SteamWorld Heist

Quite different experience regarding Steamworld Dig but very fun! Definitely a worthy buy.

We don't take kindly to clankers 'round here...

Some for the most fun I've had playing a game! If you like Worms game play then you'll love StreamWorld Heist!

A good and engaging with simple but engaging system, even for non-steam-punk fans

I bought this on sale, thinking it was just some goofy game I can play to kill time UNTIL I played it and it was awesome. I got invested in the game's story, it's really nice.

Really fun game can be difficult but the Gameplay is fun, levels are cool and the story is good so I definitely recommend this game.

Really fun game with awesome aesthetic, atmosphere, and satisfying gameplay.

Fantastic game. Shooting and looting through the missions is a joy. I was already a fan of the two Steamworld Dig games, and while this game plays nothing like those, it's a delight nonetheless. I just really like the Steambot universe, and I'm so happy that these games are so much fun.

Pretty fun game. Ricochet mechanic is interesting and I wish it was expanded on more, as it is now it is only really effective at short to medium ranges because your weapon sways while aiming and you can only zoom out so far so long range ricochet rarely works (unless you wanna put in a ton of practice). I like that the different characters aren't just different skins of the same classes, each character has pretty different abilities that are more effective for certain missions. Good variation in terms of weapons and equipment. Higher difficulties I think swarm you a bit too much with enemies, it makes it feel pretty much required to take characters with AOEs. To summarize combat each mission you have 1-4 units, they can move once, they sometimes have bonus actions they can do (throwing dagger, buff, etc.), and then they can use an action on their turn to attack, dash, or use an ability. There is cover, if you are in contact with the cover you can shoot through. For missions you usually go in and pickup enough items, kill every enemy, or reach a point quick enough. Most missions have turn counters which cause larger and larger enemy groups to spawn so you can't play super safe. In the missions you gather lootboxes, at the end of missions they give you money or equipment/weapons, inventory is limited so you'll vendor most loot. Story isn't great. Music and art are decent.

Fun and enjoyable :D

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What it is

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Its a good simple game. But the devs are very good at adding depth to simple concepts. It is also really fun, thanks to certain gun features and abilities! I got about 30 hours out of my first run and will probably play again. It was well worth it.

Just like the other “Steamworld” games(dig1&2)(I have not played the others)Its a really simple idea of 2d platforming with tactical team-based strategy, which, as far as I can see- even for crap games- is still a very enjoyable Genre.

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Why its good, what is good about it

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As much as it is a simple game, there are multiple areas - where the developers seem to be very good at adding stuff - they are able to add large competent parts on to a standard game, such as looting, other RPG features and as well as different characters and dynamics. And it all fits in tidily.

Though I would not take “SteamWorld” Universe too seriously; its good that they have kept it and honoured many things you will find in the other games; which is really cool... To play in one game and see how these bits in this game fit in.

The devs have done a great job at making this easy to play at first, and then much harder later. However I think its one of those games that on the higher difficulty levels you will get annoyed - I did lose my rag sometimes - especially when there were difficulty spikes.

I dont mind the way the game looks, its good. Looks like it could be a child's game, maybe the colour scheme, but the concept of the universe of everything, as well as the chatter and way the world works is good!

The sound design is not bad, and though I was not too excited about the music, it worked well with the game. The band that sings some of the special pieces, mainly in the 'bars' are interesting, though they are a bit too chirpy for me... They're still a really good addition to the game - unusual and VERY bright, almost campy. The lyrics do fit.

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Things I am not that keen on

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[h4]Punishment when failing[/h4]
You will be punished for losing and given to the following set of points, I dont believe it is balanced. The worst reason is: go in with wrong gear? Well you will get punished if you abort... I dont think that's right.

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[h4]Areas where difficulty spikes occur – I dont think everything has the 'Best' balance[/h4]
-procedural design in levels
-'spawner bots' levels (like (royalist commanders)
-high threat alarm spawners occur(doors open and let mobs in at the end of a turn. at the end it can get brutal...
-unfortunately not all characters are as good as others. Some will struggle where others will succeed – this does go for the choice of equipment too.
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Some other odd details

-For some reason the ladies do appear to be the best operatives. I'm not sure why that is .

