly to keep up. On the flip side, it probably wasn’t a lot of fun for the other player too, having to keep pausing to save us from an early grave.
The verdict
Heroes of Hammerwatch II offers a compelling mix of rogue-lite action, town-building, and character progression. The randomised dungeons, varied character classes, and rewarding upgrades make for an addictive gameplay loop. The intuitive controls and lenient system requirements make it accessible, even for those with older PCs.
While the multiplayer experience has its issues, particularly with private matches and difficulty scaling, it doesn’t detract from the core fun. Whether you prefer solo runs or teaming up with friends, Heroes of Hammerwatch II is a fantastic RPG experience worth diving into.
Heroes of Hammerwatch II is out now on PC via Steam. Thank you to Crackshell for providing us with a code for review.
