‘Hamster Kombat’ Returns—Should You Tap Back in for the ‘HamsterVerse’?
After amassing some 300 million gamers final 12 months in a tap-to-earn bubble that made surprising waves throughout the mainstream, Telegram sport Hamster Kombat dropped its HMSTR token on The Open Community (TON) final September—to principally unfavourable evaluations from recipients.
After which it simply form 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, ultimately 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 sport. In any case these months, following the underwhelming airdrop and subsequent 77% worth plunge, must you faucet again in for one more spin across the Hamster wheel?
Screenshots from Hamster Kombat: GameDev Heroes. Picture: Decrypt
As teased, Hamster Kombat: GameDev Heroes turns the unique tap-to-earn premise right into a online game improvement 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 authentic sport and plenty of copycats, however with a brand new look.
And it’s bizarre. Creating video games seems like window dressing right here, even thinner than the unique “hamster-run crypto alternate” premise. And the workers 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 foul search for a sport that ought to be making an attempt to win again its former fan base.
In any other case, it feels so much just like the outdated Hamster Kombat. Spending cash on upgrades remains to be extra invaluable than tapping, the acquainted every day combo and cipher code are round for a small enhance, and… properly, the numbers certain do get larger the extra you play. That’s considerably comforting as an individual who performed a very inane quantity of this sport throughout a lot of 2024.
However enjoying a boring, repetitive sport 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 improvement, Hamster Kombat: GameDev Heroes principally seems like an afterthought. And whereas there’s one other airdrop on the horizon, I’d be shocked if a dangling token reward entices almost as many gamers this time round, given the earlier outcome.
Picture: Decrypt
As for the broader HamsterVerse, the opposite accessible sport—a easy preventing sport referred to as Hamster Struggle Membership—is even much less compelling than final 12 months’s monotonous PixelTap. That leaves little optimism for the Hamster Enhance and Hamster King video games which might be in beta testing, given the standard of what’s right here thus far.
So must you drop into the HamsterVerse for those who’ve been tuned out on all issues Hamster Kombat for the previous couple of months? Whereas it’s potential that GameDev Heroes can be fleshed out and/or different video games can be extra attractive, at the very least for now, it’s laborious to consider that the slog can be price no matter reward is likely to be doled out.
