The SteamWorld series is a little bit like the sprawling menagerie of Pixar films. While these games share a particular steampunk style and aesthetic, developer Image & Form has consistently surprised and delighted as they explore different genres and game styles with each and every game. Almost. Just like Pixar being lured back for Toy Story, Cars and Monsters Inc. sequels, SteamWorld is also returning to one of its most popular stomping grounds with SteamWorld Heist 2.
The original SteamWorld Heist arrived in 2015, tipping the turn-based strategy XCOM-like format on its side, quite literally. Instead of having a birds eye view of proceedings, moving characters on an isometric world grid, the game switched to a side-scrolling 2D view, putting a lot more emphasis on layers and elevation, as well as player skill as opposed to percentage hit chances.
Truth be told, as much as I loved its core concept – enough to buy the game three or four times in various deep discount sales – I never actually played SteamWorld Heist for more than a few hours. I might have to try and right this wrong, after settling in for the opening of SteamWorld Heist 2.
Thankfully, while they share a gameplay core, SteamWorld Heist 2 tells a completely new story. Set in a fragment of a planet that’s covered in water and small islands, Steambots are being subjugated by the Royal Navy and their fleet of Dieselbots, the fresh water that they need to survive is becoming ever more scarce, with the salty sea water corroding and destroying any that resort to it.
Enter the hero of the piece, Captain Leeway. Well, actually he’s the one-armed son of the legendary Captain “Krakenbane” Leeway, and has struggled all his life to live up to the expectations of greatness that are heaped upon him. Also his submarine just got commandeered by the Royal Navy, and it’s halfway been stripped for parts.
The game’s opening sees you get to grips with the game’s take on turn-based strategy with some of Leeway’s crew – it was his gun-shootin’ arm that got blasted off, so he doesn’t actually do any fighting for himself. Daisy Clutch and Wesley Hotchkiss charge through the Navy’s rank and file, taking cover, ricocheting bullets, chucking grenades and more on their way to securing the sub.
It’s a fun opener that very quickly introduces the game’s core mechanics – characters have two action points, Daisy’s sniper rifle has an aim line that sways and you time your shots while Wesley’s SMG does not, and you’ll want to master bullet ricochet, spot explosive barrels and more. It also builds up to a neat crescendo of a boss encounter against Commander Batterfaux and his big shark-themed mech suit, with big AOE missile strikes that keep you moving while you chip away at it, shattering the windscreen, blasting off the fuel tank, and the like.
From there, missions come in several varieties, from simple ship clearing jobs to races against time as loot threatens to decay, defensive missions to survive a dozen turns, tasks to take out a particular enemy character, and more.
Who you take into a mission is pretty simple to decide early on – you’ve just got Daisy and Wesley until you can recruit some more – but as missions get bigger and your crew grows, you’ll have to choose between characters in different jobs. Brawler, Boomer, Engineer, Sniper, Reaper, and Flanker each come with their specific main weapon and skill tree to work through, but as with many RPG job systems, you’ll eventually be able to switch characters to a different job and mix and match skills and abilities. I’m looking forward to exploring this aspect more as I get deeper into the game.
With SteamWorld Heist 2 diving into the wet stuff, the between mission action is now a fun little sailing game as you pilot the submarine between missions, safe havens where you can rest up and grab upgrades, and battling with smaller Navy ships.
Cap’n Leeway’s sub has been stripped of all its good stuff by the Navy, so you (in)conveniently have to start from scratch, scavenging your first weapon and trying to get air tanks to allow you to submerge again. This ship combat is a neat little diversion with three weapon slots that automatically fire from the front, sides and top of the sub. The initial machine guns I go could blast away to either side, each salvo then needing a little cooldown before it fires again. With how manoeuvrable the submarine is – it practically drifts when turning – I quickly mastered a good little spin trick to fire with one side and then the other to deal with these initial Royal Navy ships in a matter of seconds.
The sailing overworld is lovely and bright, as you peel back the clouds shrouding the gorgeously azure waters and tropical islands on the opening region – I also love the smooth jazz of the soundtrack in this area. That’s immediately contrasted with the dank and moody interiors of the submarine, ports and enemy ships you raid, though there’s plenty of nice touches to the backdrops. It’s neat to see how Image & Form’s art style has evolved, retaining their long-standing aesthetic, but now seemingly using 3D models as opposed to layered digital art.
I’m still only bobbing on the surface of SteamWorld Heist 2 and the overarching story of Captain Leeway’s redemption arc, the Royal Navy’s incursion and other narrative threads, but there’s also all the depths of the jobs and combat to explore, and I’m keen to dive, dive, dive back in for our review.
