Hammerwatch vs Crawl
When comparing Hammerwatch vs Crawl, the Slant community recommends Crawl for most people. In the question“What are the best local co-op PC games?” Crawl is ranked 6th while Hammerwatch is ranked 62nd. The most important reason people chose Crawl is:
Crawl has one lone hero enter a dungeon with objective to find the dungeon boss and strike it down. However, other players wish to take that glory as well, and will use all means possible to take the soul and spot in the story of the hero for themselves. Whoever players the hero, must struggle trough the dungeon, killing monsters and gaining money and experience to get new equipment and grow stronger. All the while other players will take control of monsters and traps to kill the hero. Monsters will make attempts cooperate to get the hero, but to get the soul one must strike the last blow and prepare defend themselves when roles change, one cannot be too cooperative with the temporary allies.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Support for up to 4 player local and online co-op
The game can be played with up to 4 other people on the same computer or over the internet, making this a good game to play on a Steam Machine in the living room if you can.
Pro Allows for different playstyles
There are 6 different classes to choose from: paladin, ranger, wizard, warlock, priest, and thief. Each offers a different way to play the game, giving you a fair amount of freedom in your play style.
Pro Open-ended character builds
Players can upgrade their characters as they progress through the game. By choosing to upgrade certain moves instead of others, players can create different builds that have their own strengths and weaknesses.
Pro Shared money-pool
Everyone gets money when someone collects it, but when spending it only subtracts money from your own "bank account".
Pro Unique gameplay, blend of cooperation and betrayal
Crawl has one lone hero enter a dungeon with objective to find the dungeon boss and strike it down. However, other players wish to take that glory as well, and will use all means possible to take the soul and spot in the story of the hero for themselves. Whoever players the hero, must struggle trough the dungeon, killing monsters and gaining money and experience to get new equipment and grow stronger. All the while other players will take control of monsters and traps to kill the hero. Monsters will make attempts cooperate to get the hero, but to get the soul one must strike the last blow and prepare defend themselves when roles change, one cannot be too cooperative with the temporary allies.
Pro Local (couch ) 2-4 asymmetric multiplayer
Crawl has built in support for local 2-4 player asymmetric multiplayer with 3 out of the 4 playing co-op against the main player.
Pro Replay value
As the game is played, different monsters are unlocked and dungeons change for each playthrough with different bosses making the game stay interesting as time goes on. Available items change each play-trough as well, players cannot choose same play-style each time as different weapons require different tactics.
Pro Retro graphics
The art style of Crawl is reminiscent of 8bit games of yore and yet are still detailed enough to have very different designs for the different monsters in the game.
Cons
Con Can get very repetitive
There's not much variety in the game, and killing waves of enemies in the same way can get a bit boring after a while. This is especially true if you’re playing single-player.
Con No online multiplayer
Obviously the game is designed around multiplayer play but sadly there is no online multiplayer included.