SteamWorld Heist Reviews

Image & Form Games released one of my favourite indie games back in 2017, SteamWorld Dig 2. This game had a simple look but utilised some deep mechanics and always had me pushing just that little bit further to mine for more and more minerals. I fell in love with the world and characters and I am happy to say that Image& Form have once again knocked it out of the park with SteamWorld Quest.

Developer Image & Form takes its steampunk robots into the RPG realm with SteamWorld Quest. With memorable characters, an engaging battle system, and beautiful graphics, this Switch title should prove enjoyable to many RPGamers.

Image & Form Games have become a Nindie darling for some time now. They are well known for their audacious titles that spawn multiple genres, all within the same and highly versatile universe of SteamWorld. SteamWorld is an alternate reality where humans have scattered into the underground as steam-powered robots began to evolve and eventually claim the world. In each of its completely different incarnations, SteamWorld gives the player control of some of these wacky and lovable steam-bots to...

Earth is all destroyed from extensive mining, and now the surviving robots must continue on with life in space. But it's easier said than done, especially when you have pirates and power hungry groups running around trying to take all the resources for themselves. Take Captain Piper Faraday and your crew from space ship to space ship as you partake in tactical turn-based shootouts, and extensive hat looting.

SteamWorld Heist, like the other SteamWorld games before it, is simple yet complex. It is a very accessible turn-based RPG with a lot of character. The characters are interesting and the core gameplay is very engaging. All of that wrapped up in a Firefly-like space adventure makes this a game that is very difficult for me to put down.

SteamWorld Heist is a charming title and a great experience that, nevertheless, requires you to think about how you approach every scenario. The manual aiming adds a layer of challenge and complexity to it. The world it creates oozes personality, the writing is witty and the music is in tone with the desired atmosphere. If you’re looking for some turn-based 2D action, there are Steambots out there waiting for your help.

Shared universes certainly seem to have become a bit of a thing in recent years, and it's easy to see why they're attractive to game developers. Not only do you get the chance to genre jump between games, but you can also immediately pique the interest of anyone who enjoyed your previous efforts. Such is the case with Image & Form's SteamWorld series, which has hopped from tower defence (SteamWorld Tower Defence), to dig-em-up (SteamWorld Dig), and finally to a tactical turn based shooter, with SteamWorld Heist.

This is a game about space-faring pirate robots with a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, whats not to love? SteamWorld Heist is the successor to 2013’s SteamWorld Dig and instead of expanding on that game’s mix of action and crafting mechanics, they have turned to a new approach that really capitalizes on engrossing mechanics and complex, nuanced system. These allow the experience to further outdo itself despite the lacking story and repetitive mission objectives.

I thoroughly recommend it, for those looking for something erring much more toward the more casual end of the strategy world, the only region of the genre with which I’m comfortable. It’s bright, breezy, light and fun, and perhaps, after all, that’s enough.

SteamWorld Heist is an amazing, brave and ambitious indirect sequel that keeps true to the SteamWorld universe.

Heist has five difficulty levels to choose from which is probably for the best as its difficulty can spike furiously from mission to mission, especially in boss encounters. Higher difficulties offer a penalty to the water you’ve collected for failing or aborting a mission but offer an increase to XP earned at the end. I played on a mix of difficulty levels and found “normal” to be challenging but fair with casual being where my personal tastes lie. I found anything beyond normal required a degree of strategy and patience that I’m not known for. I am certain that any player can find something here that will challenge them appropriately and Image & Form should be commended for rewarding players seeking a challenge without penalizing those just looking for a good time.

While I wasn’t completely sold on the limited inventory space available, the penalties for death, and the initial ease of the game, Steamworld Heist made for a great time. Tactical combat on a 2D plane is hard to make engaging and the occasional urgency of the short levels made for some badass moments where a sharp shot sealed the deal. A competent, if completely different second outing in the SteamWorld universe.

Two years ago, Image & Form released SteamWorld Dig, a platforming mining simulation with light Metroid elements. The game was fun, but many bypassed this downloadable 3DS title altogether. Thankfully, Image & Form has figured out how to expand on its SteamWorld universe with another SteamWorld project that can stand on its own completely. This time around, the team was clearly inspired by turn-based strategy games like XCOM. However, SteamWorld Heist’s unique twist is that all of the action takes place from a 2D side-scrolling view. Surprisingly, this system works fairly well.

Steamworld Heist stole my heart. The characters are charming, the combat is addictive, and the Firefly-style adventure made every battle a blast. Besides some annoying instances of post-battle maintenance, I rarely felt the need to power down these robots.

Free aiming and ricochet shots bring wild life to this exquisite turn-based blaster.

A superb mix of action and strategy that should be enough to convince everyone that turn-based doesn’t have to mean slow or serious.

SteamWorld Heist is both a great entry point for people who normally shy away from strategy games and a good recommendation for veterans. With a deep combat system and a sliding difficulty scale, pretty much everyone can find something they’ll like.

Still, the fact that I want to go back and grind some missions to level up my less developed characters speaks to SteamWorld Heist's longevity and satisfying appeal. Image & Form has another retro-inspired gem here, and has further established that like its denizens, SteamWorld stands for piecing together something great from a box of spare parts.