[Console] SteamWorld Heist 2 Review

[Aronus]

A charming nautical adventure that refines the original’s clever turn-based combat

It’s kind of an odd shift for a sequel to go from an outer space setting to a nautical one, but SteamWorld games have never shied away from being kind of odd. In fact, it’s their whole thing. There are direct connections between the silly swashbuckling story of SteamWorld Heist 2 and the original from 2015, but those take a while to show up – instead, much of Heist 2 feels completely separate as it gives you control of a submarine and a crew full of goofy robots in a colorfully cartoony ocean. This adventure takes place on a surprisingly large overworld map that’s packed with so many tough and tactically deep turn-based missions and lighter side activities that burning through them all took me around 40 hours.

The plot that ensues is appropriately light and fun, revolving around our borderline-competent one-armed captain, Quincy Leeway. He’s trying to escape the shadow of his famous mother and gathering a crew to discover the source of a rusty corruption that’s poisoning the water. I wouldn’t call any of the surprises shocking or its characters especially memorable (I suspect they’d be easier to love if their dialogue were fully voiced) but its robotic heart is firmly in the right place.

What is memorable is the music, for which the relentlessly charming band Steam Powered Giraffe returns with 15 delightfully catchy original songs that play when you’re visiting taverns between missions. I often found myself hanging around a little longer than I needed to in order to let them finish a verse about how nice it is to be a robot before heading back to my ship.

SteamWorld Heist 2’s 2D turn-based tactical gameplay is very similar to the original, but the controls are notably smoother (albeit still a little wonky on mouse and keyboard). Moving your team of one to five bots (depending on the mission) around a side-scrolling level to line up shots and snag loot within their two-action turns is a tricky challenge of efficiency, and having to escape an endlessly increasing stream of enemies as you complete a specific objective rather than just trying to clear the map gives a lot of missions a thrilling finale.

 

 

SteamWorld Heist 2 Review - IGN