If someone told me they thought the Hammerwatch games were boring, I’d be hard-pressed to argue despite enjoying them so much. The developers Crackshell were inspired by the early Gauntlet games from the mid- to late-’80s (something made obvious the moment you discover a secret level) so Hammerwatch offers up a mix of systematic exploration, switch and key hunts, hundreds of secrets to find, deadly traps to avoid, and chaotic combat against hordes of monsters and damage-sponge bosses – all of which feels much more exciting if you bring a friend or three along for the ride. The game uses a top-down perspective with gorgeous pixel-art and sprite-work, coupled with a catchy “8-bit orchestral” soundtrack from composer-duo Two Feathers that has been stuck in my head for over a decade. On paper, it sounds solid but unlike so many modern games, progression and pacing are rigidly methodical and formulaic, which won’t appeal to everyone.
If I had to pick one argument as to why I love the Hammerwatch IP, it would be that the games feel like the antithesis of modern ARPGs like Diablo III or IV, Path of Exile, and Grim Dawn. All excellent games in their own right, but all with a focus almost entirely on character and gear progression through repetition. Even if they offer epic stories and stylish cinematics, their game worlds are designed for infinite grinding and many use procedural generation. As such, the layout of a dungeon rarely matters, there are few locations that feel unique, and it’s rare you get to make lasting change to the environment despite all your time and effort. In contrast, every campaign in the recently remastered Hammerwatch Anniversary Edition makes learning the level layout essential to finding exits, secret hunting, upgrading your hero, and surviving hordes of monsters and deadly traps.
None of which makes Hammerwatch novel in the traditional sense – just pleasingly anachronistic in contrast to modern games, as it rewards systematically tackling everything on offer and there’s actually a finite amount. You push forward room by room, revealing the dungeon layout and expanding a useful auto-map; you keep an eye out for switches and traps; and you plan how best to kite enemies that’ll shred your health bar in seconds if you end up surrounded. Scattered checkpoints function as save and respawn points; food and potions keep your health and mana topped up; gold is spent on trainers to unlock or improve hero skills; while dozens of secrets range from more gold and accessories to extra lives, and there are even hidden collectibles if you want the “true” ending to some campaigns.
Unlike many other ARPGs in which repetition equates to progression, Hammerwatch doesn’t have respawning monsters and there’s no XP or loot gained from slaying them. Instead, thorough exploration, hoovering up every last piece of gold, and secret hunting is how you improve your hero. Collectible power-ups provide an incremental but permanent buff to your core attributes; weapon upgrades, higher-tier offensive skills, and a bigger mana bar all boost your damage output; while upgrades to your armour level, defensive skills, and health bar make you more resilient. The more you explore and the more enemies you clear out, the easier it is to backtrack through sprawling levels on the hunt for the secrets and gold you need to become more powerful. Finding every power-up and upgrading everything is not essential, but also can’t grind endless trash mobs if you’re having difficulty with a boss encounter.
Played from a top-down perspective, with twin-stick-style controls and only a handful of abilities to consider per class, Hammerwatch is simple to pick up and the on-screen action is typically easy to follow – useful in a game where mobility and a bit of strategy also count for a lot. However, with the prospect of limited lives, the risk of stumbling into insta-kill traps, and tough boss encounters that can feel like bullet-hell shooters, it remains a challenging game irrespective of your chosen difficulty – at least if you stick to the default settings. Hammerwatch Anniversary Edition offers a short but useful list of modifiers, independent of difficulty, that you can pick from before starting a campaign. For new players (or those with an inexperienced co-op companion) infinite lives or bonus life pick-ups let you to focus on exploration and secret hunting with reduced risk. For wizards and warriors alike, buffs to health and mana regeneration can keep them in the fight without the need to backtrack for consumables.
At this point, it’s worth wrapping up by discussing why I’m highlighting the more recent (and pricier) Hammerwatch Anniversary Edition, instead of the original release I first played a decade ago. Part of the that is simply to support the developer and hope profits eventually go to a console port of Serious Sam’s Bogus Detour (the best Serious Sam game since the original pair), but I also thought it would be useful given the developer’s website and storefront listings are surprisingly low on detail and initially put me off picking it up until it was suitably discounted. First up, the remastering effort is excellent – just in sense it looks like you might remember it. Go back and take a look at the original however, and the improvements to the artwork, sprites, atmospheric effects, auto-map, and control scheme are obvious and much needed.
From a gameplay perspective, you have updated introductions and conclusions for each campaign that tie into the larger narrative introduced in Hammerwatch II; you have access to all seven classes with new customisation options and some nice situational voice lines; and there’s a simple tiered accessory system that add a little more diversity to character builds – though you can only carry one at a time. Most significant for returning players is the substantial “Shaftlocke Tower” campaign, which remasters assets from the rogue-like Heroes of Hammerwatch, and turns them into a traditional campaign even longer than the length of the original, packed with an expanding hub, more intricate levels, tougher combat encounters, more bosses, and more secrets. The only downside is that, if like me, you first replay the original Castle Hammerwatch and brisk Temple of the Sun campaigns back-to-back, Shaftlocke Tower can push that formulaic structure to breaking point.
Wrapping up, despite the higher price point and the reworked “more of the same” approach to the new campaign, I’d still recommend Hammerwatch Anniversary Edition to existing fans, those that wanted a traditional campaign from Heroes of Hammerwatch, and as the best starting point for new players, whether on PC or any of the consoles – even if it took a few patches to get to the “definitive” experience. It’s not for everyone and fans of modern ARPGs might find it too dull – but if you get a kick out of systematically clearing dungeons, room by room, floor by floor, and hunting for secrets, Hammerwatch Anniversary Edition offers a lot of quality content and an indie price point.
Hammerwatch Anniversary Edition was played on Nintendo Switch. It is also available on PC, Xbox One/Series S|X, and PS4/5.
