Hammerting

Played all day for 2 days and there are so many bugs I am pulling my hair out. I play a lot of video games of this genre, and it is so buggy I cant even play it anymore. I am so tired of these broken games being allowed to be sold. It seems like it could have been one of those games you play forever, but unfortunately, the game bugs out once your heavily invested. I have started over 3 times with hours invested and get stuck at the same points. Shame on you steam for allowing slop to be sold.

I see people complaining about endgame, and I have no idea what that's like, but as it sits at 90% off for only €2, I think it's a very good deal. Interface could be better, but is workable. It's interesting enough to entertain me for probably quite a few hours yet to go. If you like stuff like Fallout Shelter, this is for you. Thumbs up, with the caveat that it probably isn't worth the full price but for two bucks, heck yeah.

Hammerting is an ambitious dwarven colony simulator that mixes deep crafting systems, vertical base-building, and resource-driven progression into a sprawling underground world that constantly shifts between discovery and crisis. Developed by Warpzone Studios and published by Team17 Digital, the game places you at the helm of a fledgling mining outpost carved into the side of a colossal mountain. Your dwarves begin with little more than rudimentary tools and a few torches, and from there the experience grows into a complex interplay of production lines, subterranean exploration, and logistical problem-solving. The sense of early expansion is undeniably captivating: each swing of a pickaxe reveals new pockets of stone, hidden caverns, rare minerals, and opportunities to expand your growing dwarven stronghold into something intricate and impressively layered. What makes Hammerting stand out initially is its unique approach to base construction. Instead of a traditional horizontal map, the world stretches downward, requiring players to think vertically—building shafts, lifts, ladders, and rail systems to help dwarves traverse deeper and deeper into the mountain. As new ores are discovered, the crafting possibilities expand, allowing you to forge weapons, produce advanced alloys, brew potions, or fabricate complex machinery. Slowly, rooms begin to fill the mountain: forges glow red, breweries bubble, farms sprout in artificially lit caverns, and smelting operations rumble through stone corridors. The satisfaction of watching your dwarven industry evolve into a living machine—complete with bustling workers, automated routes, and interconnected production hubs—is one of the game’s strongest appeals. For players who enjoy games about optimizing workflows and orchestrating sprawling craft chains, Hammerting offers a rich sandbox. Yet this complexity comes at a cost. The deeper you progress, the more the cracks in the game’s systems begin to reveal themselves. Dwarves, despite their hardy nature, do not always behave predictably. Their AI frequently struggles with prioritization and pathfinding, causing them to idle inexplicably, wander into danger, or ignore tasks that seem urgent or obvious. What should be a smooth logistical network sometimes devolves into micromanagement as you attempt to force dwarves to pick up resources, deliver goods, or complete construction tasks they’ve decided to avoid. As the colony grows, so does this friction, occasionally turning what should be a graceful dwarven machine into a disorganized workforce prone to inefficiencies. Another area where Hammerting strives for depth but falls short is its overworld system. The game hints at a larger conflict on the surface—a war that your dwarves indirectly support through crafting, trading, and fulfilling faction requests. Although this concept has potential, it feels underdeveloped in execution. The deliveries and faction missions often lack meaningful progression or strategic impact, reducing what could have been a dynamic external pressure into a series of detached chores. As a result, most of the emotional and mechanical investment falls squarely on the underground colony itself, leaving the overworld as little more than a thematic backdrop rather than an engaging outside front. Visually, Hammerting has moments of charm. The contrast between rough, untouched stone and the warm glow of torch-lit workshops lends the mountain a sense of life and transformation. Watching your handcrafted settlement stretch across multiple layers—bridges spanning chasms, lava-lit caverns humming with industry, high-altitude farms producing mushrooms and vines—carries a strong sense of dwarven identity. The deeper you dig, the more diverse and dangerous the environments become, occasionally revealing vast chambers, hostile creatures, and rare materials that renew the thrill of discovery. This ebb and flow between routine production and unexpected exploration gives the game an appealing rhythm, even if its systems sometimes struggle to keep up. However, Hammerting’s learning curve can be steep. New players, especially those unfamiliar with colony-management titles, may find themselves overwhelmed by the sheer number of systems at play and the lack of thorough onboarding. Tutorials offer a basic introduction but leave many details unexplained, requiring players to piece together the logic of the game through trial and error. Understanding resource flow, prioritization, production bottlenecks, and transportation efficiency becomes essential, and until these frameworks click, the experience can feel confusing—and occasionally frustrating. In the end, Hammerting is a game defined by both ambition and uneven execution. At its best, it is a sprawling dwarven engineering playground where creativity and optimization intertwine beautifully. Watching an intricate, multi-level colony run smoothly is immensely satisfying, and the game offers countless hours of tinkering for players who love complex management challenges. At its worst, however, it struggles under the weight of its own systems, with inconsistent AI, underdeveloped mechanics, and micromanagement requirements that can sap momentum. It remains a compelling but flawed gem—brimming with ideas, rich in atmosphere, and rewarding in moments, yet constantly in need of refinement to reach the full potential of its dwarven vision. Rating: 6/10