-Some abilities are nerfed at the end of the game – this is made jaw droopingly obvious, since some of the characters have super abilities attributed to these mechanics viz. Melee.

-Although the above is true, I was still able to finish the game with most of the abilities and without too many difficulties – though sometimes it was VERY CLOSE. I will have to see how that works on the harder difficulty though....

-I think all the weapons at each level had the same sort of damage... I did not think this was the best, since it was simplified further by every weapon doing the same damage to each enemy type. This made the lack of balance between operatives even more obvious.

-Finally, I dont think the information about each weapon, on the loot screen was the best.
Some of the grenade launchers and rocket launchers -not only looked un-identifiable - but operated differently.

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All of the Steamworld Games are 10/10 in my books.

XCOM but from the side where you are the one who misses those unmissable 95% shots!

good game

Love this game so much! Fun game-play, the mechanics are a blast, and the characters and dialog are amazing! I'd highly recommend if you are looking for some fun for a few hours. Low commitment, low learning curve. Excited for SWH2!

It's fun for a while but becomes somewhat repetitive after the second chapter.

The balancing feels somewhat off, it's very difficult on the 4th difficulty and pretty much too easy on the third, also you'll get punished and lose xp for playing on lower difficulties which makes utilizing new crew members just even more of an annoying grind.

There are a couple of other game design choices which bothered me. You are only able to sell items in the loadout screen before a mission or when your inventory is full after a mission, whenever you are in a shop and want to buy something new but you are full you can't - you have to go back to a mission into the loadout screen, sell it there and then comeback - waiting for docking inbetween makes this even more of a pain.

Whenever there are multiple enemies swarming you, they usually won't utilize the game mechanics of bouncing bullets against walls or rarely flank you, they will just run up to your cover, hold their barrel into it and shoot directly through it, into your face - which feels pretty lame and like not very well coded enemy behaviour.

Whenever you get overwhelmed and fail a mission you'll lose a good chunk of your ingame curreny - so the entire process of making progress doesn't come down to how smart you play because the level design doesn't bring many opportunities to do so - it comes down how good you've grinded up your character level and gear. I don't think this is a good game design choice for a linear casual game. You'll utilize the same 3-4 squad members and you'll repeat the same gameplay loop over and over again until you've finished the game. If you can't continue you simply need to grind.

Hats serve no purpose and are just for cosmetics.

All in all the game feels like a rather shallow 2D X-COM and it definitely has it's flaws. I still think that it has charm and is fun for atleast a couple of hours. I'd barely recommend it whenever it's on heavy discount otherwise I wouldn't. (6/10)

very good game, cheap too

This is a great game to play on the deck, I love that it is a turn based combat game!

One of my all time favorite games, the SteamWorld series as a whole is amazing. Highly recommend!

Funny but short

This game is a really fun turn-based tactical shooter. However, it falls apart at the higher difficulties due to the alarm mechanic which forces a slower turn based gameplay into a rush as more enemies pile in which can quickly overwhelm you. This is even worse towards the end of the game as you get enemies which can teleport and shoot on the same turn with two or three enemies spawning each turn. This game definitely rewards quicker strategy over slow turn based turtling combat like XCOM. The 100% for this is also really difficult with the whole game being required to be completed on the highest difficulty with no mission failures, all missions fully completed, and in 800 turns or less across the whole game.

Games pretty fun don't ever remember playing for more than 3 hours but still good game.

Note: I got all reputation stars.

I played this on the 3DS almost a decade ago. When I saw it was on a huge sale on Steam, I decided to re-buy it and see if it was as good as I remember. Well, it's a great game, but not quite as good as I thought it was. I'd recommend buying Steamworld Heist 2 over this, since that's only a very loose sequel and is generally a better game.

Good:
- The ricochet gameplay is really fun.
- A great soundtrack with both the instrumental music and songs from Steam Powered Giraffe being excellent.

Neutral:
- The story's whatever. It's a wacky setting, but the core plot is weak. That's fine, the plot is in the background for this game. If you're coming from SH2 then the worldbuilding is a fair bit weaker here, with a bit less dialogue from NPCs and enemies.
- The class system isn't particularly exciting. A character's ability going from +2 damage to +3 for their final level just feels underwhelming.

