SteamWorld Heist 2 Announced During Nintendo Indie World
During the brief 20 minute Nintendo Indie World showcase earlier this week, there were a surprising number of great games shown. From the fast paced platformer ‘Antonblast’ to the Hades-inspired ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate’, Nintendo fans have a lot to look forward to this year when it comes to indie releases. The biggest announcement, however, came at the end of the show when it was revealed that Thunderful (the experts behind the SteamWorld series of games) were making a sequel to one of their greatest releases: SteamWorld Heist 2.
Image by Thunderful Publishing
The first game, which launched back in 2015 to amazing reviews from critics- receiving an 86 on Opencritic and becoming the studio’s second best rated game behind the incredible SteamWorld Dig 2. That being said, the second entry in the ‘Heist’ subseries looks to be the best game to come out of the IP yet. The 2D turn based RPG, in which you play as intergalactic robots fighting off space pirates, put a fantastic spin on the genre with its first iteration. By manually aiming your shots, you got direct control with where your bullets would be going to pull off some addictive trick shots. Thankfully, it seems that the sequel is carrying on this tradition but with a complete change in setting.
Image by Thunderful Publishing
Instead of facing off against space pirates, in SteamWorld Heist 2, you’re fighting off, well, real pirates. Set in the Great Sea, this sequel allows you to dart around in your ship as you engage in main and side missions with a whole new mechanic: naval combat. With the ability to free roam the sea, you also get to fire at other ships with a vast variety of upgradeable cannons and other weapons. This mechanic shouldn’t take away from the vast improvements made to the combat system, however. Of course, new enemies and characters will be introduced but, thanks to a new job system, you’ll get to further customise your character far more than you could in the base game.
Image by Thunderful Publishing
From the short trailer we’ve seen so far, SteamWorld Heist 2 looks to be an improvement on the original in pretty much every way. More customisability, more exploration and more characters make this a must buy for anyone who enjoyed the first game. Thankfully, you won’t have to wait for very long to play this one since Thunderful announced that it would be releasing on all major consoles on August 8th this year. That includes PC, PS5, Xbox Series and the Nintendo Switch so there’s no reason to not pick this entry up if you’re a SteamWorld fan. If you’re not, well, there’s plenty of time to become one until that August release.
