It’s uncommon to see a brand new thought nailed on the primary attempt, however 2015’s SteamWorld Heist very a lot managed it. In an age the place squad-based tactical video games like XCOM have been massively fashionable, Heist requested a daring design query – how do you try this, however in 2D? The end result was an experiment gone very, very proper – a tight-knit technique expertise that noticed turn-based ways given a freeform twist, the place you managed the exact angle of each gunshot, performing outrageous ricochet trickshots, striving to attain completely executed spaceship heists, and desperately grabbing a great deal of collectible hats.
Sadly, the unique Heist by no means made it to Xbox consoles, however I’m very completely satisfied 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 every part round it larger and higher. Relocating the motion from outer house to the ocean, SteamWorld Heist II gives a extra explorable world, extra participant alternative, and new methods to tinker along with your squad, all set amid a brand new robot-pirate aesthetic.
Returning gamers will instantly discover how way more expansive this appears – the place the primary recreation 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 wish to head subsequent. Missions are plentiful, and are available in many kinds – some will see an entire 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 gives fame (a foreign money that successfully unlocks your progress via the sport), but additionally gives bounty factors, which could 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 say 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 skills will go greatest collectively, but additionally which smaller teams can complement each other to let you tackle as many missions as attainable.
This leads us to a different of Heist II’s huge modifications – any robotic can tackle any class by merely equipping them with the requisite weapon, however they will additionally switch skills from lessons they’ve already levelled up. It permits you to tinker along with your methods to a minute diploma – aided by the truth that each new character comes with private skills that solely they will use.
As soon as you start digging into the chances at your metallic fingertips, you’ll understand there’s an infinite flexibility right here. Personally, I’ve been an enormous fan of turning a crew member with the flexibility to fireplace 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 alternative kinds within the decade and extra they’ve been round – and its newest incarnation reveals no lack of that very same ambition. That is larger, longer, and extra open to your interpretation than any SteamWorld recreation earlier than, however nonetheless reveals the identical spark of genius that powered the unique Heist. In the event you didn’t play the unique, now’s the time to take a dive into SteamWorld Heist II’s excellent blue seas.
SteamWorld Heist II involves Xbox Sequence X|S, Xbox One, and Home windows PC on August 8.
