The animation and graphics in the remake are nothing short of amazing. There is still some crazy design choices left over from the original, but many of them have been effectively ameliorated by this remake. There is a auto-map and the map spell dumapic has been upgraded to show an entire map. Much of the silly navigation in the castle has been smoothed out, and the charm of the earliest of computer dungeon crawlers still shines through in this version. The only advice I would give is to "enhance" the save system by simply going into your users directory and copying the saved directory in "murphy" at various points, and when the crazy difficulty wipes your entire party simply replace the saved directory with your back up. Yes, this is "cheating", but the penalty for a single mistake is so high that is is warranted in this case. (The penalty for a wipe is starting over with brand new characters.)
There are a number of gaming mechanics that work in this game, and are fairly unique. The idea of adding cards to a deck at the same time you are equipping your character is very interesting. The fact that there are classes in this game that have insanely unique abilities which make their decks play like no others in the game is also quite surprising. The fact that there are a few quests (including boss fights) that take a bit of planning and careful play is refreshing. The dungeon creation is often fun and has interesting interactions with the deck building. The combat is also well animated and generally quite fun. There are negatives however. The biggest issue is the balancing. After a certain point some of the classes are completely unplayable. You will lose every time if you try to play a Chump, for example, past a certain point in the game. There is no way to fix this, no amount of deck building will allow you to play certain classes after a certain point, and if you try, you'll just be frustrated. This is not game breaking, you just have to realize it and play the newer classes instead. Certain classes, once you learn their trick, will win almost every battle. There is still some challenge as you begin again with a default deck when you enter each dungeon so it is possible to have a string of bad luck and not be able to recreate your ultimate deck even with the same character in every single dungeon. This really isn't game breaking either, as the classes with overpowered decks aren't available until late in the game. Make no mistake, this is a unique and strangely fun game. It can be repetitive, but the new classes that unlock will tend to keep things fresh. It plays like a collectable card game with RPG and dungeon crawling elements baked right in, which is very interesting and can be a great deal of fun. I do recommend this. Besides, the music will make you smile if nothing else.
I am a long time CRPG player making my way through Icewind Dale, Balder's Gate, Dungeon Siege, Aarklash Legacy and a variety of others over the past 30 years or so. After supporting this game during the kickstarter and then buying it here on GoG I must admit I'm not very happy. There are a variety of gameplay problems that get in the way of my enjoyment: 1) The leveling/skill system is not very satisfying. There are too many similar skills, the system is too convoluted and the way it actually impacts combat is too opaque to the player. They really lost big time in trying to replace the D&D ruleset. 2) The enemy tactics are too primitive. Enemies can be easily pulled out of rooms by simply sending in a pet and making them chase you back to the party. I consistently could fight one opponent at a time by simply parking my party at the end of the monster's chase distance and pulling one away from the others. Monsters also don't seem to work together very well. They don't seem to understand how to cover each other, how to protect more vulnerable party members, how to time their skills for maximum effect, how to use cover, or even how to use spell/weapon range effectively. That paired with just disastrous pathfinding and movement makes most encounters look more like a three stooges episode than controlled combat. I actually defeated the king's entire castle with a group of level 1 self-generated characters on normal. It was kind of fun killing monsters that could defeat my party is mere seconds if I fought them as the developers intended by pulling them around corners, or trapping them behind walls, or simply hit and running them to death. The AI is just too sad and broken in this game. 3) The story is just too wordy and annoying to dig out. It's nice they tried to add careful writing to the game but it just wears on you to have to read page after page of prose. Too much prose that has absolutely nothing to do with the story. No, I don't want to read dozens of random people's dreams. No, I don't want to read literally hundreds of tombstones. I'm sorry guys I don't want to have to click on literally dozens of wooden single line speaking creatures to find the one that has something useful to say. It's almost like a pixel hunt and that isn't very good storytelling. The combination of annoying story mode, half-baked leveling system, and terrible opponent tactics make this game a big disappointment.
I'm an old arcade Gauntlet fan (I actually have an old arcade machine in my house) and I must say that Hammerwatch captures much of what was good in that old game. Tricky, deadly levels. Many surprising creatures that actually work together on many levels. Smooth controls. This is a great game for anyone who wants to bring back the feel of the old arcade machines.
One of the greatest games ever made. I have been buying and playing games as an adult since the mid 1970s and this is one of my all time favorites. The ability to seamlessly jump back and forth between high speed first person shooter mechanics and turn based strategy mechanics is just amazing. This allows you to shoot and dodge or savor the strategic elements or do a little of both in a single encounter. No game has ever done this as well. Add on top of that a very complex role playing system and a huge non-linear world to explore and you have something amazing. Buy this one.
The complexity, strategy, exploration, and fun of might and magic turns into a dumbed down button smasher. The only thing entertaining about this game is the crazy sideways monkey leaps your character makes. It did make me giggle. This is one of the games that killed 3DO and Might and Magic. Woe on you horrible console cash in. Woe. Woe. Woe!
