SteamWorld Heist II

SteamWorld Heist II is a tactics game in which you control a shipful of ragtag crewmates in an ocean world on the brink of calamity. The gameplay alternates between turn-based battles and real-time boat-to-boat shooting, while also featuring strong narrative elements. The turn-based combat really shines on the higher difficulty settings, requiring careful planning of every step and every action to survive the tough battles.

The game is set in the SteamWorld universe, an alternate history starting on Earth with the development of steam-powered bots back in the 19th century. This timeline is explored in the various SteamWorld games, through the evolution of steambots from simple defense towers to fully functional intelligent beings, and the rise of steam, electric and diesel factions colonizing the various shards left in the wake of Earth’s destruction. Heist II follows the events of Heist, building on its already rich lore, but previous knowledge about the SteamWorld games is otherwise not required to take part in the campaign.

Much of the gameplay revolves around conquering enemy ships through turn-based tactical combat. Each faction takes its turn, and every bot has two action points, which can be used either for walking or for using one of their abilities. Firing the bot’s main gun is the principal action, but there are many other abilities or items to use. These point-based actions are also mixed with a bunch of free ones, so in a single turn you could fire sidearms, throw grenades, boost your team’s morale, and then fire the main gun.

There’s a lot of strategy involved in combat. Each bot has personal skills along with class-based skills, so it’s crucial to choose the right bot armed with the right weapons when starting a mission. Proper use of terrain matters, since you can duck behind obstacles, shoot from above, or line up and shoot through multiple enemies using piercing weapons. You should also be deliberate about when and against whom using your items and abilities, since they have very few uses with lengthy cooldowns. Speed is important too, many missions have a turn limit after which the epic loot is destroyed, or have tiered alarms with more and more powerful enemies joining after a number of turns.

Heist II includes additional gameplay between missions. You’ll be chatting up NPCs, leveling up your characters and your submarine, and also fighting real-time naval skirmishes against enemy vessels when navigating the overworld. While secondary, the RPG aspects make this a well-rounded game.

There are plenty of difficulty options, including a fully customizable experience in which you choose how hard each aspect of the game should be. The lowest difficulty enables you to complete the missions without much of a hassle, in order to advance the story. But the higher the difficulty, the more you have to think and plan every move, every bot you bring in a mission, every ability you use, every enemy you destroy. And the good news is that if you mess up a turn, you can undo it. Missions are of good length, usually around 10-20 turns, more on higher difficulty.

One aspect that you may or may not like is that a bit of chance is involved. When shooting, you don’t have perfect aim, the arm sways a bit, so you may miss. Critical shots are random. Each time you play a level, there’s some randomness in the type of enemy bots you’ll encounter. And during the enemy’s turn, they may also randomly miss their shots or trigger criticals. This is good for replayability, but it keeps it from being a purely deterministic strategy game.

This description was written by Sergiu Dumitriu.