Water is one of the most important and unique compounds to exist in the universe: it is incredibly scarce outside of our planet, it is essential for all life as we know it, and it is even known as a natural corrosive due to its properties of weathering down anything over time. And most importantly, by all accounts water and machinery should not mix. …right?
SteamWorld Heist II, sequel to the acclaimed 2D turn-based tactical shooter SteamWorld Heist, dives headfirst into the impossible, crafting a tale of a machine society living atop the waters of a shattered planet Earth where gallons of water are everything. Stepping into the boots of Captain Quincy Leeway, son of a world-renowned hero, you embark on a path equal parts skullduggery and vigilantism while trying to fill the shoes of the legacy his mother left behind. But trouble is brewing: the water has become polluted, contaminated by an unknown source, and tensions are rising across the land. The Royal Navy has stepped in to protect the people, but they seem more intent on stuffing their own pockets than on helping those they’re supposed to serve. To keep the peace, protect the innocent, and perhaps to earn some real glory along the way, Captain Quincy steps up to the plate in his submarine to take on any evildoers that cross he and his crew’s path.
In-between missions, you explore the vast and open landscape of the waters, finding hidden locales to explore, dodging enemy fire and even engaging in real-time naval battles: when out on open water, your submarine can be equipped with three weapons: one facing to the front of your craft, one aiming out portside and starboard, and one to protect your rear. Tightly navigating around your enemies to stay out of their range while lining up your own shots is key, and so long as you remain afloat longer than your assailants you might just find yourself rewarded. Of course, sink your sub and you’ll be forced to swim back to safety, forfeiting any Bounties you might have accrued. Along the way you can come across plenty of loot and even create some for yourself by sinking the selfish navy: Gallons have become the main currency of the land ever since the water crisis began, and earning some will quickly become top priority. You may also encounter Fragments, useful and eccentric gemstones that can be used to upgrade both your submarine’s and your crewmates’ capabilities. You can also find new weapons, equipment, and most importantly, hats! Making a return from the previous title, collecting hats makes the world go round. Each new deckhand you hire comes equipped with a new noggin-attire, and you can “requisition” some from your foes by grazing them with a shot that nearly scraps their skull. The hats are all flashy, tasteful, lovable, essential, and most importantly, are completely cosmetic. Gotta get ‘em all!
On the subject of combat, the missions of the game are phenomenally designed: each scenario places a varying number of crewmates inside of enemy terrain. Each team member has 2 action points to use on movement and combat, but you can also sacrifice the option to attack in favor of extending how far you can go. These points can also be used on certain active abilities or on subweapons. Deciding where to position yourself on the battlefield is key: ducking behind cover decreases the angles you can be shot from, while getting up close and personal with a foe replaces your gun with a melee attack, which can either be a blessing or a curse depending on your strength, accuracy, and equipped weapon. After you’ve moved your crew and taken down as many enemies as you can, it’s their turn. The enemy moves around the battlefield with the same restrictions as the player, attacking with their own unique skills. While they can be weak and may all act similar, they can easily overwhelm you with their sheer numbers, surprising intelligence and luck, and movesets entirely unique to them. (…for now.) But don’t be worried about losing a crewmate. You are robots after all! If a crewmate is scrapped as the game calls it, they’ll be revived after resting to end the day. However, they’ll only earn half of the experience from the mission, so keeping them alive as long as possible is essential to growing stronger.
Enough with how you fight, let’s talk about what you’re fighting with! Each character begins with one of six Jobs that defines their playstyle. Each Job comes with its own upsides, downsides, and (most importantly) their own guns! Where this gets interesting is with Steamworld Heist 2’s unique take on how you level up: When completing a level, each character will gain experience not for themselves but instead for their equipped Job. You can freely swap each character’s Job by simply equipping a weapon from a different one. Here’s where the system gets deep: every crewmate can also equip a limited amount of abilities from their other classes while maintaining all the benefits of their current class for free. This offers up risk and reward: you can focus in on a character’s starting class to unlock their most powerful abilities for use when leveling up other classes at the risk of returning to a much weaker state when you swap, or you can spread out your skills and become a jack of all trades at the cost of needing more time to invest into getting the most powerful skills possible. Either option is completely valid, and you can even swap strategies while needed and change tactics from character to character.
After completing a mission and safely extracting, your equipped crewmates will need to take a breather, only refreshing after you call it a day at a safe harbor. Resting also completely restores the health of your submarine, so you might consider returning to port after every quest. Think twice, however, since each mission you complete also earns you a Bounty that you can only cash in when you rest, with some items being more expensive than a single mission can afford. This quickly becomes an interesting balance of risk and reward: while traveling between missions you’ll frequently find yourself forced into combat and having to quickly decide whether to hold your ground or run away. The longer you voyage, the larger Bounty you rack up, but if you sink you lose it all, which is especially harrowing when you completely tire out your crew following a mission and have to book it to town with low submarine health. In this way, even traversing between missions is made into its own gamble, and you’ll have to decide if it’s worth risking higher rewards.
Outside of the main gameplay, the game features yet another example of the gorgeous artstyle of the SteamWorld games. The world feels vibrant, adventurous, and free out on the open ocean, and I even noted that the open water seemed beautiful to me. This excellent and colorful design of the natural world and of lived-in spaces is wonderfully contrasted with the more pristine yet robotic and unfeeling designs of the Navy’s ships, ports and buildings. Even the characters themselves are reflective of this, with the various common folk and crew featuring decidedly more colorful designs with an aspect of rust or wear and tear on them compared to the sterile and sleek blue and silver steel of the Navy. This matches excellently with the incredible sound design and music of the game, which features several original songs from returning band Steam Powered Giraffe. Having composed the music for the previous game, their powerful performances drive home the world of the game, providing a sense of scale while on the water, tension while in combat, unease while scouring in search of treasure and enemies alike, and the feeling of a lived-in world when you encounter the band playing live music at a bar. The game also prominently features several original songs with english lyrics, which were a surprise treat for me and truly cemented this game as a project of passion and incredible talent.
SteamWorld Heist II expands on the original formula and takes the plunge into a new, unique direction. After the previous installment’s emphasis on space travel, returning to a more down-to-earth (no pun intended) scale, style of traversal and overall world is a welcome breath of fresh air. The game features an incredible balance of real-time and turn-based combat strategy and prides itself on being accessible to any and all players. Prominently displayed are the game’s many difficulty options, as well as a custom difficulty selector to tailor the game to your needs, a first in my entire gaming experience. The game has incredible heart and always calls back to the story at its core and the issues of identity, legacy, greed, and the struggle to find a place in the world. I wholeheartedly recommend SteamWorld Heist II to anybody interested in giving it a go, you won’t be disappointed. As for Captain Quincy, I have a feeling he’ll be finding his path much sooner than he thinks, as I’ll be ravenously enjoying the game while I wait for the announcement of a SteamWorld Dig 3.
To the entire SteamWorld team, hats off to you. …and not just because you shot it to steal it.
SteamWorld Heist II launches August 8, 2024 for PC via Steam. You can wishlist the game right now.
Related: Reviews by Aaron Grossmann
Gaming is a passion that I, like many other people, hold near and dear to my heart. As an aspiring Game Writer and general Storyteller, I enjoy looking into the vast worlds and deep stories of every game I can. Then again, sometimes bad guys just need a good pummeling, and I am more than happy to provide!
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