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Hack and slash like there's no tomorrow!

Hammerwatch, a fast-paced fantasy hack-and-slash with exciting multi-player modes and lots of pixelated nostalgia, is available 50% off on GOG.com. That's only $4.99 for the next 24 hours!

Sword in hand, eyes blinking to adjust to the dark, you take your first cautious steps into the dungeon. You can never tell what secrets and dangers the underground holds just by looking at the entrance. An unassuming hole in the ground, a trapdoor in some moldy basement, a cave overgrown with weeds--it almost never holds a promise of anything interesting. A true adventurer will know, however. They will feel the gentlest breeze, they will smell a hint of foul monster stench, they'll be magically drawn to the treasures and artifacts hidden below, and they will boldly venture forth. Before then know it, they'll be hacking, slashing, and looting as if the fate of the entire world was at stake. And they'll have fun. Even more fun if you gather a party before venturing forth. Such is the way of dungeon crawling, such it has been, and such it will ever be.

Hammerwatch is a modern indie game with the heart of a classic. The main idea--conquering dungeons and other formidable locations--is almost as old as computer gaming itself. The execution, however, makes it a perfect pick for modern-day thrill-seeking gamers. With fast-paced, dynamic gameplay full of nice ideas, optional local and online multi-player, and even a scenario editor that allows for the creation of your very own adventures from scratch (including new graphics!), this little pixelated gem can bring you hours and hours of nostalgic hack-and-slash fun. Beware, though: dungeoning is a highly addictive hobby!

Unleash the pixelated fantasy mayhem with all the right RPG flavors with Hammerwatch, for only $4.99 on GOG.com. The 50% discount offer lasts until Thursday, November 21, at 10:59AM GMT.
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G-Doc: There's no mention of the MP3 soundtrack there, though. Not sure if they offered it or not.
Good eye. You are correct. I did contact the developers about that, and they were quick to reply. Turns out they released the soundtrack on their own forum.

It used to be easy for me. If it was on GOG, I would buy here first. Now that so many stores are supporting Linux, and carrying some DRM free choices, I have gone back to carefully research which store to buy from. Unless a game is Windows/DOS only, then GOG is the easy choice.
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undeadcow: Curiously, if you're a Linux user... why go to a forum that doesn't support Linux for gaming?
From what I can tell, they are looking into supporting Linux systems. Besides you can run quite a few windows programs/games on GNU/Linux using WINE, or if your machine is fast enough you could use VirtualBox for a VM.

I wouldn't be surprised if they release GNU/Linux options soon, Now with NVidia on board for supplying video drivers for their cards thanks to Valve/Steam Linux based gaming may be more popular in the near future.
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amok: I just realised that for {Price} you can get {Game} on Humble Store.
Maybe, I've heard Humble Bundle has some pretty bad DRM. Honestly I don't quite get Steam, I mean I get it, along with other forms of digital distribution, to one sense, but the other half of it seems over the top. GoG doesn't require any special software to get your games, nor does it have the DRM. This is why I decided to go with GoG pretty much with everything I am getting. Sure I may get a few games here and there from Steam like Plants vs Zombies, but that's more for paying my dues rather than playing the game using steam.

Honestly, several games with DRM are just so annoying to many degrees. Example: I was given a physical copy of Skyrim, and Skyrim requires steam activation in order to play. So a few weeks ago I bought new hardware that actually can support Skyrim, and not only do I have to install Steam on that computer, re-activate the game that I couldn't play before, but it won't even load the game up unless steam is started. True steam can be 'offline' to play, but there's just so many annoying things attached. It's not 'plug and play', DRM is more 'you can't pass unless you're a verified user'. I've read about quite a few people ready to quit steam because of the constant verification and 'piss tests' you need to do to satisfy their DRM.
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amok: I just realised that for {Price} you can get {Game} on Humble Store.
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rtcvb32: Maybe, I've heard Humble Bundle has some pretty bad DRM. Honestly I don't quite get Steam, I mean I get it, along with other forms of digital distribution, to one sense, but the other half of it seems over the top. GoG doesn't require any special software to get your games, nor does it have the DRM. This is why I decided to go with GoG pretty much with everything I am getting. Sure I may get a few games here and there from Steam like Plants vs Zombies, but that's more for paying my dues rather than playing the game using steam.

