SteamWorld Heist 2 – Game Review

SteamWorld Heist 2

Switch Review

SteamWorld Heist 2 is the turn-based shooter game sequel to the original game released over 9 years ago and is now available on all consoles & PC.

I played the Switch port of the game as it was the system that I played and 100% the original game on, so it makes it easier to compare and contrast both games and see the improvements after nearly a decade.

Pros:

Gameplay.

The game features similar gameplay to the original game, where the player controls a party of Steambots and deploys them on a variety of missions, with the grand goal of fixing the environment with it’s pro-environmental goal of clearing up the toxic pollution that has contaminated the water and poisoning all Steambots and creatures.

However, this time the gameplay changes from a point-to-point map in the original to now a fully explorable open world complete with vehicle combat, as the player engages the enemy in both ship to ship and submarine to submarine combat.

So, while the pacing feels slower due to missions being more difficult and slower to get to, it has opened up exploration more now with hidden puzzles and challenges, as the player explores the entire map from coast to coast in a very Wind Waker aspect.

World design.

Set after the original SteamWorld Heist and far in the future of the SteamWorld Dig where the Earth was destroyed and blown apart. As this game takes place on one of the many shards of a destroyed Earth whereas the Steambots try to survive on an ocean-based shard.

But just because it’s based on an Ocean shard doesn’t mean that it’s lacking in a varied locale, as it opens on a very temperate Caribbean setting before players make their way North beyond the great wall to an Artic based region, that features new hazards and impasses for the player. Then at the very end of the game it sees the player use their submarine mode to submerge deep beneath the ocean to reach the core of the shard, bringing exotic dangers and the most powerful enemies and bosses in the game to test players.

Character design.

A carry over from the original game is the very inventive character designs with it’s distinctive art style and for the sequel the artists have made every character very unique in appearance that impacts gameplay and their initial class.

For example, the default Bruiser characters are big beefy Steambots, but don’t look that similar, instead being distinct with one looking like a cross between Arcee from Transformers Generation 1 and a pink 1950’s Cadillac. To another character who starts off as a Flanker but has avian features, so they get the skills to jump higher and have increased mobility.

Music.

This game has a soundtrack done by Steam Powered Giraffe and has quickly become one of my favourite videogame OSTs of all time.

Their style fits this game perfectly and is a mix of folk music and classic sea shanties that are very relaxing and fit the game perfectly.

I would recommend players listen to the soundtrack on Spotify when traveling the open world since the natural ambiance can get repetitive but the vocal tracks of SPG are a great break. Otherwise, they are limited to their appearance in the many taverns and since players aren’t at them long enough, so the tracks are often missed by players.

Difficulty.

The game on standard difficulty balances difficulty with enjoyment to not make the game too annoying but the game has the option for players to customise every aspect of the game from enemy damage to enemy ships spawning on the open world map.

So, players of all skill types can play this game and finish it whether they want a challenge or a more mallow time to just enjoy the story with the laid-back gameplay.

Lore.

While not needed to enjoy the game or it’s story, it is a good continuation of the original game set decades in the future with some returning elements.

So, if players have a chance, I would recommend playing the first game as it will lead to a great enjoyment of the story and the character back stories.

Cons:

Mid game pacing.

The pacing for the early and late game is fine but towards the end of the mid game the player is forced to backtrack across the entire map for certain events.

Without spoilers it’s most akin in tone to finding the Triforce Shards in the original Wind Waker and since there is no fast travel it takes way too long to reach each event.  

No fast travel.

Given how big the new open world map is and how spread out all the missions are the game really felt like it needed to have a fast travel system to warp between all the taverns at least.

This would have solved the issue with the mid game pacing that featured a lot of backtracking, that felt like just extra padding.

As currently if you wait till the post game to get all the perfect star rankings for every mission when your team is max level with the best equipment in the game, it takes way to long to cover the entire map.

Class system.

Since no character is locked to a single class in the sequel it makes every character feel too similar, as they only have 2 unique skills that don’t contribute too much to gameplay.

So, every character plays pretty much the same once they have skills from every class and every weapon open to them.

I preferred the system in the original game where each character felt distinct and they contributed to missions in unique ways, so more thought had to be used to if they were suited for a particular mission.

Repetitive combat.

Once you get into the midgame and have your party set up with weapons and skills from different classes nothing really shakes up the gameplay, except getting slightly stronger weapon drops and mission variety.

Lacking post game content.

After beating the final boss, the game puts you back on the world map and rewinds progress to before they are destroyed, with no new content unlocked.

Conclusion.

A great follow-up to one of my personal favourite Indie games and I would highly recommend it to players of the first game. Then even to people who are new to the franchise, since you don’t require prior game knowledge to enjoy the game, as it is a great tactics game that’s enjoyable by all ages and skill levels.

It also does not overstay it’s welcome as I was able to 100% the game (Minus some missed optional hats that aren’t tracked) in just over 19 hours. This means it took a little over 4 hours longer than my time to 100% the original SteamWorld Heist game.

Score: 9.0