SteamWorld Heist II Review (Arthur)
Perfect sequel that keeps everything that was great, triples the amount of content and expands on its core classes with a jobs systems. Among the best 2D tactics games around
After a long pause, the Steamworld universe comes back to Heist and boy is it a triumph! This game picks up exactly where the first one left off, and you can tell the devs really listened to the playerbase and understand what people liked it. To ensure they did not alter the formula too much, in this opus there are 2 main novelties, a map exploration mode between missions, and a Jobs multiclassing system.
In their best game yet, they offer:
(+) A fun "Worms" style gameplay and aiming system, opening up the possibility of gratifying bouncing trickshots and combos. As a XCOM Veteran, it's wonderful to have the outcome of your shot depend on your aiming skill, and not a bs 95% chance to hit that will fail anyways.
On the map, you get to play naval battles gameplays with machine guns, torpedoes and lasers: dogfighting and juking against flagships and bosses is one of my favorite parts of this game.
(+) Tight execution on the tactics mechanics of movement, pod activations, reinforcements, cover, cover blasting with explosives and clearing the board. The jobs systems is my personal highlight, as it opens the door to creative multiclassing, scratches the min-maxing itch and offers some awe-inspîring combos. The best I've had was taking 33 shots in a single turn with a character that was ramping up damage as he kept scrapping dozens of enemies.
(+) Colorful, wholesome, unique art style and quirky vernacular give this game a strong artistic signature.
(+) Steam Powered Giraffe makes a stellar return with a top notch soundtrack, this band is a fantastic match for the vibe and aesthetics of Steamworld.
(+) Frequent nods to players of the first game which makes returning players feel right at home.
What still isn't so great and would be better in a Heist 3 (please shorter wait this time)
(-) Inventory management is still tedious despite the use of Filter by type / Filter by rank, especially on the selling equipment part of business. This is partly compensated by an extremely good "Reminder" system that will warn you if you could equip better equipment or have unused cogs before boarding the next mission.
On the Inventory page, this game could show you your total of gallons (the game's currency) and how much you need to sell to buy that fancy piece of gear.
(-) Some mechanics are simply not fun to play against, and the combination of 2 in particular was infuriating to me:
- enemies trapped in ice cubes get to play immediately upon spawn / activation, which doesn't feel fair since a bouncing ricochet killing 2 enemies could leave you exposed to 3 new, stronger enemies who now have you in a flanking position and will freeze the scrap out of you.
- there are limited solutions to play against the frozen status. Some items let you reduce the damage taken, but that won't stop you from being frozen every turn for an extra 2 turns, being unable to play the game if you spread your units and don't have a buddy to shoot on the trapped character.
This was very noticeable on Arctica mission "What a steal" which had me swearing like a sailor until I decided to simply cheese it.
A possible solution would be to have frozen enemies not play upon spawn (like all others), or having items to become resistant / immune to frozen status.
(-) Submarine map exploration is at its best when first discovering and scouting a new area, finding secrets, shortcuts, and sometimes even grabbing bonuses from the next Bar that you're not supposed to reach yet. After a zone is fully explored, navigation turns into a boring "drive back and forth for 5 minutes" chore that is exacerbated by the "go back to the bar to rest after each crewmember has played 1 mission" mechanic.
This frustration could be alleviated with a "quick travel to mission site / bar" from the map after you've cleared the area of enemies.
(-) The in-mission minimap is not the clearest to read. It feels cheaply made in an otherwise very polished game.
(-) Even weirder focus on hats, compounted by having a SPG professionally produced song about wearing hats playing at the hatmaker shop.