Ludography
75/100
Critics1 review
66/100
Metacritic10 critic reviews
More scores
Metacritic usersuser score
56/100
GameFAQsTough
3.5/5
Player reviews
60% positive1,872 reviews
Steam Deck
Playable
Runs on
Windows
Price
US$24.99

Where to get it

Hammerwatch 2 cover

2023 · Crackshell · Action · Adventure

Hammerwatch 2

Gather your heroes and journey beyond the dungeons of Castle Hammerwatch to explore a pixelated world like never before. Aid King Roland’s resistance while helping villagers along the way. Battle beasts, finish off hordes of the undead, and face the forces of evil in this epic ode to classic ARPG.

Released
15 August 2023
Platforms
Nintendo SwitchPlayStation 4PlayStation 5WindowsXbox OneXbox Series X/S
Genres
ActionAdventureBeat 'em upIndieRole-playing
Developers
Crackshell
Publishers
Modus Games
Series
Hammerwatch
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Themes
ActionFantasy
Country
Sweden
Age ratings
GRAC 15+USK 12ESRB TPEGI 12CLASS_IND 12ACB M
Languages
Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish (Spain)
Time to beat
21hmain story29hcompletionist

About

Hammerwatch 2 is a 2023 action role-playing video game developed by Crackshell and published by Modus Games. It is the sequel to Hammerwatch and Heroes of Hammerwatch. It is available for Windows, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. Ports to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series X/S were released on April 23, 2024.

›Story

Blight the Horrible and his dragon army have succeeded in the sinister plot to overthrow King Roland and bring destruction across the Kingdom of Herian, but hope hides deep within the sewer system, where the King’s resistance movement holds strong. On the King’s order, a select few of mighty and skilled heroes have been entrusted with defeating Blight’s dragons and restoring the Kingdom.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Players attempt to stop a supernatural blight from corrupting a fantasy land. Hammerwatch 2 is an action role-playing game in which players can complete quests, explore dungeons, collect loot, craft power-ups, and customize their characters through skill trees. Each class has two meters that are used to power ranged attacks and special abilities exclusive to their class. Players can respec their character's skills.

Hammerwatch 2's story is generally linear, but players can explore an open world and complete the quests in any order. Combat is similar to classic twin-stick shooter games, such as Gauntlet. Upon dying, players can pay gold to respawn. The game is played from an isometric point of view.

Development

The developer, Crackshell, wanted to bring the Hammerwatch series in a more action-adventure direction, influenced by large action role-playing games, such as Sacred. Modus Games released the Windows version on August 15, 2023. The PlayStation 5 and Switch versions were released on December 12, 2023. Further ports to PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series X/S were released on April 23, 2024.

Reception

Hammerwatch 2 received "mixed or average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Although they found the multiplayer and character progression fun, RPGFan recommended that fans avoid Hammerwatch II, which they said is "stuck in the past" due to poor design decisions. They also criticized the writing and what they felt were poorly made dungeons, which they said made it "a slog of an adventure". PC Gamer said the old-school design may annoy some players, but they found the game fun enough to overcome the frustrating elements.

Rock Paper Shotgun enjoyed how the game could be made as simple or complex as one desires, though they said it can feel unpolished. Nintendo Life said its writing and technical issues on the Switch make Hammerwatch 2 feel like a rough draft, but they recommended it to people who enjoy mindless grinding and fun combat. Software bugs caused TouchArcade to recommend against buying the Switch version, but they said fans of retrogaming may be interested in it after the bugs are fixed.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Windows15 August 2023Worldwide
Xbox Series X/SEarly Access4 December 2023Worldwide · Worldwide 23 April 2024
Xbox OneEarly Access4 December 2023Worldwide · Worldwide 23 April 2024
Nintendo Switch12 December 2023Worldwide
PlayStation 512 December 2023Worldwide
PlayStation 423 April 2024Worldwide

Editions and related releases

Included in
Hammerwatch II: The Chronicles EditionMaximum Entertainment RPG Bundle

In the same series

Games like this

Collections4 collections

Years

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.