‘Hamster Kombat’ Returns—Ought to You Faucet Again in for the ‘HamsterVerse’?

After amassing some 300 million gamers final yr in a tap-to-earn bubble that made surprising waves throughout the mainstream, Telegram recreation Hamster Kombat dropped its HMSTR token on The Open Network (TON) final September—to mostly negative reviews from recipients.

After which it simply type of… disappeared. What was deliberate to be a couple-weeks-long “interlude” gameplay season stretched on for months, and stopped being up to date after some time. The nameless devs teased a second full season of gameplay, then went quiet, finally saying it will be a part of a broader “HamsterVerse” of video games.

Now the HamsterVerse is right here, led by Tuesday’s launch of GameDev Heroes, which was deliberate to be the second season of the core recreation. In spite of everything these months, following the underwhelming airdrop and subsequent 77% worth plunge, do you have to faucet again in for one more spin across the Hamster wheel?

As teased, Hamster Kombat: GameDev Heroes turns the unique tap-to-earn premise right into a online game growth sim, the place you recruit programmers and artists, churn out video games, and earn extra cash alongside the way in which. It has the acquainted number-go-up vibe that drove hype across the unique recreation and lots of copycats, however with a brand new look.

And it’s bizarre. Creating video games appears like window dressing right here, even thinner than the unique “hamster-run crypto trade” premise. And the staff have weird names like Yizz Crunchy and Booby Hubble (actually), plus there are typos abound and awkward artwork that appears prefer it was generated by AI.

Frustratingly, GameDev Heroes has embraced the rising Telegram crypto gaming development of aggressive monetization, pushing premium gameplay upgrades that seem to solely be accessible to gamers who spend actual cash to purchase Telegram Stars. It’s a nasty search for a recreation that needs to be attempting to win again its former fan base.

In any other case, it feels lots just like the previous Hamster Kombat. Spending cash on upgrades continues to be extra precious than tapping, the acquainted daily combo and cipher code are round for a small increase, and… nicely, the numbers positive do get larger the extra you play. That’s considerably comforting as an individual who performed a very inane quantity of this recreation throughout a lot of 2024.

However enjoying a boring, repetitive recreation for numerous hours solely works when it’s pushed by pleasure and optimism. That’s just about all gone now—each for Hamster Kombat particularly, which flaked out on gamers for months after the token drop, and for the broader Telegram gaming scene, which has but to search out one other hit after many misfires.

After months of purported growth, Hamster Kombat: GameDev Heroes largely appears like an afterthought. And whereas there’s one other airdrop on the horizon, I’d be stunned if a dangling token reward entices almost as many gamers this time round, given the earlier end result.

As for the broader HamsterVerse, the opposite accessible recreation—a easy combating recreation known as Hamster Struggle Membership—is even much less compelling than final yr’s monotonous PixelTap. That leaves little optimism for the Hamster Increase and Hamster King video games which might be in beta testing, given the standard of what’s right here to date.

So do you have to drop into the HamsterVerse in the event you’ve been tuned out on all issues Hamster Kombat for the previous few months? Whereas it’s attainable that GameDev Heroes can be fleshed out and/or different video games can be extra engaging, not less than for now, it’s exhausting to imagine that the slog can be value no matter reward may be doled out.