SteamWorld Heist 2 Review: A Wonderful Adventure Of Heists And Hats

SteamWorld Heist II brings all the fun a bot can have while adventuring the high seas and committing all sorts of heroic heists to save the world. The game is developed and published by Thunderful, and features the same steampunk charm of the first game, and others in the SteamWorld universe, but with an entirely new cast of steambots. Following the adventures of the less-than-confident Captain Leeway, players can explore a unique world while fighting naval battles, completing bounties, and saving the Great Sea.

The SteamWorld franchise has several games under its umbrella, including the recent SteamWorld Build that was released less than a year ago, at the end of 2023. Despite being a sequel, SteamWorld Heist 2 does not have anything about it that would require a player to have played the first Heist game or any others in order to have a good time. The story uses different characters and a story and combat mechanics that are well explained. As long as someone is excited about immersing themselves in a turn-based 2D strategy game that is full of humor and fun characters, then this is a game to check out.

SteamWorld Heist II

4.5

Pros

• Fun characters and story
• No prior knowledge needed
• Battle mechanics are easy to figure out

Cons

• Submarine is somewhat confusing to control

The Story Of SteamWorld Heist 2

Characters And Water Crisis

The game begins as Captain Quincy Leeway is pretty hard on his luck after the nefarious Navybots took his submarine from him. Gathering the loyal Wesley and a chipper new recruit, Daisy, he guides them as they get the sub back and start afresh on a journey to prove himself worthy of his mother’s impressive legacy. This legacy appears to haunt him as the weight of expectations has beaten him down over the years, causing him to doubt himself.

Meanwhile, a water crisis threatens the lives of all the Steambots, with something that the locals call “rust” tainting the seas and causing many to break down and deteriorate. Unfortunately, the Navybots are making things even harder through their strict demands and taxes on the steambots. As the Captain builds up a reputation for himself through completing bounties, his name is spread to others who think he may be the perfect one to save the Great Sea and all the steambots from this oppression as well as solve the water crisis.

Of course, Captain Leeway does not act alone, and has an ever-growing crew of talented bots working for him. The Captain is missing his right arm, making it hard for him to enter battle himself, as he cannot hold a gun, but he can lead his crew, guiding them and helping from the sub. I found that, like other SteamWorld games, the variety of personalities and dialogue from the bots was one of the best parts of the game. The chipper and eager Daisy Clutch, the philosophical Cornelius, and the powerful Dame Judy Wrench added so much more than simply having faceless character classes could have done.

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Gameplay Moves Fast And Is Simple To Understand, As Long As You Are Above Water

Finding Jobs, Docking For The Night, And Moving Around On Board

Playing SteamWorld Heist 2, I quickly fell into a basic pattern of adventuring out on the Great Sea to find a bounty to complete, fighting and completing that assigned task, and then returning to the bar to let the characters recover while I could spend bounty points and money on upgrades to go out and do it all again the next day. The bounties are essentially side quests, but are required in order to build up the Captain’s reputation enough to move the main story forward. Each of these battles is fairly quick, keeping the game moving at a pace that makes it easy to lose track of time.

Sailing around on the high seas is enjoyable with the addition of Navybot ships that can be attacked through naval battles and wreckage that provides more currency and items. The only frustration that I had with the game came from after the submarine was repaired enough to submerge, as that proved to cause me problems with navigating and battling. Particularly early on, the amount of time that one can be under the water is extremely short, leaving chases and battles as tedious as they were dangerous.

While playing as the Captain, players also get to move around on the submarine and talk with the crew, upgrade parts of the vessel, tweak the character skills and hats, and more. When docked somewhere friendly, the Captain can similarly walk around the bar or shop that they are at to gather important intel that will move the main story along, and purchase better weapons and gear.

Game Mechanics For Battles And Characters

Character Jobs Can Be Easily Switched By Swapping Weapons

Anyone who played the first SteamWorld Heist will see many similarities with the battles, particularly with the silly and fun ricochet mechanics of the guns, as well as the turn-based nature of fights. When entering a room with enemies in it, the game immediately switches to turn order, allowing players to have better control when they have multiple crew members to guide and order around. When there are several enemies in the room, the enemy turns can feel a bit long, but there is a skip feature that easily solves that problem, as long as a person doesn’t mind missing out on seeing how a Navybot managed to appear out of seemingly nowhere.

There is a job system in place in SteamWorld Heist 2 where any of the characters can take on any job class simply by switching to that weapon. For example, even though Chimney starts out as a Brawler, she can begin gaining points in Sniper by equipping her with a sniper rifle. At first, I shied away from changing character classes, as I felt that the bots were better suited to their original classes. However, the game gently nudges players to experiment after some quests require it, and I quickly realized how simple the system really is. Using Cogs, players can assign skill points to previous classes that a character used, creating some very powerful builds.

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Hats, Humor, And A Stellar Soundtrack

While the story and gameplay of SteamWorld Heist 2 are all good, ultimately it is all the extras that make this game special. The hilarious feature of shooting hats off of enemies’ heads and collecting them to have the crew wear them (and even purchasing more chaotic hats from a special store), consistently gave me a smile. Plus, every time a hat is shot off the head of a friend or foe, there will be a clever piece of dialogue associated with it.

Humorous little nuggets of joy seem to come up constantly throughout SteamWorld Heist 2, from seeing aforementioned crew member named Dame Judy Wrench, to the silly dialogue that isn’t necessary to the story but serves to put a smile on your face. The soundtrack is incredible and just as iconic as other SteamWorld games, and all the subtle, and not so subtle, jokes make the game truly enjoyable.

Final Thoughts And Review Score

4.5/5 – “Must-Play” By Screen Rant’s Review Metric

Whether someone has played any of the previous SteamWorld games or not, SteamWorld Heist 2 has a good story with lively characters and a fast pace to keep things moving along. Although driving the submarine underwater was not as fun as I think it could have been, there is so much more to the game to make up for that small detail. The voice acting, soundtrack, and art style are all perfectly blended to create an atmosphere befitting the combat and humor simultaneously, which is a feat in itself.

To sum it up, SteamWorld Heist 2 is fun, pure and simple. The silliness combined with game mechanics make it a true gem that is a must-play for anyone with a sense of humor.

SteamWorld Heist II

4.0

Systems

Platform(s)

PC , PS5 , PS4 , Switch , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , Xbox One

Released

August 8, 2024

Developer(s)

Thunderful Development

Publisher(s)

Thunderful Publishing