SteamWorld Heist 2 review

Back in June, I got to play a solid three-hour chunk of SteamWorld Heist 2. With all previews, you only see a taste of what to expect from the finished product, but it was enough time to know Thunderful had something great on its hands. And now, with plenty more hours under my belt, with tons more missions played and lands explored, it became even better. There’s plenty to get stuck into, with a rich job system that gives you plenty of customisation for your party, and battles that both thrilling and intense.

As Captain Leeway, you lead your ragtag band of Steambots across the seven seas, with a war raging between the Navy and the Rattlers, and a dangerous disease known as Rust ravaging bots across the world. There’s also a lack of water, the main source of currency, and you need to do whatever you can to acquire it. The flow of gameplay is always satisfying. Building reputation, defeating the enemy, acquiring gallons, and upgrading your crew and your ship never gets boring thanks to the control you have.

The two main approaches to playing focus on turn-based combat with your Steambots and exploring the waters. When on a mission, you assign different crewmates to your party, switch their loadouts, and use cogs to play around with the rich job system. There’re plenty of classes to choose from. Snipers make precise shots with a visible line of sight; Brawlers are great in melee and recover health with successful strikes; Engineers support your crewmates; Boomers use explosives to wipe out large groups of bots with precise hits; flankers have added movement to get around; and reapers get a second shot if they successfully kill an enemy.

Each class has its own weapon, and once you switch weapons within classes, you’re free to switch in abilities from the original class, meaning snipers can feature traits of a flanker, or a boomer can equip abilities from brawlers. There’s plenty of customisation for you to get stuck into, giving you plenty of ways to fine-tune your party. Due to the amount of missions, you’ll get plenty of time to experiment and find the perfect pairings as you play. When you’re engaging in combat, fights are tense, and one mistake can see your whole mission fall to pieces.

New enemies spawn, each with their own weapons and attack patterns. Knowing when to use one of your abilities, when to shoot, and when to move all play into your approach. These fights are as exciting as they can be, always mixing up the objectives, and always making you plan to perfection. The difficulty ramps up significantly, but you are free to tone down the challenge if it gets too much. Along with the main mission objective, there’s also a ton of swag to pick up, normally including a piece of epic swag that could be a new weapon, utility equipment like a new grenade or sidearm, or something for your submarine.

When you’re not on land, SteamWorld Heist 2 sees you captain your submarine to explore the bigger maps. This is where you’ll visit new bases to take on missions, find new shops to buy weapons, hats, sub upgrades, and more. There’s also naval combat, loot to find, and resources to gather. Another cool part of the overworld traversal comes when you fit an air tank to your sub which allows you to travel underwater, as certain areas are blocked off above sea level. You can equip torpedoes and machinegun turrets which, like your weapons, increase in tiers, and returning to the interior of your sub to upgrade your resources always gives you something to aim for.

While playing SteamWorld Heist 2 is a ton of fun, it’s made even better with the presentation and the writing. The visuals are sublime, boasting bold colours and a gorgeous world regardless of where you are. Whether you’re roaming the open waters and engaging in thrilling maritime combat, or making your way through an outpost and dispatching enemy robots, the level of detail in its design never fails to impress. The writing is also fantastic. Whether in conversations aboard your submarine with your crew or in one of the various drinking establishments, I was also hooked on every word.

Thunderful has crafted a world I want to exist in, with characters fleshed out beyond what you expect. You can recruit a team of Steambots by spending water, each with their own reasons for joining you, but as you play you get to learn more about them, and building relationships with your crew becomes just as important as mixing up everyone’s job roles and classes for each mission. It’s also worth mentioning just how excellent the music in SteamWorld Heist 2 is. Steam Powered Giraffe has provided a soundtrack that gives warmth to the game, and I spend a lot of time just chilling at the bars, listening to the music that mixes pirate shanties with folk, rock, and more.

SteamWorld Heist 2 is tons of fun. The detailed job system always keeps you searching for the perfect mix of strategy and impact in combat, with plenty of objectives that keep you on your toes. Upgrading your party and adding new skills and weapons, exploring the open waters for new areas, hidden items, and exciting opportunities never gets old. The soundtrack is excellent, the visuals are bold and bright, and the story and writing keep you engrossed throughout. It can be difficult even on the lowest difficulty, but the moment you find that perfect team after experimenting for hours gives you all the validation you’ll need.