Honestly, several games with DRM are just so annoying to many degrees. Example: I was given a physical copy of Skyrim, and Skyrim requires steam activation in order to play. So a few weeks ago I bought new hardware that actually can support Skyrim, and not only do I have to install Steam on that computer, re-activate the game that I couldn't play before, but it won't even load the game up unless steam is started. True steam can be 'offline' to play, but there's just so many annoying things attached. It's not 'plug and play', DRM is more 'you can't pass unless you're a verified user'. I've read about quite a few people ready to quit steam because of the constant verification and 'piss tests' you need to do to satisfy their DRM.
Humble clearly marks which games are DRM free or not, so as long as it has a DRM free tag, it is safe. They also tell you if it is Steam, Desura or Origin keys. No need to go through any 'piss tests'. Quite a lot of them comes with both DRM FREE and keys for other services at the same time, and you can chose which you want. Choice is good

Humble themselves add no DRM to anything at all, it all depends on the various publishers.
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rtcvb32: Maybe, I've heard Humble Bundle has some pretty bad DRM. Honestly I don't quite get Steam, I mean I get it, along with other forms of digital distribution, to one sense, but the other half of it seems over the top. GoG doesn't require any special software to get your games, nor does it have the DRM. This is why I decided to go with GoG pretty much with everything I am getting. Sure I may get a few games here and there from Steam like Plants vs Zombies, but that's more for paying my dues rather than playing the game using steam.

Honestly, several games with DRM are just so annoying to many degrees. Example: I was given a physical copy of Skyrim, and Skyrim requires steam activation in order to play. So a few weeks ago I bought new hardware that actually can support Skyrim, and not only do I have to install Steam on that computer, re-activate the game that I couldn't play before, but it won't even load the game up unless steam is started. True steam can be 'offline' to play, but there's just so many annoying things attached. It's not 'plug and play', DRM is more 'you can't pass unless you're a verified user'. I've read about quite a few people ready to quit steam because of the constant verification and 'piss tests' you need to do to satisfy their DRM.
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amok: Humble clearly marks which games are DRM free or not, so as long as it has a DRM free tag, it is safe. They also tell you if it is Steam, Desura or Origin keys. No need to go through any 'piss tests'. Quite a lot of them comes with both DRM FREE and keys for other services at the same time, and you can chose which you want. Choice is good

Humble themselves add no DRM to anything at all, it all depends on the various publishers.
Also, all of their "Humble Indie Bundles" have required that all games have a DRM free version available AND have Windows, Mac and Linux versions. Several games became DRM free in order to join the bundles, and a lot of games debuted their Linux versions. I remember one bundle having something like 7 games in it, and 6 of them were Linux debuts. I wish everything HB offered required DRM free though.

GOG and Humble Bundle have been two of the greatest things for gaming. I don't want to include Steam in that primarily because they use DRM, but it does seem like they are really giving Linux a serious push.
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jalister: Also, all of their "Humble Indie Bundles" have required that all games have a DRM free version available AND have Windows, Mac and Linux versions. Several games became DRM free in order to join the bundles, and a lot of games debuted their Linux versions. I remember one bundle having something like 7 games in it, and 6 of them were Linux debuts. I wish everything HB offered required DRM free though.

GOG and Humble Bundle have been two of the greatest things for gaming. I don't want to include Steam in that primarily because they use DRM, but it does seem like they are really giving Linux a serious push.
The Humble Indie Bundles still do. However, Humble also sells other bundles, many which do not. So far, there has been 9 Humble Indie Bundles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Humble_Bundles
Hammerwatch's screenshots and videos remind me of cyberdogs. Seems like it's the same game in a fantasy setting.

I like it, but I don't know if I should buy it right now. I got 11 new games from insomnia sale recently.
Anyway I have still about an hour to decide.
Well, this is quite a fun game. I haven’t played much. But I really like what I’ve seen in the short period of time I spent playing this game. Nice pixel graphics and beautiful light effects.

However, I found the controls very straining to the hands. For some reason, my hands where aching already after playing only for a short while. Maybe this is better played with a controller instead of a keyboard

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jalister: It used to be easy for me. If it was on GOG, I would buy here first. Now that so many stores are supporting Linux, and carrying some DRM free choices, I have gone back to carefully research which store to buy from. Unless a game is Windows/DOS only, then GOG is the easy choice.
+1
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CatShannon: However, I found the controls very straining to the hands. For some reason, my hands where aching already after playing only for a short while. Maybe this is better played with a controller instead of a keyboard
May you please give a little more info about the controls?
I read a review complaining about the same thing, but doesn't describe what the problem is.

