Review: Heroes Of Hammerwatch Ultimate Edition (Nintendo Switch)

Heroes Of Hammerwatch Ultimate Edition review

Encounter endless hordes of enemies, traps, puzzles, secrets, and tons of loot, as you battle your way through procedurally generated levels to reach the top of the Forsaken Spire. Upgrade to grant your persistent heroes with various enhancements that will further help you in your quest, and even bring them to your friends’ game!

Pros:

  • Excellent pixel art graphics.
  • 582mb download size.
  • Own in-game achievements.
  • Dungeon crawler gameplay.
  • Mini map-set the size to small/medium/big or turn off.
  • Nine classes-Paladin, Ranger, Sorcerer, Warlock, Thief, Priest, Wizard, Gladiator, and Witch Hunter.
  • Mercenary mode-permadeath but hitting level 20 with a character allows you to make a mercenary of that class and other rewards, earn Legacy points to spend on cosmetics for all heroes, earn Prestige to improve your mercenary.
  • Character customization-voice, avatar, name, dyes for skin/hair/hat/coat/pauldrons, and weapon.
  • The Outlook-your mining village where you can spend collected ore on village upgrades, spend gold on items and upgrades, and spend your skill points to level up.
  • Full stats screen including bestiary and itemiary.
  • Includes all 3 DLCs: Witch Hunter, Pyramid of Prophecy, and Moon Temple. With many additional skills, items, areas to explore, 2 new game modes, and 2 new classes
  • Can teleport back to town whenever you want but it counts as a death.
  • Easy to read Hud and UI.
  • Save and quit option.
  • Companions-earn and buy a companion.
  • Guild Hall-level up to learn new abilities.
  • New game plus support.
  • Roguelike element in that if you die in the mines, you have to restart and lose loot.
  • Controls are akin to a twin-stick shooter.

Heroes Of Hammerwatch Ultimate Edition review

Cons:

  • No tutorials.
  • No touchscreen support.
  • Difficult.
  • Hard to enemies due to how zoomed out the camera is.
  • You have to unlock half of the characters.
  • Slow starter.

Heroes Of Hammerwatch Ultimate Edition review

  • 8/10
    Graphics - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Sound - 8/10
  • 8/10
    Accessibility - 8/10
  • 9/10
    Length - 9/10
  • 9/10
    Fun Factor - 9/10
8.4/10

Summary

Heroes of Hammerwatch has changed a lot since the last time I played it, it’s now more of a roguelike and a bigger emphasis on upgrading not only yourself but also the mining town you inhabit. For starters this is a slow game at the start, there is next to nothing in regards to tutorials and you can only bank loot at certain parts or by finishing your dungeon dive, with this in mind it takes a few hours to get used to the game and get over the very zoomed out and hard to see camera view. Couple that in with the low light and you have yourself a challenge….. But the game is such a load of fun! Even better in Co-op and mercenary mode is a really good twist on the genre. Overall for its shortcomings, you can get over it and get many many hours of joy from the game. The game has improved in so many ways that it has to be one of the best ARPG on the Nintendo Switch and is an absolute blast with friends.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!