Bad:
- On most difficulties, you lose half your currency for losing a mission. This is annoying and means that losing a mission means you leave it in a worse state than you entered. Likewise, defeated crewmates don't get any XP. It feels a bit punishing since completing a mission barely gets you less resources than intended, which can compound if you don't go back and grind.

Such a fun and addictive game, I just wish that I couldve built my own robot with skills. Bosses and challenge levels will keep you on yours toes for sure. Beatrix is OP as hell!!

Variety in characters, weapons, ships, and enemies make for interesting gameplay. At about 16 hrs, there's enough content to keep it fun without running long. Easy to jump in to a level for a quick gaming sessions if you're short on time. The writing offers some chuckles. The difficult levels really add a challenge if you're looking for it.

Too easy on the 3rd difficulty and too hard on the 4th difficulty. And overall, not as interesting to play as Steamworld Dig or Dig2

I really enjoyed Steamworld Heist. Aiming your weapons and trying to set up useful richochets was an interesting twist on turn based combat. The skill trees and resource management for your characters is minimal so most of the time you're focused on the fight. It sounds like the sequel has more to do out of combat so I'm looking forward to trying that out for a fuller experience. Steamworld Heist was still a lot of fun and easy to recommend to fans of turn based combat games.

10/10 picked this up a while ago and never got to it. this would be an amazing sequel. Combat system is fun, the moving, looting is all top notch. The only issues or gripe I have about this would be with the weapon not saying the size, but maybe the classes that can use it? I never figured out who can use Heavy weapons in my 10 hours clear, that kinda stinks. Would recommend any day of the week, just some small tweaks to be made <3

Fantastic game. Highly recommend giving it a try, even if you're not normally a massive fan of turn based games. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this, considering I only paid just over $1 for it (then promptly bought all the DLC for another $1.50ish.

Already bought and downloaded the sequel. Absolutely give this a try if it's on sale, otherwise, probably still give it a try.

Unique strategy shooter that is a lot of fun. Regularly on sale for around $1. At that price, absolutely pick this game up and give it a whirl.

Painfully horrible strategy game

Let's get to the point, since this is going to be a long review/rant.
For a game whose selling point seems to be an XCOM-like game without RNG, since you hit enemies by manually aiming, every single other mechanic in Heist is entirely at the whims of chance.
I spent the first 3 hours of this game unaware of this fact, and judging by some of the positive reviews... seems some went the entire game without realizing this.
Before I get into that, I should bring up that only YOUR attacks aren't affected by RNG, enemies are less lucky.
Expect AI to pull off the most insane ricocheting trickshots one moment, and then miss a shot just a few tiles away by blatantly aiming at the barrel right below you.
Now, what else is RNG?

Level design
Every single mission in this game is not actually fully designed by a human, which isn't promising for a strategy game where every shot is crucial.
That doesn't have to be something bad by itself, but you will see in a moment how all of this mess comes together in the worst way possible.
The way maps work is that they designed simple rooms, who are then randomly stitched together.
Wouldn't be as much of an issue if it wasn't for the fact that the enemies are also completely random, both their positions and what type of enemy they are.
Speaking of positions, another randomized aspect are the barricades that spawn, objects you can receive cover from.
So with enemy type, placement and barricades being randomized, a mission can swing wildly from being a walk in the park to straight up impossible.
The way the stats work in this game is that enemies have about as much HP as you do, in some cases more, but they usually only deal like half the damage that you do.
Of course, the game makes up for this by having a lot more enemies than you have characters, sometimes even for a single room.
Still with the right weapon, you're gonna be able to ideally oneshot most enemies, while your opponents can't do the same to you.
This means that offense is the best defense... which is exactly why making all these placements random is a truly devastatingly awful choice.
You could therefore enter a room with enemies near the start, easy to reach and maybe not even all of them being behind a cover.
Alternatively, you could enter that room with enemies being at the opposite side of the room, at a higher and hard to reach position, protected by a ton of barricades.
Suddenly, something that could have been an easy two turn clear with very minimal damage taken, could result in a full-on party wipe and game over.
Obviously speaking with experience here.
A map can generate some of the most evil things with the assets it has... or it just doesn't.
There's no middle ground with its difficulty.
I haven't faced a single casualty and then beat a mission, it's either a flawless victory or a game over, nothing between that.
Still, maybe there would be ways to win with all these odds stacked against you, if you could approach the mission in any way you want... which is often not possible, leading me to the last big point.

