Thunderful
Back in 2015 , developer Image & Form was thrive in the Nintendo 3DS epoch . Its gameSteamWorld Dighad a breakthrough moment two years before , bringing fresh fans to its unique steampunk earthly concern . Rather than following that up with a quick and easy sequel , it would veer into unexpended champaign withSteamWorld Heist . It was n’t anotherDig Dug - comparable platformer , but a spell - based strategy plot that played more likeWorms . Though it may not be as popular asSteamWorld Digand its sequel , it ’s a hidden gem that ’s been begging for a sequel .
That ’ll happen on August 8 withSteamWorld Heist 2 . The sequel builds on the original ’s winning formula , while taking it to new stature . I got a sentiency of just how much prominent it is when sitting down for a demo atSummer Game Festearlier this calendar month . Imagine the jumping in ambit between the first two SteamWorld Dig games , and that ’s what you could carry fromSteamWorld Heist 2 .
When my demo begin , I ’m quickly reintroduced to some familiar gameplay . I ’m control a squad of bots who I can move around 2D quad filled with enemy and loot . Each bot has two actions per round , which I can use to shoot , reload , or drop a special big businessman . When I film , I ask to aim my stab , sometimes with the aid of a optical maser sight that show me my smoke ’s path . When I ’m not press , I can open up doors to salvage for treasure and piss , which is a currency used to buy upgrade .
That ’s all from the first game , but I get to see the scope slip when I whizz along out of struggle and find myself control a gravy boat . While the original game had musician progressing through its story by take nodes on a map , this one plunk down players into an explorable overworld . musician guide on a boat through an ocean where they can sail off to objectives and find secret shops . There ’s even a bit of ship fight , as the gravy holder ( which can be outfitted with upgrade ) will auto - fire at passing foe . It ’s an only novel stratum to gameplay that reminds me of the room in whichSteamWorld Dig 2turned its predecessor into afull - on Metroidvania .
The new feature do n’t stop there , though . Combat is much more complex this prison term around thanks to a new job system . Each bot can be outfitted with a class that comes with its own set of skills . One is more of a marksman that have improved purpose , while another is a tank who can daunt into enemies from afar . What ’s exciting is that family can be miscellaneous and match . Each one has skills that are automatically fit out , but player can allocate points to equip skills from any other class so long as they ’ve unlocked them . peradventure you want to have an SMG - lug healer who can toss grenades , or a long - range shooting iron exploiter who can get up confining and personal too . Builds like that are potential , bring more synergistic complexity to the turn - based scrap .
role player will really take to get strategic , too . After play some early biz missions , I was brought forwards to a much more thought-provoking late game one . I had to command my crew around a bigger ship and discover three control panels . When I hear to split the party to multitask , I got eliminate . I carry a lot of challenges like that consider that Image & Form is count on a 15- to 30 - time of day experience here .
As someone who has dug just about every SteamWorld game to date , I have high promise forSteamWorld Heist 2 . It face like a bigger , dependable rendering of one of Image & Form ’s good and render that the society is n’t just making sequels for the rice beer of make sequels . It wait until it has a good idea on how it can evolve a concept rather than just doing it again . I ’ve already got my finger crossed that 2019’sSteamWorld Quest : Hand of Gilgamechis next in line for an evolution .
SteamWorld Heist 2launches on August 8 for PlayStation 4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X / S , Nintendo Switch , and PC .
