SteamWorld Heist 2 Makes Combat An Entertaining Puzzle Of Geometry And Explosions
I got to play SteamWorld Heist II at Summer Game Fest, and it was one of my favorite games at the event. I lost track of time while playing, transforming what was supposed to be a quick 30-minute preview into nearly an hour-and-a-half. I only left the booth because I had to–I had another appointment I needed to get to. SteamWorld Heist II feels like more of what came before, which is great in my book. The original game transformed shootouts into entertaining puzzles that tested your geometry skills as you ricocheted bullets and grenades through environments to snipe enemies out of cover or set up an ally for a devastating combo. It’s a winning formula, and if it isn’t broke, then why fix it?
As a sequel, SteamWorld Heist II adds more elements–new characters, new setting, new abilities, new environmental obstacles–but retains much of what succeeded in the original game to once again deliver what’s shaping up to be another winner in the SteamWorld universe. The game sees you take control of a ragtag pirate crew of Steambots as they sail, shoot, and plunder their way across the seas (as opposed to space like the first game). Each character can equip different jobs that unlock a variety of perks and wield an assortment of weapons and tech that each come with their own benefits and shortcomings in battle. The fights themselves are turn-based, encouraging you to strategically move the characters in your current party in an ever-changing battlefield and deduce the best way to pull off the perfect trick shot to blow up your enemies before they stop you.
These encounters are a blast. It’s just so much fun to bounce a well-timed sniper shot to blast an enemy that thinks it’s safe behind cover, or use the nature of the turn-based combat to Rube Goldberg machine an explosive barrel into a foe’s line of fire to stop them from using their readied action. It remains to be seen just how much diversity the full game can deliver, but each of the levels I played were quite varied. One mission saw me sneak into a prison and when the guards found me, I started freeing prisoners to transform the scenario into a three-way shootout. Another assignment put me into an enemy base rigged to blow, forcing me to decide whether I wanted to grab my prize and dip or figure out a way to delay the explosion long enough to grab all the extra goodies too.