‘ Hamster Kombat ‘ Returns—Should You Tap Up in for the’ HamsterVerse’?

Hamster Kombat dropped its HMSTR token on The Open Network ( TON ) last September after amassing some 300 million players last year in a tap-to-earn bubble that caused unanticipated waves across the mainstream.

And then it really kind of… disappeared. What was planned to be a couple-weeks-long “interlude” play time stretched on for decades, and stopped being updated after a while. The private developers teased a subsequent full period of game, then went silent, later saying it would be part of a broader” HamsterVerse” of activities.

Then the HamsterVerse is ok, led by Tuesday’s release of GameDev Heroes, which was planned to be the second year of the main activity. Should you click again in for another spin around the Hamster vehicle after all these months, following the unsatisfying resupply and the subsequent 77 % rate drop?

As teased, Hamster Kombat: GameDev Heroes turns the initial tap-to-earn idea into a video game development phone, where you attract engineers and designers, churn out activities, and earn more coins along the way. It has the common number-go-up feeling that drove buzz around the classic game and many copycats, but with a new appearance.

And it’s crazy. Developing activities feels like window washing below, even thinner than the original “hamster-run bitcoin exchange” idea. Additionally, there are numerous typos and awkward artwork that appear to have been created by AI, such as Yizz Crunchy and Booby Hubble ( really ).

Uncomfortably, GameDev Heroes has adopted the intense marketing craze for Telegram crypto games, pushing advanced gameplay upgrades that appear to be only accessible to players who purchase Telegram Stars. It’s a poor look for a game that should be attempting to resurrect its original fan center.

Then, it feels a lot like the ancient Hamster Kombat. The common everyday duo and cipher code are around for a little boost, and the numbers certain do acquire bigger the more you play, but spending money on upgrades is still more important than tapping. That’s a little comforting as someone who spent a lot of time playing this game in 2024.

However, playing a dull, uninteresting game for hours on end only works when it’s motivated by excitement and optimism. That’s pretty much all gone now, especially with Hamster Kombat, which was notoriously unpopular with players for months following the token drop, and with the rest of the Telegram gaming scene, which hasn’t found another hit despite numerous errors.

After months of purported development, Hamster Kombat: GameDev Heroes mostly feels like an afterthought. And despite the fact that another airdrop is looming, I wouldn’t be surprised if a dangling token reward, given the previous result, entices nearly as many players this time around.

As for the wider HamsterVerse, the other available game—a simple fighting game called Hamster Fight Club—is even less compelling than last year’s monotonous PixelTap. Given the caliber of the content so far, there is little reason to be optimistic about the Hamster Boost and Hamster King games that are in beta testing.

Should you join the HamsterVerse if you’ve been tuning out of Hamster Kombat for the past few months? It’s possible that GameDev Heroes will be developed and/or other games will be more appealing, at least for the time being, but it’s unlikely that the work will be worthwhile.