Reinforcements
Reinforcement spam, it's real.
They mainly show up through the alarm mechanic, which, despite my very apparent hate for how RNG is handled in this game, might be the actual mechanic that drags this game down to the deepest pits of hell.
Don't worry though, RNG is also involved with reinforcements.
When an alarm is active, a countdown appears, ticking down every turn until it reaches zero.
Every time the alarm reaches zero, the threat level is increased, initially causing reinforcements to start spawning, with each subsequent threat level increasing the amount.
The reinforcements are also endless and will never stop.
Alarms can be triggered halfway through certain missions with multiple objectives.
However, more often than not, these alarms are present in missions from turn 1.
Progress-based reinforcements seem fine, but I'm not a fan of turn 1 stuff.
It leaves basically no way to play a mission the way you want, and you gotta rush like hell.
Even in that case, it could still be fine for missions where all of this is taken into account, but turn 1 alarms start appearing like every second to third mission.
I can understand why you wouldn't want to make a strategy game where the player has infinite time to do whatever they want, but I'm more of a believer in rewarding players for being fast, rather than punishing them for being slow.
Still, either option can work, but this game handles it in the worst way.
I also sincerely doubt that the devs gave it that much thought, since half of the missions don't have an alarm and you can be as slow as you want there.
Of course, the main problem still remains that none of the levels are actually designed by a person, but an algorithm, meaning that a map can actually never be designed around reinforcements, making it seem like they flipped a coin to determine which ones will have alarms.
Also, how silly of me to not mention that reinforcements will be able to act on the same turn that they spawn as well.
Now, take a guess how all of this comes together with the rest of the RNG mechanics to create a truly unforgettable experience... unforgettable in the bad way, I mean.
The multiple reinforcement gates are placed randomly, but you can't prepare yourself for that in advance either, because where they come out of is also random, with nothing giving their arrival away... and then of course they also get their turn immediately.
The worst possible decision at very step.
Remove the infinite aspect, suddenly it could become bearable.
Remove the ambush aspect, suddenly you're a lot safer.
Remove the random aspect, suddenly you can prepare yourself for where they'll be.
Individually still not good, but putting it all together makes me doubt that s single dev has actually playtested this abomination.
Although I don't think it's possible to playtest a game you didn't even fully design, since they let the robots take the wheel.

Conclusion
Procedurally generated content is utilized in roguelikes for a reason.
They require an endless number of runs that need to feel different, with a hopefully good core gameplay that keeps it fun and consistent.
This is a linear game with missions and a clear end, a strategy game where every move matters.
It has no reason to involve generated content.
What does it say about you when you can't be bothered to design proper levels for it?
It's not a fun quirky gimmick, it ruined a potentially great game.
Hell, I didn't even mention there being a loot box mechanic, because it's also something I wasn't initially aware of, because why would the items you receive in this game be determined by RNG?
Well... it makes a lot of sense once you know that EVERYTHING ELSE ALSO IS!
It's disappointing how easily Heist could have been something special, because outside of the gameplay, it's super charming and has great character designs... and frankly, it's also fun when the RNG goddess doesn't make you suffer.
Makes sense, because the other major SteamWorld series, SteamWorld Dig, is good.
The first game wasn't too great, but a unique breath of fresh air, while its sequel improved on every aspect, I strongly recommend it.
Heist is so broken at its core that I no longer trust these devs enough to even try out its recent sequel.
In fact, their obsession with procedural generation makes me wary of ever giving a game of theirs another chance.

In conclusion, stay as far away from Heist as possible.
I don't understand why this game has received so many positive reviews, but maybe playing this on the easiest difficulty or grinding by replaying old missions (another thing I didn't know about initially) makes it tolerable.
Hardly an excuse for creating a fundamentally unfair and terrible game, however.
Maybe the devs handing the keys over to robots is their defense, though.
Which is... very ironic for the world they've created.

