PC Gamer - UK (2022-02)

Despite its similarities to Gabriel
Knight 3, Hammerting is a game
about dwarves living in a mountain
cave. It’s also a game about creating
improbably convoluted supply chains
in order to arm your
allies on the overworld
and facilitate their
conquest over your
common enemy. You’ll
want to play the
tutorial for this one.
My first stewardship
of Moch Naxrig, a
hardy society tunnelled
within the side of a vast mountain,
ended when all but one of my
dwarves fell unconscious with
starvation. By that point it was far too
late to locate a food source, build a
kitchen, or trade for anything edible,
so my society’s fate was sealed.
The second time I suffered the
ignominy of a campaign restart
happened about two hours later. This
time it was, well, starvation. With
little comprehension of why all my
employees seemed to be on
permanent hunger strike, I started
again – again. Eventually, it became
clear. It’s not just about placing new
rooms and crafting new items, but
also forging a smooth logistical
network. My unfortunate workers
starved not because there wasn’t any
food in the mountain, but because
they didn’t have easy access to it.
Later in the game when you’ve
accumulated mountain lore and trade
lore through exploration and
overworld deals, railways and
elevators become available on the
tech tree. There’s a difference
between traversing the map’s width
on foot to eat a fish someone left on
the floor by the pier, and that fish

being delivered by cart, and it means

starvation or survival.

It’s a city builder, then, as much as

it is a straight management game or a

4X. And it’s that confluence of ideas

and genre staples that

gives Hammerting real

longevity, enough to

withstand several

restarts and a state of

nigh-constant

bafflement.

DAY DWEMER

Fundamentally there’s

something about turning the cubic

chaos of its mountainside and forcing

it into a work of order and efficiency.

There’s also a real sense of wonder in

exploring its deeper reaches, slaying

the slimes and skeletons who hide

just underneath your cultivated

tunnels and uncovering grottos. It’s

here that Hammerting’s RPG-lite

elements click, giving dwarves

personalities through their stats.

It’s curious that the only real

victory conditions are a Civ-like push

for territory or the establishment of

firm allies, because 90% of your

attention’s spent on the

mountainside, not the overworld,

where those territorial boundaries

and allies lie. Once it does click, you

wonder whether it was worth

building that infirmary, the tailors,

and the network of scaffolds and

stairs after all. Much of Hammerting’s

rooms and resources feel superfluous

in light of your real objectives.

I suppose it’s to the game’s credit.

It lets you play on your own terms,

maximising your base for the heck of

it, trying to foster a comfortable nook

for your populace. But it’s only clear

what’s extraneous and what’s not

once you hit the endgame. Also at

that point do you realise how much

you’ve been fighting the AI

mechanics as hard as actual foes.

This being a game about long

supply chains and careful resource

management, it’s a real problem that

AI farmers don’t save one item of a

crop in order to replant it. Equally

bothersome is your dwarves’ lack of

self-preservation, prioritising the

crafting of a quill instead of eating.

There’s work to be done inside the

mountain, then, for both Warpzone

Studios and myself. Hammerting’s

lacking the polish to grease the

wheels of its impressive management

hybrid, but that doesn’t mean it

should be avoided. Like my

overworld neighbours, I’d take

something new and unusual over the

same old stock any day.

68

Hammerting has a fiddly

take on management,

survival and city building,

but you can still lose a

weekend to it.

VERDICT

M

y great hall’s nearly ready, but I need mortar to finish the
job. Mortar is made in the foundry, using lime. Lime’s
made in the workshop, from bonemeal. The bonemeal is
taken from dead enemies. The frustrating thing is that I
have the bones to make the bonemeal to make the lime
to make the mortar, but no one’s bringing it in. No, the really frustrating
thing is that I seem to have wandered into a ’90s adventure game.

ROCK AND ORE

Exploring the hidden depths of genre-bending colony sim HAMMERTING

By Phil Iwaniuk

There’s also a

real sense of

wonder in

exploring its

deeper reaches

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT BREVIN

My deceased dwarves tell you why they died

HILJA GULDVALL

“I went down an ice

cave and stood

motionless in there

for days.”

T O R N Y

SLÖLÄGARE

“Smelted copper

ingots until I starved

to death.”

HEID GRUSTAND

“I got confused on

two sets of

conjoining stairs.

Starved.”

NEED TO KNOW

WHAT IS IT?

A dwarven colony sim

with 4X elements

EXPECT TO PAY

£20

DEVELOPER

Warpzone Studios

PUBLISHER

Team 17 Digital

REVIEWED ON

i7 9700K, RTX 2080 TI,

16GB RAM

MULTIPLAYER

Yes

LINK

team17.com/games/

hammerting

TYRE LILLAND

“He forgot to

build a dwelling

for me. No sleep

for weeks.”

IMBOR GRYMELD

“Mined a corridor,

couldn’t be bothered

coming back

to rest.”

ORMGER

K AR ATKILN

He declined to take

part in this boxout,

but it was rats.

Hammerting

REVIEW