SteamWorld Heist II

Twice as long as it should be. I was in the final area at 24hrs in and just stopped playing because the last 10hrs had been a slog and the idea of another ~10 missions was just too damn much. I quite liked the first game. It was ~12hrs. That was right. This one, is very much not. It simply does not have the depth to sustain itself for that long. If they make a 3rd game in this series I will probably skip it. PS: running around the map in the sub is not fun. It is a chore. EDIT: Tried to push through and probably had three or so missions left to complete the game and gave up after one mission that introduced a brand new mechanic with no warning, no explanation, and no tooltips to explain the new enemy status where, if you do not play the mission in an extremely specific manner you get hit with a map-wide explosion that will kill any damaged bots and infects you with a debilitating DOT status effect -- basically a guaranteed party wipe. Worst game design decision I've seen in a long time.

Если бы не было первой части, то это была бы великолепная игра. Но при наличии родича, более лаконичного и сбалансированного, эта игра выглядит душниной. 20 часов каких то блужданий и однообразия, и это даже не конец. Появилась усталость от игры. Не знаю появится ли желание её пройти до конца. но пока отложу в сторонку.

It very much feels like a direct improvement on Steamworld Heist 1. It's still a turn-based platformer with ricochet gunfighting, small annoyances were dealt with, clarity was added (abilities will directly spell out whether it just takes an action or ends your turn, now), and the whole thing is quite a bit shinier than before. The music had about the same ratio of hits and misses to my ear (and still by the same band), although it no longer felt like I was struggling to concentrate on whatever was being said while vocals were going off very loudly in my ear, which was appreciated. The characters also felt significantly less one-note than Heist 1, with something almost approaching subtlety in some of their arcs. Yeah, it's still pretty on-the-nose, but when it's being compared to Sally Bolt and her transition from "Ah can do anythin', ah was on a farm, ya know" to "teamwork good sometimes," I'll take what I can get. This is a LONG game (full mission completion with tactical gameplay, plus a little grinding clocked me in around 40 hours), and I did feel that a little, but for the most part the different parts of the overworld and the enemies within felt different enough to keep things varied. Add to that the actual navigation of the overworld (with enemies to jump you there, instead of a glorified level select), and it did mostly feel like I was navigating a great ocean. Complaints severe enough to warrant bringing up were few, but present: -The camera actively struggles to behave itself. Particularly firing to the right of the screen, it kept trying to center my view into uselessness. Manually moving the camera would occasionally prove problematic when dialogue or an effect came up, as these would always lock your camera panning, but not always center your view on what you're supposed to be looking at. -The narrator is a direct downgrade. 1 had a purposely cheesy, pulpy narrator to help keep you from trying to take the story too seriously. This one has someone reading very earnestly and amateurishly over its still frames, which never failed to kill my momentum. I think this impacted the story a little as well, as without that regular reminder that this isn't shooting to be Shakespeare, it occasionally felt like the game was threatening to forget that. Not often, but particularly near the beginning while I was still feeling out the narrative and my character has a moment to fangirl "Wow, famous band Steam Powered Giraffe! Incredible to see you!" I was worried things were about to go in a much more cringeworthy direction than they did. -I like that navigating the Sea is an actual part of gameplay, rather than just a glorified level select, but it did occasionally feel like grind was being added, and that commute was a big part of the beefy playtime. At times, it felt more like a work-a-day system, especially with you having to report back to the bar at the end of each day to rest your crew, claim benefits, and reset any missions you might want to re-run. That's about all I can field for complaints. This is a solid title, a return to actually furthering the overarching narrative, and I feel like it more than earned its asking price. Highly recommended.

As a leftie from Germany I have to unfortunately give this one a thumbs down: - Some buttons are from what I've seen not rebindable - Keys that aren't on the international keyboard layout. like Ä, Ö or Ü, are not supported

The Steamworld games are a joy to play. This newest, and probably last game is improved and polished in every way.

Fun action puzzle game. Artwork is beautiful, the music is fun. My playtime (43 hours) is a single run through of all levels on normal difficulty. Well worth your time!

a bad sequel

Great ricochet simulator, would bounce bullets again

Сегодня хочу поговорить с вами об игре, которая заставила меня забыть о времени и погрузиться в мир космических перестрелок и тактических маневров. Речь, конечно же, о SteamWorld Heist 2. Если вы играли в первую часть, то наверняка уже предвкушаете, а если нет – готовьтесь, вас ждет настоящее приключение! Что новенького под солнцем (или, скорее, под звездами)? Первое, что бросается в глаза – это, конечно, масштаб. Разработчики из Thunderful Development не стали изобретать велосипед, а взяли все лучшее из первой части и умножили это на два. Игра стала гораздо больше, сюжет – глубже, а механики – разнообразнее. Теперь мы не просто ищем сокровища, а пытаемся спасти мир от некой загадочной заразы, которая превращает роботов в бездумных монстров. Звучит интригующе, не так ли? SteamWorld Heist 2 – это не просто сиквел, это эволюция. Игра взяла все лучшее из оригинала и вывела это на новый уровень. Это увлекательное, глубокое и невероятно атмосферное приключение, которое я могу смело рекомендовать всем поклонникам жанра. Если вы ищете игру, которая затянет вас на долгие часы, то SteamWorld Heist 2 – это именно то, что вам нужно. Не упустите шанс отправиться в этот космический рейд!

The core gameplay of Xcom But You Control If You Hit Or Miss is still excellent