Hammerwatch II

From the few hours I played the game isn't bad. It lacked the fun exploration of Hammerwatch 1 and felt watered down by having content spread so far out. But the primary reason I don't recommend it is having quests tied to total play time. I understand timed quest after accepting them, I understand narrative "points of no return" that auto-fail quests, and I understand having aspects of the game tied to day/night cycles. All of those can make for fun games, and I think sometimes it can even be neat when choosing one quest locks another. But this game ties quest failure to *total play time*. So if you take your time, exploring all of the okay side content they have, you will arrive in later areas to no quests available, having failed them all due to taking too long. Absolutely terrible and bonkers design, literally making a game that punishes you for having fun in it.

Honestly, I hesitated to try this game solely because of the reviews, but it is a ton of fun IF you like the structure of the game (different than Hammerwatch I). If you enjoyed the original for it's combat and dungeon crawling, it has that, but it's much more like Diablo I & II in it's progression and challenge level. It has towns and vendors, loot with affixs and rarity, character customization (your Class & appearance) and progression with Levels, Attribute Points, and Skill Points, with choices in what Spells/Abilities you spec into. You do have to engage your brain and think about where to go and what to do (aided by a decent enough Quest Journal) and the mini-map fog of war is removed as you explore in "Persistent Mode" to help you know where you have and haven't been. So if you want a game to just mindlessly crush enemies down a mostly linear path like in Diablo III & IV, this is not the right choice. Multiplayer works great (so far at least) when my brother hosts the game but, when I'm hosting, he started dropping out during map transitions (in/out of dungeons) and we're not sure why. Tried many "fixes" and to no avail, so be cognizant of that. This game is what I hoped Hammerwatch I was going to be (though I still enjoyed the original), so I was super happy that I got it and I'm excited to play more! Hopefully this helps others decide for themselves if it's the right fit, and to not be afraid of the reviews.

Hammerwatch 2 is not a bad game but it has a disrespectful amount of timewasting. Be ready to sift through hundreds of journal entries to read where to go, or which NPC to talk to, because the game doesn't explain anything (even for main quests). In HW1 NPCs had unique icons based on what they sell, in HW2 it's just a $ icon - hope you can remember what they sell because the game won't tell you! The map can't be zoomed out and quests aren't displayed until you're close to the relevant NPC so you'll just wander round like a headless chicken half the time. There's too much backtracking between copy/paste side areas, fighting the same enemies, and getting nothing to show for it. The loot is abysmal. Side quests aren't worth doing as you can grind more XP by killing mobs in less time than it takes to do the quest, and they're TIED TO PLAYTIME so you can fail by exploring the map. For example you need to gather 10 grapes, you find 5, then rest at the inn to respawn the collection point - quest failed, you took too long. But I literally couldn't get more grapes without resting?? If you buy/own this I would recommend ONLY playing the main quests and skip any side content. It's genuinely not worth the time.

This review is from the perspective of the Wizard Class(My favourite Hammerwatch class) on Serious mode(Hardest difficulty). After finishing the first Hammerwatch Game, I was eager to give this a go. I cannot however recommend it. I finished Hammerwatch on Serious mode and despite the difficulty, it never felt unfair. Hammerwatch 2 however, is a slog to get through. There is a distinct lack of reward for exploration (The odd chest here or there if you're lucky) and if you venture off even slightly under levelled, you'll be torn to shreds, sent back a long walk away to the nearest town and lose 60% of your current gold. This makes the 'Open World' feel like very linear experience and the lack of damage dealing capabilities against large health pools, makes the combat rather tedious. No more are you getting combos and shredding through foes as you dodge and weave their attacks. Instead, you'll be constantly retreating, taking pot shots around corners to avoid getting one-shot by the 3 archers, 4 soldiers and Wizard chasing you. Currently stuck on the Thieves tower, where the boss is doing so much(and me so little) damage, that i'm not sure I can be bothered to spend the hours grinding a win.

The idea of this game is great, but the execution is horrible. 1. The controls are abyssmal. Game is not optimized for controller at all. Everytiing is annoying. input is sluggish, and if you happen to press the wrong combination of buttons, the skill wheel might pop up in the middle of a battle, and you die. If you want to attack with your tome (wizard) instead of your wand.. sometimes nothing happens when you press the assigned button. managing your inventory is annoyingly tedious. 2. most monsters take Way too long to kill. It gets really booring. And on top of that, everyrhing respawns all the time. Going back to previous locations normally means killing everything yet again... new killing grind. 3. Game is more annoying than fun. I would really love to see a game in this exact style done right. It's got some nice RPG elements mixed in with the usual hack n slash.. 4. There are way too much walking, Some levels are way to big and repetetive .. it gets boring. map should also have been zoomable.. but it's not. minimap would also have been nice. Don't get this game unless its part of some cheap bundle.

One of my favorite games in recent times. Very very fun indie game with tons of replay value (in terms of what class you play) and super fun to play with a group of friends. Can be a little buggy at times but still very fun, 9/10

Loved the first game, even enjoyed heroes of hammerwatch, but this? An abandoned downgrade. Avoid it.

Its so good. Its really too bad more people don't play this game.

Always been a fan of Hammerwatch and Heroes of Hammerwatch. I also love RPGs. This game is both! I like the continuation of the story. I always wondered how the story would turn out after playing Hammerwatch, playing this made the story feel truly fulfilled. Storywise and Franchisewise 10/10. The game mechanics obviously aren´t a Hack and Slash, Dungeon Crawler, Roguelike/Roguelite. Which is fine to me, as the RPG mechanics replaced those. The gameplay is still really fun though, as you have to figure out your own build. Gameplay 10/10. And the music is top tier as every other Hammerwatch game. I listen to this in my free time. Music 10/10.

E' completamente diverso dal primo. Se non hai giocato il primo, allora meglio che giochi ad altro. Se hai già giocato al primo, allora meglio che giochi ad altro.