Fantastic turn-based tactical game that doesn't use random percentage hit chance (X-com) and instead lets you line up hits that can bank off of walls or obstacles to strike your intended target. Also HATS are a key system in this game in that they make your crew look styling 🤠

Soundtrack is top-tier and there is a number of puns and goofs for good measure. Very well optimized and worth the sticker price. Includes New Game+ and a bevvy of level configurations that will keep runs fresh without making it too random. Can't wait to play the next one!

Really fun and entertaining turn based sidescrolling game. Playing it dedicated on the steam deck, works awesome straight out of the box,

it was cool, a bit short maybe, and i would prefer if the xp was for all the heroes so i wouldnt have to grind to lvl up the ones i didnt play much, it was great though!

Fun to play tactical turn based strategy. All with great and original music plus awesome graphics style. Setup in interesting steam punk world (where hats do matter). Gameplay mechanics, abilities, levelling up - all is interesting and well implemented. Definitely recommended - very high quality product!

good shit

2 reais mais bem gastos na minha vida

Absolutely fantastic and UNIQUE gameplay! It delivers lots of innovations on turn-based strategy games.

amazing

Game yang bagus untuk istirahat dari AAA games

Sorry, I expect video games on steam to be patched for adults to play them.

pretty cool

So, 80% of players have completed the tutorial. 30% have completed the first boss. There's a reason for that.

Heist has a lot of stuff going for it. The setting is quirky and charming---a post-planet-explosion space western where bots are trying to chain back together the drifting scraps of the exploding planet while raiding each other over the remaining water they need for their steam boilers. There's a bunch of songs with lyrics on the soundtrack, all done with a flair that fits and complements the twee aesthetic. The actual writing isn't much, just scraps of insubstantial dialog, but the art is pleasant even if it's samey.

As far as the gameplay, this is a 2D Xcom where you manually aim your weapons. Theoretically, enemies and environments are built to encourage bullet bouncing, the skill element of manual shooting, but in practice a bounced bullet is almost always a wasted shot. This is not because bounced shots are hard to hit, but because you need damage damage damage every time you pull the trigger.

In Heist, mitigating getting shot is 100% down to taking out your enemies before they can act. If they act, they will shoot you. Or not, if the RNG is feeling whimsical and decides to fire at a barrel for no reason. There's plenty of cover objects, but cover is basically a suggestion. You want the highest damage weapons the gacha spits at you, along with anything that boosts HP or move speed.

Yeah, the gacha. This thing is from the days of hogwild procgen, so a lot of stuff that probably shouldn't be randomized is randomized, like what guns you get. Good guns have high damage. Bad guns have anything that isn't high damage. Didn't randomly roll enough damage on your guns? There's one or two useable weapons at each shop, but they're super expensive. And you lose half your currency whenever you lose a fight.

It all adds up to an experience that is super close to being very good, but instead has huge frustration spikes that aren't fun to grind past. And no, I don't mean grind for currency. I mean grind attempts until the AI randomly shoots a barrel and you know where all the spawn placements are so you can open doors in the right order.

I'm going to try to play this one through to the end, so my review might change, but I extremely see why the majority of players washed out between the tutorial and the first boss.

1st Edit: I take everything back. Game rules when you're intoxicated.

peak

Amazing game, truly unique. As a completionist, I found it very satisfying to replay it a couple of times. I admit there's a bit of grind for rare weapons and hats, and a couple of achievements took around ten hours each, but in my opinion, it was a highly enjoyable experience. It required a bit of research, but the guides section for this game is well-written and very helpful. I played the entire game, including the paid DLCs.

Nice.

great soundtrack great game play right amount of challenge. Nothing but positive things

Completed on controller. Only gripe is that the game is SIGNIFICANTLY harder on a controller (require precise aiming, or a lot of level grinding) compared to KBM (click-and-shoot, no aim).
Game would be even more enjoyable with some aim/assist toggle for controllers. Otherwise, great game with excellent music atmosphere.

fun, love the style