It’s not often I get to review something after it’s out, but I’m going to enjoy that a little bit for once here. Heroes of Hammerwatch II is a triumph, though it’s yet to quite match the brilliance of the original game for me. A large part of that is because of the DLCs, and here, we have the first of the expansions for the sequel. Unfortunately, Heroes of Hammerwatch II – Celestial Ruins is a mixed bag.
Celestial Ruins adds a new survival mode to the game, dropping you into a more angelic area and having you just run around, grab loot, kill things and eventually face off against an angel at the end. It is undoubtedly rather short, though, taking maybe 5-10 minutes to beat, and for me that’s fine in contrast to the full runs in the standard mode that can take around an hour.
But it is also rather messy. It’s the least readable map in the game, and it’s not especially close. There are walls which don’t look like walls, clear spaces which look like dead ends, and it’s just cluttered. It would be a little bit prettier than a lot of other maps, but it ends up feeling chaotic in a bad way. The mini-map does help a little, but it’s not ideal.
The Priest class is the other new main addition, outside of some trinkets and pets. The Priest is a blast to play. It feels very strong, as it grants extra health regen, and all three of the subclasses are decently varied too. You can make a bunch of dudes and the become invincible, you can use a massive flail and get covered in thorns, or you can summons some orbs and shoot lasers. Obviously the lasers are the coolest. But hey, they’re all good options.
You’re getting this for six quid, which is a solid price for what you’re getting, but we’ve definitely seen much better from the Crackshell team. The free updates we’ve had since launched have added a lot to the game, with new buildings, item rarities, and more. That’s all just been added for no added cost. Celestial Ruins also pales in comparison to the first DLC for the first game, which added an entirely new three act campaign, and not just a snack-sized mode to muck around in. It’s hard not to make this comparison – and going by the ‘Mixed’ rating on Steam, a lot of people have – even if comparison is the thief of joy.
I think it’s less that this DLC is bad, because it’s not, and more that it’s not as good. I do think the survival mode is a little thin, but the Priest class is amazing fun. It all adds more potential play options and helps upgrade some less viable builds with the combinations you’re getting, but it’s just not as much as we were all hoping for. It’s not bad, sure, but it’s not as fantastic as we were hoping for.