Edit: I searched and finally I found some info. WASD for movement and arrows for abilities. It's like reversed DOS controls, since arrows were used for movement in almost all games then.
Post edited November 21, 2013 by vanchann
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CatShannon: However, I found the controls very straining to the hands. For some reason, my hands where aching already after playing only for a short while. Maybe this is better played with a controller instead of a keyboard
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vanchann: May you please give a little more info about the controls?
I read a review complaining about the same thing, but doesn't describe what the problem is.
If you use a keyboard, then WASD is used to move your character, and the arrow buttons are for attacks. Up arrow is normal attack, left for magic and so on. The character attacks in the direction he is facing, and he can not move and attack at the same time (except using magic).

One key press is one attack, and there are lots of mobs. This means that you will constantly spam the up arrow key while trying to get your character in position using WASD. When he is in position, then up arrow is used as a machine gun... if it makes any sense.

Still, it is a fun game, though, it reminds me a lot about Gauntlet. But I wish it had some auto-attack thingy, where it spams attacks by holding the key down.
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amok: If you use a keyboard, then WASD is used to move your character, and the arrow buttons are for attacks. Up arrow is normal attack, left for magic and so on. The character attacks in the direction he is facing, and he can not move and attack at the same time (except using magic).

One key press is one attack, and there are lots of mobs. This means that you will constantly spam the up arrow key while trying to get your character in position using WASD. When he is in position, then up arrow is used as a machine gun... if it makes any sense.

Still, it is a fun game, though, it reminds me a lot about Gauntlet. But I wish it had some auto-attack thingy, where it spams attacks by holding the key down.
Thanks.
I found some info, but that's far more descriptive. +1 to you.
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vanchann: May you please give a little more info about the controls?
I read a review complaining about the same thing, but doesn't describe what the problem is.
Well, amok has pretty much answered the question already. However, it wasn’t the attack keys that I found the most straining but the movement.

The controls are basically the WASD keys for controlling movement and the arrow UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT keys for fighting (1 standard attack and 3 special abilities). Then there’s also left SHIFT for stopping and holding the character at one place and the SPACE key for strafing.

I usually don’t have much of a problem playing first person shooter using the WASD keys. But I think the fact that the player changes direction far more often in this game using the WASD keys than he/she does playing a game where the mouse is primarily used to do that is probably one of the reasons for the strain.

Also I think the key combinations are putting some serious strain to the hand like fixating the character using the left SHIFT key and at the same time using the movement keys to align the characters aim into a certain direction; and then using the SPACE key together with the movement keys for strafing (there are quite a lot of situations where strafing comes in handy for characters with a ranged attack).
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vanchann: May you please give a little more info about the controls?
I read a review complaining about the same thing, but doesn't describe what the problem is.
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CatShannon: Well, amok has pretty much answered the question already. However, it wasn’t the attack keys that I found the most straining but the movement.

The controls are basically the WASD keys for controlling movement and the arrow UP, DOWN, LEFT and RIGHT keys for fighting (1 standard attack and 3 special abilities). Then there’s also left SHIFT for stopping and holding the character at one place and the SPACE key for strafing.

I usually don’t have much of a problem playing first person shooter using the WASD keys. But I think the fact that the player changes direction far more often in this game using the WASD keys than he/she does playing a game where the mouse is primarily used to do that is probably one of the reasons for the strain.

Also I think the key combinations are putting some serious strain to the hand like fixating the character using the left SHIFT key and at the same time using the movement keys to align the characters aim into a certain direction; and then using the SPACE key together with the movement keys for strafing (there are quite a lot of situations where strafing comes in handy for characters with a ranged attack).
For games like these I always recommend using a controller, if you have one :)

Hammerwatch has full Xbox 360 controller support :)
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JudasIscariot: For games like these I always recommend using a controller, if you have one :)

Hammerwatch has full Xbox 360 controller support :)
I'm using a PS2 controller and it works just great!
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JudasIscariot: For games like these I always recommend using a controller, if you have one :)

Hammerwatch has full Xbox 360 controller support :)
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rtcvb32: I'm using a PS2 controller and it works just great!
Through a third-party program or out of the box?