SteamWorld Heist II

The core game's solid and no hesitation recommending this game - it's fun, has interesting builds and weapons, and it's better than the first game in every way. Music - I don't even like this genre normally, but it's done really well and didn't bother me at all. Props to whoever handled the soundtrack. However there are some nitpicking I just have to get out of the way: * The submarine exploration is a cool addition and gives you a new way to navigate the world. But the combat feels clunky, especially when you're underwater, and by late game you're pretty much forced into specific builds whether you like it or not. * Crew builds - it feels like you're wasting cogs if you don't level up different jobs for your characters. Why can't experience just transfer over to other jobs since experience is "in reserve" anyway? If I want to stick with a combo that works, let me do that without feeling like I'm playing inefficiently. * Builds never feel complete either. I finished the whole game and still felt like my characters could've been way more developed. It's frustrating when you reach the end credits but your team still feels half-baked. I even grinded a few missions but it seems too much to reach max level. I realise I could just use the same 4-5 crew members, but the game pushes you towards using your whole crew for different missions due to the bounty and exhaustion system. * Combat - you can't see what's inside rooms until you open them. I'd gather my whole crew for what I thought would be a big fight, only to find an empty room or like two enemies in a tiny space. Just let me peek through the keyhole or something. Also, melee characters felt weak to me. It's hard to target flying enemies (which there are a lot of), and it feels unsatisfying when enemies just waltz past you - it would be cool to have opportunity attacks or something. * There's this sense of an open world, but in reality you've only got a few routes available at any given time. The rest is gated off, which makes the exploration feel more linear than it should. Despite all this nitpicking, I still had a good time with it. The core gameplay loop is solid enough that these issues don't kill the experience. Worth picking up if you enjoyed the first game or you're into turn-based strategy.

Basically every Steamworld game knocks it out of the park. All have been so enjoyable.

Pretty great game -- it is encouraged to have played the first game to understand some of the terms and characters mentioned in-game but it's not totally necessary! Overall it's about double or triple the length of the first game, with a more heartfelt tropey captain-and-crew story that was kinda just nice to see done well. The soundtrack in the Steamworld Heist games are exceptional, and Steam Powered Giraffe do an amazing job complimenting it with their folksy vocals. It's more of the same, but even more and even a bit better! The first game introduced me to the band, and no doubt many others, which only made it make sense to have them in the sequel too! Match made in heaven. As for gameplay, more of the same -- but more and a bit better as I said earlier! They do a decent job of making each character feel unique despite a more generalised job system. The submarine navigation was also a nice touch, it did a lot to help along the story and that feeling of working your way deeper into unexplored lands was satisfying, as was the simple n fun boat combat! Overall, delightful game! A good 7-8/10. A lot of love went into it!

I may come back to put in more of a review, but suffice it to say that I find SteamWorld Heist II to be from that family of sequels that gives you more of what you liked from the predecessor while adding and improving. It's quite fun to break the difficulty through the combinations of weapons, items, character traits, and ability trees. My only complaint is that this adds a significant amount of complexity, and you may need to frequently review multiple menus to remember exactly what each character is capable of. I also rather enjoy the world map traversal sections. It's like if you took the rafting from Donkey Kong Country 3 and added basic naval combat. It's fun to outmaneuver the enemy and watch them explode. Finally, Steampowered Giraffe have really put in some of their most breezy and fun work into the OST. It's a real pleasure listening to, especially in the summer. Good game!

