I remember first seeing Hammerwatch when it made its debut on Steam and being immediately drawn in by its scenes of hordes of monsters and its pixel aesthetics. Say what you will about pixel graphics, I still think they hold up a timeless charm. Speaking of timeless charm, the game was inspired by the 1980s Gauntlet series and also contains elements from Diablo as well. Hammerwatch offers several hours of co-op or single player dungeon crawling hack-and-slash as players scour the levels for loot and secrets accompanied by an energizing (at times a little repetitive) soundtrack.
The co-op experience offers its own server hosting and supports up to four players with six classic fantasy archetypes for players to play as: Paladin, Wizard, Ranger, Warlock, Thief, and Priest. Starting out with only two abilities, players will smash through lines of enemies together and picking up coins and various upgrades, which include new and powerful abilities, increased speed, more damage, etc. There are no skill trees or level ups for players to advance through; shops and vendors in the game sell upgrades to players in a Diablo fashion with several stores hidden away in secret rooms.
insert 1 coin = 600 life. microtransactions!
As your party weaves in and out of terrifying traps, hordes of monsters, locating keys and opening doors, you may come across several hidden switches or cryptic puzzles. Secrets are an essential component of Hammerwatch as they can provide a great gold boost or a means forward. False walls, hidden switches, and mysterious sequences dot the map for players to find. Despite its dungeon crawling genre and appearances, the game is not procedurally generated; map layouts are constant which leads to some great speed-running potential and appeal.
Although the game may feel slow-paced in the first few stages, challenging difficulty modifiers can be activated to amp up the game. Play with only one life among all four players, one-shot deaths, and my personal favorite that calls back to the Gauntlet series, negative health regeneration. If you are having trouble just getting around the levels and are feeling frustrated, you can also turn on various crutch modifiers to ease your game. The challenges and crutches settings allow for a customizable, but slightly rigid, gameplay experience.
if you're at a puzzle, just push buttons randomly
Hammerwatch's pixel graphics are accompanied by tone setting ambient lighting and exciting particle effects. Sooner or later, the game will become a bullet hell as you duck and dodge between projectiles that fill the screen. The controls are responsive and comfortable, but some of the default keybindings can be a little awkward and may need some adjustments before you begin. The user interface is simple and easy to handle. The map is intuitive as well but you aren't able to zoom out, making figuring out where you've been or haven't been a bit more difficult.
If you thought the primary campaign was short, you'll be happy to hear that a free expansion was released back in September 2014. Titled Temple of the Sun, it's available to anyone who purchased the base game and is essentially a whole new campaign for you and your friends to experience. There is also a survival mode and a tower defense styled mode to play as well. Hammerwatch also includes a level editor outside of the game so you can create your own levels and campaigns for your friends or enemies to enjoy or suffer through.
For me, it's interesting and fun to see how the precursors of modern games have created lasting impressions on the genres we know and love today. Hammerwatch successfully captures the charm of older titles and presents it all in an easy to access but difficult to master package.
By the way, if you're curious, here's the 2014 release of Gauntlet.
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