Collect forth, mighty heroes, for there’s a world to be saved. Evil dragons are lording over humanity whereas a necromancer has usurped his brother’s throne. We want adventurers with nice ability and energy to combat via dungeons and battle monsters to provide the world a spark of hope. Additionally, we actually want somebody to gather ten flowers for us and a toddler has misplaced their horse doll and their mother and father couldn’t probably deal with such a job.
That’s the crux of Hammerwatch II. Epic adventures are combined with probably the most mundane and trivial duties, every given the identical weight and function by the barely-there narrative. The sequel picks up moments after the ultimate boss of 2013’s Hammerwatch. The hero has slain one of many three dragons which can be ravaging the world and should return to the king for a brand new project. Regardless of pulling off such a formidable feat, it doesn’t really feel just like the world really cares.
Apart from the odd villager commenting that they didn’t suppose they’d see you once more after you entered Citadel Hammerwatch within the first recreation, the world at giant appears unbothered, which undermines any impression that you just’d get from the narrative. It’s arduous to make your gamers care in regards to the plot or the world when the individuals in it don’t appear to. Even the king, who despatched you on the search within the first place, doesn’t supply something greater than a light acknowledgement that you just’ve introduced him one step nearer to reclaiming his throne.
It’s an unlucky alternative as a result of the motion RPG mechanics that made the primary recreation so enjoyable are nonetheless right here. You decide considered one of 5 lessons, all of that are fantasy fiction requirements – Wizards, Rogues, Paladins, Rangers, and Warlocks. We experimented with a number of of them in our time with the sport and located that they play in a different way sufficient to really feel distinct however by no means fairly sufficient to warrant enjoying via a number of occasions.
Every has a ranged assault that requires both stamina or mana, plus a melee assault that may be carried out at will. In addition they get new particular assaults as they stage up, a few of that are visually attention-grabbing however in the end don’t really feel overwhelming when in comparison with the continually rising energy scale. You utilize the left stick to maneuver across the display screen and the fitting persist with goal, which isn’t groundbreaking for the style however nonetheless serviceable and enjoyable. There’s a respectable number of enemies to interact and a few well-designed boss fights, however points pop up whenever you delve into dungeons to search out them.
Lots of the dungeons have the identical primary design philosophy with a color swap on each the backgrounds and the enemies. It makes it considerably uninteresting to wade via, particularly when you’ll have to achieve this a number of occasions, each as a result of every space has a number of quests tied to it and since you’re going to die repeatedly. Loss of life prices you 20% of your gold every time, making it a irritating however not insurmountable hurdle to beat.
Fight is enjoyable and chaotic, however there are a handful of technical points to navigate whenever you’re not mowing via enemies. Every time you head into a brand new part, there’s a important loading display screen, plus significantly crowded dungeons will often trigger a drop in body fee. Probably the most irritating side, although, is attempting to navigate the menus when altering tools or levelling up. Shifting the cursor with any precision is almost not possible, which makes all the pieces take a bit longer than it ought to, a damning challenge when a lot of the sport is constructed round upgrading your tools to tackle new and extra lethal opponents.
Multiplayer is online-only (although native co-op was ultimately added to the primary recreation so it could be on the event timeline for the sequel). Like in Hammerwatch, you may regulate points of the sport like how a lot gold or tools you lose whenever you die or how troublesome the monsters are, however the truth that it’s on-line solely was an enormous disappointment. Sofa co-op may make this an important get together recreation.
If you may get previous Hammerwatch II’s shortcomings, there may be loads of recreation right here to get caught into. The beginning space alone will in all probability take you two or three hours to finish whereas the story itself will take round 30 hours relying on how typically you die. There’s little or no path given by the narrative, although, so you’ll often wander into a brand new space with a sudden and lethal issue spike. In case you take pleasure in a recreation the place you’ll spend a few hours grinding for each gold and expertise earlier than you’re able to sort out the following space, Hammerwatch II offers you a very good serving to of that.
The visuals do an honest job of capturing the old-school vibe that developer Crackshell goes for, however the imprecise shading makes it troublesome to inform an insurmountable cliff from a set of stairs. That is made much more troublesome whenever you’re on the overworld being chased by large wasps within the rain, one thing that occurred to us extra typically than we’d care to confess. Particularly in handheld mode, it was nigh not possible to see the delicate cracks within the partitions that signalled a secret path because of the poor lighting in areas.
The fight is certainly the saving grace of Hammerwatch II, however the lack of a compelling narrative and a irritating menu design makes it troublesome to suggest with out some severe caveats. The technical shortcomings and lack of native co-op don’t do it any favours both, however should you’re in search of an enormous recreation that provides loads of grinding earlier than you may sort out a brand new problem, this might be a strong journey to dive into.
Conclusion
Hammerwatch II picks up proper the place the primary recreation left off however its narrative and technical shortcomings make it really feel just like the tough draft of a fantasy epic fairly than the ultimate model. The open world is large enough to get misplaced in for hours at a time and you’ll die repeatedly whereas doing so. Nonetheless, should you want a recreation to do a little bit of senseless grinding in, the fight is enjoyable and simple to select up, which retains this sequel from being an entire disappointment.