I'm... I'm really lost for words for this one. Steamworld Heist was a brilliant game, and apparently in the sequel, the creators tried way too hard to improve on it. The visuals and the music are great, but the gameplay just went to hell. Wandering around the submarine and fighting other ships is incredibly inane, and while the mission combat looks to be the same as it did in the first game, it just trips itself up like once in every three turns. It was an incredible frustrating one hour while I tried to convince myself I want to play it, but eventually I had to let go. Disappointment of the decade :(

The original Steam World Heist is one of my favorite hidden gems, this game is like the first but with the gameplay loop optimized to perfection. Most of the strategy doesn't really change besides adapting to the scenario so keep in mind it's repetitive. Still for all the liberty, and the map exploration it's a nice moment of rest between each mission. The only criticism I have, and this is for all of the games in the steam world umbrella is that I could never get invested in the story because the framing is done so poorly. Every dialogue is the same stiff pose character, talking in briefs text bubble with cliche plot points and reactions. A note, it's not a bad story, it also takes itself serious enough for what it takes, but I never felt any sense of danger, nor any reaction besides "this makes sense" by a creative decision. It has good world building and it follows the general mythos of all of the games.

It's a good tactics game. If you come from X-COM, Epic difficulty is a fair challenge.

I don't think you need another person to praise the Steamworld Franchise, but I have to admit this game was such a charm. Yes, there were low points: - The crewmate imbalance I ended up with job-wise made me go from maxing out days to resetting them so I can do every late game mission with the best crew. - The world-map combat doesn't get harder as the difficulty increases. I suppose I understand this, but there's some masochists out there who want elite difficulty to be more. (I started on the basic difficulty, then upped it to elite around the halfway point) - Brawlers start off interesting with how tanky they are, but quickly turn unideal because of too many floating/flying enemies. - Some upgrades are just... way better than others. You can't tell me harvest + shifty movement *isn't* overpowered Overall there's a lot of great things about this game. The combat is exiting if you're trying to get the best score on a mission, the upgrades feel SO nice early in the game with steady progression and every time there's a transition into the next big part of the game (if you know you know) it rejuvinates me and then some after maybe getting a little tired with the current area. (although that's on me) I'm not good with reviews in the slightest and barely do any, but I just can't stress enough how fun this experience was and how sad I am to see it go. The music is absolutely incredible, the shots are satisfying as hell, and the story, although unpopular in opinion, was a good way of adding to the experience without making it too central. Overall, 8.9/10

Awesome sequel! Improves on the first game both in depth and gameplay while retaining what made the first game enjoyable. Provided you play on the highest difficulty also a very challenging game requiring you to plan ahead and make every move count.

Awesome sequel. If you liked the first game just a little, you'll be pleasantly surprised by the amount of improvements in this game. This game revolves around only 1 planet, but there are many zones to explore and plenty of crew members and upgrades to explore. Max level is only 5, but you get to mix and match with various classes. The boss battles are very challenging and there is definitely a reason to give attention to all your crew members for the end game stuff.

Good game to play for around 30 hours. you have an option to overlevel if need arise and change difficulty of several parts of the game at any moment

I highly recommend this game. Steamworld Heist 2 is an excellent sequel and a lovely game in its own right. It has tonnes of variety, approaches and a fun central mechanic where bullets bounce off surfaces in 2D spaces, allowing you to land some extremely satisfying multikills or shot around cover. Unlike its predecessor, it has a satisfying variety of combat scenarios and a fun overworld game in your submarine to bind the turn based tactics together.

6/10 The 2nd part of the series feels stale and boring. Oh and never have I disliked a game's music more, than in this game. The song in the tavern is unfitting.

Your aim drifts in a tactical shooter requiring precise ricochet aiming. Your robots breathe, apparently, which renders the game infuriating for no justifiable reason. I'm sure the other reviews regarding grindiness and poor balancing are accurate, it seems par for the course with "Steamworld..." anything, along with perplexingly bad decisions like the aim drift this game is plagued by. I think it's safe to avoid the entire franchise, even on heavy discounts.

Steamworld Heist 2 is a pretty cool guy, eh kills Navy, Rattlers, Atomics and doesn't afraid of anything

improvement on the first game in my opinion. got bored and put it down before i finished it though.

I enjoyed the first game, and I am pleased with the second. I hope there's a third.

Caution: addictive gameplay! Just one more turn! Just one more fight! Just one more day!

Good enjoyable game.

Ahhhh how I love SteamWorld Games

good game

good game

You really did make a part II

Good

robot