SteamWorld Heist II

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy-RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in the SteamWorld Heist Complete Bundle, along with SteamWorld Heist: Ultimate Edition. It is also included in SteamWorld Heist II & SteamWorld Build Bundle, along with SteamWorld Build. Additionally, it is included in SteamWorld Essentials Collection, along with SteamWorld Build, SteamWorld Dig, SteamWorld Dig 2, SteamWorld Heist: Ultimate Edition, and SteamWorld Quest: Hand of Gilgamech.)

SteamWorld Heist II, released in 2024 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, is a side-scrolling Turn-Based Strategy-RPG that follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, with players controlling a rickety crew of steam-powered robots fighting other robots in a game that adds the SteamWorld charm to a piratey adventure.

Rather than following the plot and characters of the first SteamWorld Heist, this sequel heads to a different setting, one of the fragments of Earth ruined in some cataclysm that have now been settled by robots, who find themselves brought into conflict with each other when the precious water many of them depend on starts to become harmful to them, causing them to corrode. Players command the crew of Captain Quincy Leeway, who seeks to make a name for himself adventuring on the high seas and step out from under the shadow of his famous pirate mother, with his quest putting him at odds with the oppressive Dieselbot Royal Navy, other pirates and scavengers, and other threats.

I think I prefer the seafaring tale of SteamWorld Heist II over the spacefaring story of the original game, and find its characters a bit more memorable. As for the rest of the presentation, we once again have some nice 2D visuals with a lot of personality to them, once again doing a great job of making the post-apocalyptic world of the SteamWorld franchise come across as a historical adventure, with some nice-looking water on the game’s world map.

This is presentation is greatly helped by the game’s lovely soundtrack, which includes both lovely folk and vaudeville-style vocal themes like It’s Not the Way, Dancing in Our Graves, Faring in the Ocean, The Steam Rises, Sparks Will Fly, as well as some gorgeous mostly-acoustic instrumental versions of those themes, with some good examples being Heist Ahoy!, It’s Not the Way (Instrumental Version), Faring in the Ocean (Instrumental Version), and Dancing in Our Graves (Instrumental Version). I’ve overall quite enjoyed the SteamWorld franchise pretty much since its inception, but this is the first time I’ve done a double-take at one of the franchise’s soundtracks and said to myself “woah, this is actually really good”.

When it comes to the gameplay, SteamWorld Heist II addresses one of the biggest issues I had with the first SteamWorld Heist, the lack of character customization. One of this game’s biggest changes is the addition of a weapon-based class system, where your bots learn class-based skills based on the weapon they’re using, can swap classes by changing their weapon, and can even use ability points to use dual-class skills. It’s a big shift from the character-based abilities of the first game, and one I very much appreciate.

Combat is otherwise fairly similar – each of your units can perform up to two actions per turn, with attacks requiring players to line up their sights with enemies, with helpful sight lines and less weapon sway for more accurate weapons and more skilled marksmen. Different missions have different goals, with some having you take out enemies, some having you hunt down a treasure within a limited number of turns, and some having you surviving waves of spawning enemies. Everything here works fairly well, as far as combat goes.

There are a few changes here that are less-successful though. The new seafaring locale has you moving a ship around and exploring a map, which is great, but that map is filled with ship-based enemy encounters that seem to have little consequence and seem a bit like padding. Speaking of padding, after every mission, you’re required to recoup back in a bar before taking on another, and can’t even do so much as change equipment without doing so. This drags on the game’s pacing, and is far less satisfying than if the game let you just swap a few pieces of equipment and upgrade skills in a menu before leaping into the next mission.

Overall, I think SteamWorld Heist II is a marked improvement over its predecessor, and the changes to setting and character customization, as well as the superb soundtrack, are all fantastic. And while I do think this game has frustrating pacing issues, this is still well worth playing for any fan of Strategy-RPGs.

tl;dr – SteamWorld Heist II is a side-scrolling Turn-Based Strategy-RPG that shifts its setting to a seafaring steampunk robot adventure, with a new weapon-based class system that adds some nice customization the first game lacked, along with an excellent soundtrack. There are some pacing issues, but overall this is a step up from the previous game, and absolutely a game that Strategy-RPG fans should pick up.

Grade: B+

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