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I want a new Gauntlet game, preferably in the style of Gauntlet: Dark Legacy. But as of this review, I don’t see one coming any time soon. I’ve heard many players say that Hammerwatch is the spiritual successor to Gauntlet. I played a little bit of it years ago and remember it being okay but I don’t ever remember thinking it felt like Gauntlet. A family member recently brought up his desire to play Hammerwatch II and that got me thinking of giving the first game another shot. Developed and published by Crackshell, Hammerwatch was released for PC in August, 2013 and Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in December, 2017. A remaster titled Hammerwatch Anniversary Edition was released for PC in August, 2023. For this review, I played the Anniversary Edition. It not only comes with updated visuals but also new content and improved mod support among some other things.
Hammerwatch features two campaigns, Castle Hammerwatch and Temple of the Sun campaign, that can be played solo or cooperatively and the Anniversary Edition comes with a third campaign called Shaftlocke Tower. Each campaign has a different storyline but the gameplay across all three is basically the same. The stories more or less feel like simple backdrops and you don’t really need know what’s going on in the narrative to enjoy the gameplay. Each one is set in a different location and centers on the protagonist’s quest to defeat a great evil. Your goal is to work your way through the levels by slaying enemies and solving puzzles.
I think when I first played Hammerwatch, I went into it expecting something like Diablo. It’s not really like that and during this playthrough, I started to see Gauntlet’s inspiration and there are even some bonus levels that are straight up nods to Gauntlet. Anyone who has played Gauntlet should know the formula can be repetitive. You move through levels killing hordes of enemies and the biggest challenge is often just surviving the sheer number of foes trying to kill you. There are enemy spawners or generators found all throughout the levels that will continuously spawn enemies until they are destroyed. This applies to Hammerwatch as well and the gameplay is repetitive. But if you enjoy that kind of thing, you should be able to get past it. Basically, if you enjoy the Gauntlet games, you will enjoy Hammerwatch. There are multiple character classes to choose from but there is no experience and/or leveling system. Instead, the player accumulates gold that can be spent at vendors to buy upgrades, skills and abilities, and potions among other things.
Each character class comes with their own skills and abilities, some of which need to be purchased from vendors. As I mentioned before, the gameplay is basically the same across all three campaigns and I would say the biggest difference between them is how they handle vendors. In the base campaign, the Castle Hammerwatch campaign, vendors can be found throughout the levels or floors. In the Temple of the Sun and Shaftlocke Tower campaigns, there’s what I call a town area with vendors standing around but some can still be found in the levels as well. You can come back to the town at any time using the teleporters found in the levels. These two campaigns also require you to find Ore to unlock and upgrade the vendors so they sell better stuff. Other than that and the different locations, there’s not too many big differences in terms of how to play as far as I can tell. I should mention I didn’t realize how to use the Ore in the Temple of the Sun campaign until I reached the final boss. You have to drop Ore into the baskets next to the vendors. So I got through most of that campaign with few upgrades.
The Castle Hammerwatch campaign is split into different acts and each act is set in a different area of the castle. Unfortunately, once you finish an act or area, you can’t go back to it. The other two campaigns are structured similarly but you can revisit previous areas and will have to to complete certain quests. So the formula is pretty simple; you go from floor to floor, killing enemies and solving puzzles. The main objective of each floor is to find your way to next the floor. Each act or area ends with a boss and once you defeat the final boss, you win. There are side quests to complete which are optional and also things you need to find and/or do in each area in order to progress to the boss. On the default difficulties without applying modifiers, Relics represent your lives and they can be found in the levels and even purchased. With Relics, dying will force you to respawn at the last save location. If you’re out of Relics and die, you’ll lose whatever progress you made since the last save.
You will have to find keys and there are puzzles to solve in each campaign. They could be puzzles that lead you to treasures or puzzles you need to solve to progress. There are breakable walls and secret areas to find and plenty of hazards to avoid. I will say I think I enjoyed the Castle Hammerwatch campaign more than the others. As much as I prefer the vendors in town idea, I found some of the backtracking and puzzles to be annoying as are the environmental hazards that can kill you instantly across all three campaigns. If you’re not careful, you can drain through Relics pretty quickly. The Temple of the Sun and Shaftlocke Tower campaigns have portals or teleporters that can be found and activated and they will teleport you back to town. This is nice but I feel the Shaftlocke Tower campaign in particular needs more of them.
Enemies are everywhere and the game features a pretty diverse cast of foes. You’ll often be up against mobs and it can be easy to get overrun and killed if you’re not careful or paying attention. Most of the enemies you’ll face come from spawners or generators that will continuously spawn foes until they’re destroyed. In addition to your character’s unique skills and abilities, you can purchase a combo attack and even upgrades for it. Mana is drained whenever you use any attacks outside of your primary. I refer to them as skills and abilities. Mana will regenerate on its own but can be replenished quicker from mana pickups and even from combos if you bought the appropriate upgrades. As for pickups, in addition to mana, Relics, Gold, and Ore is food that will replenish your health and Vendor Coins that grant you discounts at vendors.
Hammerwatch does showcase a nice pixel art presentation and the Anniversary Edition features an upgraded presentation that seems to be more in line with Hammerwatch II’s style and better looking effects. I do like the look of Anniversary better and in general, the game is colorful with a good variety of environments and each campaign does feel different, even though the gameplay is basically the same. On the audio side, the sound work gets the job done and the action is backed by a solid soundtrack with some memorable tunes that I feel give off cool adventure vibes. Overall, I feel the music is a great fit for the game’s theme. On the technical side, I encountered no major issues.
As I wait for the next great Gauntlet game, I will have to either play the games already out, spiritual successors, or other games in the same vein in order to scratch the Gauntlet itch. And I think Hammerwatch is a solid Gauntlet-style game. It’s not exactly the same but I can see the inspiration when I play it. I didn’t see it years ago but I also didn’t play it for very long. During this playthrough, it really clicked and I enjoyed my time with it. There is a little more to it than what many of the popular Gauntlet games offer but we need to remember Gauntlet’s roots are in the arcade world. Hammerwatch is not an arcade game and while it can be tough at times, I never felt it was impossible or like it was designed to be a quarter-muncher. It’s a fun hack and slash game with a good amount of replay value. Trying different character classes, attempting the different difficulties, experimenting with difficulty modifiers, multiplayer, and mods will ensure the game keeps you occupied for quite some time. Hammerwatch does come with plenty of content and while I feel some aspects can be improved, I still had a wonderful time playing it.
I absolutely recommend Hammerwatch and I also recommend the Anniversary Edition. It looks better and comes with new content and improved mod support. Ultimately, it’s a game that’s pretty easy to jump into and get the hang of. If you’re like me and need to scratch that Gauntlet itch, I would say Hammerwatch is an excellent alternative to playing the existing Gauntlet titles. Definitely check it out.