Video Game Review: Heroes of Hammerwatch

Heroes of Hammerwatch Review

Crackshell

Action Adventure

Nintendo Switch

Glittering gold litters the ground. Caverns teeming with monsters. And for the explorer who braves them all, glory awaits. This is the introduction to Heroes of Hammerwatch.

When you start up Heroes of Hammerwatch, you create a character from one of the available classes. Afterward, you’ll gain access to the main game where you begin by exploring the mines at the behest of the locals. In the mines, you’ll come across the two main sources of currency in Hammerwatch’s world: gold and ore. Both are littered throughout the randomly generated dungeons, caves, and floors. You’ll hack and slash your way through enemies as you loot the floors, working your way up to the top. There are many levels, from the dank and musty mines to the battlements high up in the sky. 

As you progress, you’ll discover new enemies and face treacherous boss battles that block the passage between major areas. While each floor has a few distinct enemies that bring out different elements of challenge, the bosses are where the game steps up its difficulty quite a bit. These bosses can be a major hurdle the first time you fight them but as you learn their abilities, you’ll find that they have a rhythm of their own in the battle. 

After you’ve successfully climbed your way to the top of the tower, the game will give you access to New Game Plus. This new difficulty will provide many enemies with increased stats as well as giving new abilities to a few. There’s no limit to the max amount of New Game Plus levels that you can attain, it’s only limited by the time that you want to place in the game.

The art style is a loving tribute to the 16 bit days of old. The foes are colorful and recognizable, though there’s only a few truly different types of enemies to encounter. In addition to being bright and interesting, the art style helps to make projectiles and enemies stand out from the different backgrounds. However, there can be an overload of visual effects when you enter certain areas, leading to potential frustration when you die from a projectile that snuck behind an enemy that you didn’t see.

The music in Heroes of Hammerwatch is good, with a different track for each area. Each helps to provide a unique ambiance for each area. The sound effects are clear and provide excellent feedback when you take actions in the game. Each weapon has different sounds with some meatier effects for critical hits. There’s also unique sounds for the skills when they activate. There are very few voices throughout the experience. Instead, there’s a heavy focus on enemy sounds and responsive audio when actions are taken in gameplay.

Heroes of Hammerwatch is a deeply engrossing game that can drag you into a playthrough that lasts longer than you’d expect. A single hour can span into multiple as you grind for that perfect run to help talk you to the top. The art style is fun and the sounds are enjoyable. However, some people may be turned off by the fact that there’s no real conclusion to the game. After your first completed run, there’s really just completing the game on higher and higher levels of New Game Plus. Despite that, the gameplay loop is fun and with multiple classes to experiment with, there’s plenty to enjoy in Heroes of Hammerwatch.

Edited by Joe Barbieri