It’s uncommon to see a brand new concept nailed on the primary strive, however 2015’s SteamWorld Heist very a lot managed it. In an age the place squad-based tactical video games like XCOM have been vastly in style, Heist requested a daring design query – how do you do this, however in 2D? The outcome was an experiment gone very, very proper – a tight-knit technique expertise that noticed turn-based techniques given a freeform twist, the place you managed the exact angle of each gunshot, performing outrageous ricochet trickshots, striving to realize completely executed spaceship heists, and desperately grabbing hundreds of collectible hats.
Sadly, the unique Heist by no means made it to Xbox consoles, however I’m very pleased to say that its sequel will arrive in your console or PC tomorrow, August 8. SteamWorld Heist II returns with a brand new design query – how do you make a sequel to one thing that felt so full? The reply is to maintain the core of the motion intact, and make all the pieces round it larger and higher. Relocating the motion from outer area to the ocean, SteamWorld Heist II presents a extra explorable world, extra participant selection, and new methods to tinker together with your squad, all set amid a brand new robot-pirate aesthetic.
Returning gamers will instantly discover how far more expansive this appears – the place the primary sport noticed you travelling down a broadly linear map of missions, you now management a dinky submarine, bodily guiding your vessel throughout the seas, taking down enemy ships in miniature real-time battles, and selecting the place you need to head subsequent. Missions are plentiful, and are available in many kinds – some will see a complete squad having to outlive for a set variety of turns, others could have you pitting a single character towards a gauntlet of challenges.
Every mission nonetheless presents popularity (a forex that successfully unlocks your progress via the sport), but in addition presents bounty factors, which may be spent on a sequence of rewards. In a single in-game day, every squad member can solely participate in a single mission – and also you shortly realise there’s an artwork to creating certain you squeeze in each mission attainable, earlier than crusing to an area bar for a relaxation, and an opportunity to assert all of your bounties.
It’s a small mechanical choice with main ramifications – as you construct your ragtag group of robots (hiring new ones alongside the best way), you don’t simply want to consider which set of weapons and talents will go greatest collectively, but in addition which smaller teams can complement each other to help you tackle as many missions as attainable.
This leads us to a different of Heist II’s large modifications – any robotic can tackle any class by merely equipping them with the requisite weapon, however they’ll additionally switch talents from lessons they’ve already levelled up. It permits you to tinker together with your methods to a minute diploma – aided by the truth that each new character comes with private talents that solely they’ll use.
As soon as you start digging into the probabilities at your metallic fingertips, you’ll notice there’s an unlimited flexibility right here. Personally, I’ve been an enormous fan of turning a crew member with the flexibility to fireside a large laser that pierces a number of enemies right into a Flanker, providing them bonus harm for hitting enemies from behind – there’s nothing higher than travelling throughout the map to line up an ideal shot and taking out three enemies directly.
It’s one other daring transfer from a daring sequence – SteamWorld video games have are available in many completely different kinds within the decade and extra they’ve been round – and its newest incarnation exhibits no lack of that very same ambition. That is larger, longer, and extra open to your interpretation than any SteamWorld sport earlier than, however nonetheless exhibits the identical spark of genius that powered the unique Heist. Should you didn’t play the unique, now’s the time to take a dive into SteamWorld Heist II’s good blue seas.
SteamWorld Heist II involves Xbox Sequence X|S, Xbox One, and Home windows PC on August 8.