Amazing game concept for a Mountain Dwarf themed City-Sim, but unfortunately unpolished and abandoned by the devs back in early 2022. I've listed a few pros, cons, and mids below from my personal opinion and experience. If the devs ever do decide to come back to work on the game, I would probably be likely to revise my review and recommend the game but that's frankly doubtful. If it's on sale for like $5 or less, it's worth a try, but almost definitely not at full price in its current state. Pros: I find the exploration via expansion pretty cool especially since it's seed based, so it's either random and new every time, or if you fail, you can try the same one again to see if you do better. The enemies found within the mountain are varied and interesting and can be challenging if unprepared. Very good visuals for a 2D-ish game of this genre in my opinion Challenging start, but once you get the groove it can be hard to be brought down. Automation in mid-late game is very handy and efficient. Despite being abandoned, still sometimes fun to come back to every once in a while and dig deep and greedily. Mids: Building/crafting systems - are pretty basic even if sometimes annoying. Each building has specific tasks that require specific skillsets and make specific items. Not much to it but once you get far it seems like you need a never ending supply of certain items just to make a few of the end-game items. Task Priority system - Works fairly well most of the time but nothing outside of High, Mid, and Low Priorities. I personally wish there was a way to just set 1 dwarf to a specific area/task without them running off to do anything and everything else that is applicable to that broad skill's task list. Skill Tree System - Helps specialize dwarves to certain skills. Is really good for some skills, but almost seems to require extreme specialization for some tasks due to the quantity of applicable tasks or materials acquired from said tasks, often making you require 3x as many people for the same job which can be difficult, and then later on leads to several people just standing around without available tasks. Unfortunately "Military" is considered a skill and weapons take up an item slot. Makes sense, but really sucks when all of your main fighters die fighting an attack wave and then your remaining people get trapped in the base in an endless cycle of wanting to heal the others but then running away from enemies. In my experience it just seems best to make everyone a fighter, swarm the enemies, and then just let the survivors heal up any fallen afterwards. Equipment - Not the worst but not the best. Some items can be set to auto-equip upgrades, but I'm not sure what constitutes an "upgrade" because I've seen some of my dwarves actively choose something vastly worse than an item I give them. Otherwise rather simple and easy to figure out, but for some stuff that doesn't have an auto-upgrade, it can be annoying to pick out which item you want to go to who as you need to cycle through each character. Cons: Abandoned game - Like I mentioned above this game was abandoned back in 2022. If it was still continuously being improved upon then I'd probably love this game despite its flaws The AI task systems - The dwarves get stuck places very easily and constantly if you aren't careful or paying close attention as they work The overworld war/alliance systems isn't great - If you're at war with an overworld faction, there seems to be no way to genuinely guard the gate or prevent entry of enemies, they just show up in the middle of your base and start breaking things until you kill them. Maybe I'm just dumb but I also haven't found a real way to join an alliance or win the Overworld Victory condition at all. Even if one overworld alliance ends up winning all territories, I have no idea what to do to actually complete that victory condition despite being great friends with all of the remaining factions and having tons of upgraded structures in their cities. Tutorial and Help Page - CAN be helpful in some sections, but downright useless in others. It's kind of just a game that throws you into it and expects you to figure it out as you go. Tech Tree - Not TERRIBLE, but is kind of all over the place and not very intuitive. Other Wishes (In case the devs ever (unlikely) come back to the game): Add some sort of farm building to destroyed enemy areas to be able to keep getting their items without as much risk. For example, the slime areas would be great to have one since the best medicine requires them and it can sometimes become more risk than reward to keep them alive to farm. More comprehensive citizen overview page that shows each dwarf's equipment and inventory in addition to their assigned jobs list. Ability to build squads or select a specific group of your citizens/fighters to send out to fight enemies instead of just adding it as a task and having every single person that knows how to fight try to run to the enemy at the same time.

every time I play this i'm reminded why I stopped. there are so many places where you are just stuck waiting to upgrade things, there is so little quality of life features added, and you can soft lock yourself out of tech due to you not being able to unlock something.

Ich hab knapp 427 Stunden Lebenszeit in dieses Game versenkt. Es hatte das Potential das allergeilste Zwergenminen-Game nach oder sogar neben Dwarf Fortress zu werden (neben weil andere Optik/Ansatz). Aber die Entwickler, entweder freiwillig oder vom Publisher gezwungen haben das Spiel 3/4 fertig fallen gelassen. Das ist eine Schande und echt traurig. Es gibt so viele räudige Spiele in Steam die von nutzlosen Entwickler angefangen, für teuer Geld im EA verhökert und dann verlassen werden, aber Hammerting hatte richtig viel richtig gemacht und schon toll abgeliefert. Sie versprachen: Wir machen es fertig. Haben Sie nicht. Sie versprachen Modsupport: Haben Sie nicht gemacht. Mit Modding hätten wir das letzte Viertel fertig machen können. Mit Modding hätten wir die Geschichten erzählen können von den Zwergen aus Mittelerde, aus Warhammer, aus dem Geborgenen Land, aus Aventurien, aus Faerûn, aus all den Zwergenreichen die wir so lieben. Aber sie haben ihre Versprechen nicht gehalten. Sie sind EIDBRÜCHIGE. Daher: Daumen runter.

still loving this game, even if unfinished