SteamWorld Heist 2 review

What is it? A turn-based strategy adventure where you can shoot people's hats off and steal them.
Release date August 8, 2024
Expect to pay TBC
Developer Thunderful Development
Publisher Thunderful Publishing
Reviewed on Nvidia Geforce RTX 3080, AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 32GB RAM
Steam Deck Verified
Link Official site

If there's one concept that's infinitely more exciting in a videogame than it is in real life, it's taking on multiple jobs at once. That's SteamWorld Heist 2's biggest new innovation—its industrious robot protagonists can now switch freely between different battlefield roles, and combine abilities unlocked in each together. Though there are only six jobs in total, there's an impressive depth to the amount of different possible combinations, especially compared to the fixed classes of the first game. That's emblematic of a sequel that expands on its predecessor in almost every way—and stands out as easily the most ambitious SteamWorld game yet.

If you're not familiar with the series, it's been merrily trundling along for almost a decade now, dipping into different genres for short but charming adventures. SteamWorld Dig and its sequel were sort of mining platformers, for example, while SteamWorld Quest was a kind of deck-building RPG. There's a polish and irresistible pace to them that makes them consistently fun, if a little lightweight.

The original SteamWorld Heist was certainly the most impressive of the bunch—a turn-based tactical RPG that played out on 2D battlefields, its clever twist was manual aiming and ricocheting bullets, allowing you to pull off wild trick shots and even shoot people's hats off to steal for your own wardrobe. Heist 2 takes that great core combat and expands out everything around it, adding an overworld to explore, more progression and equipment for your crew, a more elaborate story, and simply a lot more fights to blast your way through.

You play as the wonderfully named Leeway Krakenbane, a slightly downtrodden pirate captain