SteamWorld Heist 2 Review — Full steam ahead

SteamWorld Heist 2 sets sail as a sequel to the beloved turn-based tactics shooter, replacing the game’s spacefaring setting with a swashbuckling open-sea adventure. In a world inhabited by steam-powered robots, clean water is in short supply, and it’s down to Captain Leeway (that’s you!) and his crew to heist the Great Sea in search of answers, loot, and hats. Lots of hats.

The game’s main missions are turn-based, with players commanding their crew as they sneak into enemy bases to plunder loot and complete objectives. During every turn, you must carefully plan where to position your steambots for the best strategic advantage based on enemy positions, hazards, objectives, and the aimline for your weapons. When you’re ready to fire and “scrap” enemies, you then line up shots and watch as bullets and projectiles fly across the stage and send metallic body parts in various directions.

SteamWorld Heist II’s gunplay is the most satisfying I’ve ever experienced in a 2D title. There’s a unique thrill in lining up a sniper shot and watching the bullet ricochet off the walls and into the metallic dome of an enemy behind and above you. While any weapon that isn’t a sniper is far more challenging to land extravagant shots with, every successful hit feels incredible, especially paired with the game’s excellent sound design.

Speaking of sound, the dulcet tones of Steam Powered Giraffe grace your ears as you return to a bar at the end of an in-game day to spend your hard-earned currencies on new weapons or crewmates and rest up your existing team for tomorrow’s adventure. Between the cozy feeling of unwinding after a mission, the hilarious tavern shanties hyping me up for the next, and conversations with various wacky steamboats, this system works brilliantly during the campaign — but somewhat of an inconvenience when grinding XP to progress.

After a restful break and strategic spending of Gallons, the game’s main currency, it’s time to embark on your next adventure across the open sea. Here, you engage in real-time battles with other ships as you navigate your submarine to the next mission to uncover hidden treasures, thanks to newly acquired upgrades. Treasures such as secret hat store accompanied by a catchy Steam Powered Giraffe song about how brilliant hats are.

While the map to progress from one mission to the other evokes a sense of discovery and makes SteamWorld Heist’s campaign feel like a true adventure, the “real-time” naval combat leaves much to be desired compared to the incredible gunplay of the missions themselves. Guns and torpedos automatically fire from different areas of the submarine as you pass by enemy ships, amounting the combat to awkwardly scuffling your sub around with the WASD keys to hit enemies as you pass by to get to the next mission. Returning to missions to grind XP or collect more hats is also a massive pain in the neck.

Before starting a mission, you choose your crew members and tweak their loadouts. The new job system in SteamWorfld Heist II is a game-changer, granting steambots access to different skills based on their equipped weapon. As you level up these jobs by completing missions, you can mix and match skills to craft the perfect crewmate for your playstyle or a specific mission. Need a healer but don’t want to skimp on AoE damage? Level up the Boomer and Engineer trees, and you have one explosive medic.

Overall, the job system is an excellent feature that keeps things fresh and gameplay more engaging. However, it’s not without a glaring issue that affected my enjoyment of the game as a whole. That issue is XP, or rather, how little XP (and currency) you gain from completing missions. Creating the build you want takes a lot of grinding the same missions, breaking the flow of the main story. On anything above “Story” (easy) difficulty, grinding to keep up with the steep difficulty curve and experiment with jobs and weapons is a necessity. The further you progress, the longer the missions are, and the more monotonous the whole ordeal becomes — especially when traveling back to previous areas and stopping at a bar between each level.

Thankfully, the difficulty is tweakable beyond “easy” and “hard” modes, with sliders to tweak aspects like enemy damage, accuracy, and the time it takes for alarms to sound and reinforcements to flood in. This is an incredibly impressive feature and one I’m thankful for, though balancing between too easy, too hard, and too long is a science in itself.

Pacing issues aside, SteamWorld Heist 2’s campaign is enjoyable when it isn’t being interrupted. Stages are hand-crafted and feel distinct enough from each other to prevent them from feeling repetitious. While I didn’t particularly find myself strongly attached to any characters or ultra-enthralled with the narrative, I adored the world itself and the hilarious lines of dialogue spouted from wacky tavern guests or egomaniacal bosses. The game’s visuals and character designs are bright, bold, and colorful, and I can’t wait to visit the previous SteamWorld titles to explore this universe even more.

Conclusion

SteamWorld Heist II is a captivating blend of strategy and action that delivers a truly amusing adventure in every sense of the word. The game’s turn-based combat is a highlight, offering a satisfying (and I can’t use that word enough) mix of planning and execution. The job system adds depth to character progression, allowing players to customize their crew to suit their playstyle perfectly. Eventually.

The game’s vibrant world, filled with quirky characters and top-notch dialogue, creates a charming and comfy atmosphere. Gear and XP gain, pacing, and travel are undeniable issues that detract from the overall enjoyment of the game, but when the gameplay is good, it’s damn good. Land a trickshot with a rocket launcher across an underwater bunker, ping the stripy hat off an enemy, watch your steambot plow it on their metallic head, and tell me you’re not having a good time. There are some things that hats and good music do fix.