A good son makes the house 

Getting early access to Hammerwatch 2 and being able to write this review is something that makes me very happy. Hammerwatch was one of the games that marked my childhood, probably my first dungeon crawler, and one of the games responsible for improving the bonds I was forming with friends I made at the time and still have today. 

The story of the game begins after the events of the first game. Continuing the story, after defeating the dragon, the Hammerwatch castle begins to crumble, so the gameplay begins in the basement of the castle, where you must defeat some enemies and destroy obstacles so that you can get out of that place before everything collapses. 



And after escaping the rubble, you must take the boat you used to get to the island and return to the king, but some obstacles still prevent you from leaving, so the player must solve these problems through quests offered by the island's NPCs. 

And from the very first moment, I was completely invaded by the absurd feeling of nostalgia of getting a taste of Hammerwatch again, even more so because at the first moment I played the game with my friend Grezend, who was one of the friends who played the first title 10 years ago. 

But don't be fooled into thinking that I seem to like the game just for nostalgia; it still manages to convey the same fun I had playing the first game.   has all the good elements of the first title with some new features and improvements. 



Because something I didn't do when I was younger was play the single-player mode of Hammerwatch, this time I played a good few hours of the game's campaign on my own, and I had a lot of fun. The game is still very fluid and simple, and even though the gameplay is practically identical to the first game, you could say that it has aged like wine. 

And the game has many improvements, both graphically and in terms of gameplay, upgrades, skills, map mechanics, and many other things. As I said, the game is very similar in terms of quality, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have some nice surprises.

Magic mayhem

As I said earlier, the game has some new mechanics that are very interesting, such as the new item crafting system and the cooking system that allows you to make new meals using looted items and get better buffs and cures. 

There is also a new system in the game where day and night influence the map; for example, some NPCs only appear or are available depending on the time of day; most of them in the village go to sleep and are unavailable during the night, so the game has implemented an inn system where you can go there, pay an amount in gold, and sleep until the desired time. 



Another thing that changes a lot is the weather. I haven't noticed any changes that it causes directly in the gameplay, like the day and night system, but it ends up changing the aesthetics of the map a lot. One moment the day is sunny and the colors are bright, the next it's raining and the map is dark. These changes interfere directly with the color palette of the environments, something that makes the game much more alive. 

As for the classes, there haven't been any major changes; currently, we have available: Ranger, Rogue, Paladin, Warlock, and Wizard, something very similar to some of those that appeared in the first game, but we can expect that over time the developers will end up releasing more content for the game and with it new classes, just as they did with the first title. 



And still on the subject of classes, we've had a significant upgrade in the skills system, where as well as being able to unlock new skills, you can also improve the ones you already have, making them more powerful or with additional characteristics. For example, if I played as a rogue, I could make the auto attack stronger or apply the bleeding passive, depending on what I chose to evolve. 

And my favorite novelty, the new minigame that the game has, was a very nice surprise. While we were exploring a dungeon, we came across an NPC in a different little room, and when we spoke to him, he invited us to play a game worth betting money, where you can choose how much you want to bet with him and how much "interest" it would generate for you if you beat him. 



This game consists of a kind of naval battle; each player has a castle with 100 HP, so through cards that we receive at random, we can place walls and cannons, heal our main structure, destroy enemy walls, and fire cannons. It's very simple but quite fun; whoever manages to zero the enemy castle's life first wins. 

I imagine that there must be several NPCs scattered around the game willing to play a game of this minigame with you, something that is very cool and that many games use to create a more lively atmosphere for the game, and which also takes the player's attention away from the main objective of relaxing with a quick game. It's a strategy that many games use, such as The Witcher 3 and Black Desert Online, both of which are RPGs, as well as Hammerwatch II.

Monsters, and... Cars? 

The title may sound a bit strange, but believe me, it's not. The most significant part of the Hammerwatch II project was the new system they implemented because it turned out to be not just a game but a complete engine that allows modders to do the most insane things imaginable. 

The game's mod system is very complete; you can see simple and expected games like tower defense, something we saw a lot in Warcraft III mods, for example, but which was a bit limited at the time because those who developed the maps could only use what the game offered in the base game with some creative liberties, while Hammerwatch II goes further. 

When I said cars, I wasn't referring to some animal of transportation, like a cart or a boat; I meant cars. The game's mods allow you to play a racing game inside it, so imagine: if this is possible in a medieval RPG, what limits and possibilities will be explored? 



Something that also came as a surprise to me was the graphics. I already thought the graphics in the previous games were sensational; it was already very impressive pixel art, but they've managed to improve even more, with even greater attention to detail, especially the animations.

Still, on the subject of graphics, it's not just the details that have improved a lot, but as I said, the animations, which are now present in many parts of the map and scenery, allow you to see movement in the plants and trees as if they were being touched by the viewer, the movement of the waves in the sea, and the fish in the lakes, something that is essential for creating a more organic and lively environment. 

As for the effects system and soundtrack, they haven't undergone any major changes; they're new tracks, but I didn't notice much difference from the quality of the first game. But it's not because I didn't notice any significant changes that it means anything bad because the audio quality of the first game is excellent. 



The only aspect that I think is a little negative is the difficulty of the game. In the first few hours of gameplay, it seemed much easier than the previous one, but I believe that this is something that progresses later on in the game, but during the time I played it, there was no noticeable increase in difficulty to the point of it being a major problem. 

Therefore, I believe we can conclude that Hammerwatch II is a great game and an incredible experience, both for those who are already fans of RPGs, especially those who like the pixel art graphic style, which is extremely characteristic, and also for those who want to get started in this world, as it is a simple game, relatively easy to learn, and extremely fun. 

For this review, Hammerwatch II was played on PC via Steam. 

We would like to thank Modus Games for sending us the access key in advance and making this review possible.