The gameplay itself is generally fun, but there are a few moments in the game that are just the worst when it comes to difficulty spikes. Periodically the game will just throw up a wall to block off your progression, the worst of it being when the game just flat out refuses to have a dungeon work the way it's supposed to. When the developer proposed solution for the issue is to use the command console to turn on no-clip I think your game needs a little more time in the oven. Especially when the issue is a known issue for seven months without a patch in sight.

Also I feel the game can be somewhat directionless at times. You receive a quest and the game gets tightlipped about where to go or what exactly you need to do. It wouldn't be so bad if the world itself wasn't so needlessly massive and didn't take forever to get to most locations.

The combat is nice though, and I like the feel of the different classes. I played through it as a Warlock, and got about halfway as a Paladin, and the Ranger. It's got some major issues to be sure, and a lot of them are pretty hefty deal-breakers, but I do think it's worth trying at least. Just definitely on sale. I wonder how console players get to deal with the spire dungeon that required no clipping to be doable?

On the upside, the combat system, while somewhat repetitive, manages to deliver a good deal of fun. The diverse playstyles among the characters add a layer of variety, significantly affecting your overall gameplay, which is a definite plus. Exploring the open world is enjoyable, with plenty of exciting discoveries waiting to be made. The equipment upgrading system is also a highlight, making logical sense and enhancing the gaming experience. Furthermore, the multiplayer aspect shines, making the game considerably more enjoyable when played with friends.

Now, onto the drawbacks. The story is decidedly lackluster and forgettable. While I appreciate dialogue-heavy games and am more than willing to dive into a narrative, this game's dialogue fails to engage me. Despite my penchant for 100-hour-long JRPGs, the storytelling here just doesn't capture my interest. The random loot system, while it has its moments, ultimately detracts from the game. The chasm in effectiveness between good and bad equipment is too vast, making luck and grinding the determining factors. My most significant gripe, however, lies in the open world and collectibles, many of which seem utterly pointless. It's fine to have items that aren't meta-defining, but the game is inundated with items that serve little purpose and only contribute to filler content.

In conclusion, I'd recommend this game primarily if you have friends to join you on your journey. My initial solo playthrough left me underwhelmed, but when I ventured through the game a second time with a friend, the experience improved drastically. It's a decent game with friends but painfully average otherwise.

There's a lot here that is a bit of a bummer. Side content is pretty nothing at best, and straight up bad at worst. The ending bit is paced a bit odd and way too fast, the writing/story while can be a bit funny isn't really interesting enough to want to read the mountaints of dialogue they give to you. But man the main meat of the game is really fun and a wonderful co-op experience!

I really think when this game is going, and you're doing the fun well thought out main quest stuff it's arguably the peak of this series! Character customization (while a bit daunting at first) has never been better, theres a ton of little optimizations and ability trees to fine tune your class exactly how you'd like. It was very fun unlocking new tiers of abilities and seeing the new spells/how passives change up your gameplan. The main dungeons and areas were pretty fun to explore, and the boss fights are probably the best yet in the series. The biggest downsides are how often you have to travel between places with no fast travel just for a few lines of dialogue to progress quests, and how absolutely boring and pointless a majority of the caves are. The caves aren't the biggest deal in the world, but you also can't fully ignore them if you are finding them tedious because some do genuinely have useful (sometimes main quest useful) characters or items! It's a bit frustrating. By far though the most annoying aspect of the game is how many little moments are locked behind time gating. The entire idea of a day and night cycle is fine visually, but locking merchants and quest progression behind pointless time gates is extremely boring and just wastes your time needlessly.

There's a lot that could be ironed out here, and it should by all means be my favorite hammerwatch game by far! But as of right now, it's probably around the same level as Heroes of Hammerwatch here. I think Hammerwatch 2 has the most potential of the 3 games, a lot of little fixes that could make the whole flow a lot more interesting and engaging. Either way Crackshell has easily made a fan out of me, and I'll continue to always look forward to what they have next!

after my love-quickly-turned-to-hate relationship with the terrible roguelite Heroes of Hammerwatch, I was a lot more interested in this game back then. I never played the original, in fact I had totally forgotten this game was even in development, but when I saw the sudden release I figured why not give it a go. there's a lot that can be picked apart and criticized here as plenty others have done in Steam reviews, but I'd say I had an experience that was just ok.

Hammerwatch II is a retro-inspired RPG set in an open world, all the way down to the obscurity, ambiguity and archaic design elements. one criticism is how you have to backtrack through every dungeon since fast travel is limited to warping between towns. another point of contention is the fact that your map cannot be dragged or moved around, but that was totally fine to me. the multiplayer integration supposedly has its issues as well, but they seem to be addressing that and I've only played solo anyways.

my issues were the pacing, a plot that was... serviceable at best, and the "open world." take Elden Ring for example - many who criticize its open world design feel that it has interesting legacy dungeons broken up by a repetitive and needlessly large open world. from the completionist point of view this game was a lot of the same where I'd run into the same Mysterious Cave for the 20th time, but with none of the other working parts that were present in Elden Ring to make up for it there.

the story never feels important nor does it lean into comic relief in an interesting way, so I had zero engagement and was kinda just there. I tend to play games for gameplay rather than story mind you, but if I'm gonna be reading some exposition in a longer RPG for 30+ hours, please just give me something that isn't juvenile writing. as for pacing it started off great but the more I played the more it declined into monotony and dullness. Hammer Island was a strong start with how it brought out a particular excitement in learning an unknown game and the familiar feeling of exploring a new world, but interest started waning when quests had me going back and forth with nothing keeping me hooked anymore. I was then given a few endgame quests at the same time out of nowhere, all of which were underwhelming aside from the surprisingly optional quest to slay a dragon with a unique dungeon and intense boss fight that followed. compare that to the final dungeon and boss that were pretty unremarkable and I'm just left wondering what the whole point even was.

at the end of the day Hammerwatch II is unfortunately just one of those games where you're better off bringing a friend or two along for the ride, maybe even three, which.. means nothing because friends can make anything more enjoyable. but I'm a solo player so my point is that it's really disappointing when games turn out to be markedly better in co-op. it's also designed to contain future modded campaigns and maybe even DLC, so content feels lacking. I'm one to play games for an extensive vanilla experience and then move on to the next one so I'm not interested in seeing it through. if you like those things then maybe you'd get more out of this bite-sized RPG, which is and was not the case for me. at least it's a cut above Heroes of Hammerwatch but it's still so very bland.