Hammerwatch 2 PS5 Review – Hammerwatch 2 is a game that I enjoyed in short bursts – it stands as a classic top-down action RPG title that has all the trappings of the genre in a pretty solid form.
But over longer play sessions, I found myself growing weary of repetitious gameplay that rarely went beyond the bare necessities. Not much changes throughout the journey. With a friend, Hammerwatch 2 becomes something more enjoyable, but even then is limited to a very standard action game that doesn’t do much beyond the standard.
Hammerwatch 2 Review (PS5) – A Solid Journey Best Shared
Diving into the Action
Hammerwatch 2 begins with a brief recollection of the first game before immediately setting you off on your journey. The narrative is very much a side-dish in this title and it suits the style of game. Despite the clear intention of focusing on gameplay first, there is an impressive amount of flavour text throughout that contextualises the quests that you clear.
The main game takes place in a top-down action setting, where character movement is controlled with the left stick, and all skills are aimed with the left stick and activated with various button or trigger inputs.
Each class largely functions the same on a fundamental level but each has its own situational advantages that can be useful against certain creatures. I was unable to truly learn the ins and outs by myself during this review period but each class feels distinct enough from each other to consider going for a different build.
Most of my playtime was spent with the sorcerer class and I felt like the long range of the class did tend to make combat a bit easier than I would have preferred. It was very easy to become overwhelmed by enemies in specific situations, and that was usually a certain death.
On a standard run, death is a very light punishment that encourages players to get back up and venture into a dungeon again to try and continue their run. There are particular modifiers that you can enable at the start of a run to either make the game harder or easier, and these were massively appreciated for even more granular customisation.
Building and Gearing Up
Much of the progression in Hammerwatch 2 comes from a mix of stat upgrades as well as the gear that you find on your quests. Both will slowly but surely see your strength increase and are generally fairly easy to understand.
As you defeat enemies throughout the overworld and dungeons, experience is steadily gained that results in personalised builds emerging. Upon levelling up, you receive points that can be spent on increasing raw stats as well as upgrading your class-specific abilities. Change is noticeable as you’re steadily able to take on stronger and stronger packs of enemies.
Equipment is also gained from exploration and defeating stronger enemies, as well as being able to be purchased from vendors across the world. These offer similar stat buffs that can be shifted and changed around as you please. New and stronger weapons may decrease the amount of time to unleash another round of damage.
I found relative enjoyment in steadily growing in strength, but I did find that there wasn’t anything particularly gripping about the progression system here. I also found myself stumbling over interfaces as I tried to level up and re-equip myself for upcoming challenges. The interface isn’t the most controller-friendly.
From Town to Town
From the very beginning of Hammerwatch 2, much of my time was spent journeying to new settlements to accept a laundry list of new quests and going off to complete them.
Many of these quests felt quite standard and were largely excuses for me to go and explore the semi-open-world that the game offers to the player. While I did initially enjoy the broad scale of the world presented, I did find that communicating a general direction was something that was generally left to the wayside.
Much of my time in the overworld was spent trying to work out where exactly I was supposed to be going; the game does provide a minimap but it isn’t the most elegant solution to the issue. More visible quest markers would have been appreciated, especially after taking a break.
I also found myself missing a fast-travel option that wasn’t tied to me killing myself; when defeated I was given the option to return to the start of the dungeon for a higher cost or going back to the nearest town for a slightly cheaper cost. I sometimes found myself intentionally using this option to relieve myself of frustration.
The world of Hammerwatch 2 is a fairly pretty one, but I quickly grew tired of venturing to and fro.
It’s Dangerous to go Alone
All of my above experience is from a single-player campaign; multiplayer is a big focus of Hammerwatch 2 and this monotony that I found myself encountering could very well be remedied with a friend or two along for the ride.
Being able to coordinate different builds alongside a friend also opens the door for lots of potential for this formula. During the review period I was unable to fully experience the multiplayer of Hammerwatch 2, but it should be mentioned for a game advertised with it in mind.
While I enjoyed my time enough in short bursts of single-player, the experience of Hammerwatch 2 was bunkered down by a focus on repetition that made sitting down and playing for longer periods more of a chore than it would have been with a friend alongside me.
While there are small distractions peppered throughout the overworld, I never found these distractions and minigames enough to truly offset the fatigue from crawling similar dungeons across a familiar overworld.
Hammerwatch 2 is now available for PS5 & PS4.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.