SteamWorld Heist II (Nintendo Switch) Review

SteamWorld Heist II immediately sets itself apart from its predecessor by ditching the galactic setting and bringing things more down to Earth. The story focuses on Capt. Leeway, a one-armed droid who has the unenviable task of escaping the long shadow of his infamous mother, a fearsome pirate who commanded respect wherever she went. Compounded with the Imperial trading company hot on Capt. Leeway's heels, there is the encroaching rust-like corruption that is gradually devouring the ocean.

The story is basic, but it does offer a swelling sense of spirited adventure and swashbuckling. The character dialogue is amusing and everyone is written very broadly. There is never any confusion over what archetype is being depicted and keeping everyone as cartoon caricatures keeps the scenarios easy to follow. Only Capt. Leeway has a genuine character arc while everyone else is static. This is due to how the gameplay is nonlinear and there is no guaranteed order to which characters the player will recruit.

This light story is made to foster awesome sequences of action and adventure that take the shape of tactical turn-based battles and infiltration. A lot has changed since the original SteamWorld Heist. The sequel's environments are no longer procedurally generated; every location is thoughtfully designed and can unfold into multiple areas. A substantial improvement is the UI and controls; gamers will be able to quickly and efficiently direct units with ease in a title-based formation. Navigating floors, using ladders, activating blockades, and traps goes both ways for the heroes and bad guys.

SteamWorld Heist II manages to be a very deep and satisfying turn-based strategy game, but it is also incredibly intuitive and snappy. Party size is limited depending on what the parameters are for the battle; rarely requiring more than four units. Most of the time, expect to send out two to three for most scenarios, with a few outliers demanding only one. Winning conditions are thoughtfully conceived and don't always require the party to wipe out all foes. In some instances, enemies will keep coming back and the goal will be to make it to an extraction point or to acquire something and then make it all the way back the start. The strategy is thrilling and the variables make SteamWorld Heist II repayable.

Sniping with trick shots that ricochet is very satisfying. Stacking multiple abilities that mix with certain gear that makes a party member nigh invulnerable offers a priceless feeling of accomplishment because it's like outsmarting the system. SteamWorld Heist II is ripe with endless possibilities for creative strategists who grew up with the likes of Final Fantasy Tactics' flexible job class system.

When not participating in turn-based battles, Capt. Leeway will command a submarine and can explore a massive overworld map right out of a JRPG. The sub can be upgraded to take more hits and fire countermeasures to battle imperial ships. Most importantly, the submarine will need to dock somewhere to give party members a night's rest. This is used to balance the game and to push gamers into using other characters while out, otherwise everyone might use the same characters all the time.

The SteamWorld art style relies heavily on joint-animations and very few developers can get it to look right. Thankfully, the Thunderful Development smartly designed around the fact that every character in this universe is a janky-looking robot, which meshes beautifully with this animation style. The world and denizens of SteamWorld Heist II are very illustrative and painterly. There is a lot of care poured into every piece of scrap in the game to make everything feel cohesive.

Musically, SteamWorld Heist II has a typical jaunty nautical pirate motif that is thankfully catchy. It does a fair job at putting players in the swashbuckling mindset while grunting "yar har har". The music is solid, but it does not quite reach the heights of legacy pirate themed games.