Another SteamWorld game is on the horizon, as Thunderful has announced SteamWorld Heist 2 is coming very soon. The sequel to the turn-based tactical game will release on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and Nintendo Switch on August 8.
Like the first installment, SteamWorld Heist 2 stars a ragtag group of Steambots who do battle in narrow, multi-level 2D corridors with a unique ricochet trick-shot mechanic to take out enemies. This time you’re led by Captain Leeway and his crewmates. The heroes are looking into a crisis that corrupts the water and corrodes their mechanical limbs. They’ll fight against factions like the high-powered (and blinged out) Navy or the cultist Rattlers who have started replacing their mechanical parts with organic bones that won’t rust.
SteamWorld Heist 2 will feature an interactive world map that has you exploring the tropical high seas in a submarine-like vessel and coming into encounters with enemy ships, including naval battles with its own equipment to customize. Thunderful told GameSpot that an interactive map was one of the ideas it had originally planned for the first SteamWorld Heist, but it ultimately had to be cut. As in the first, the ship is also your home and upgrade hub.
Heist 2 will include a new job system composed of jobs like Sniper with long aiming reticles or Reapers that specialize in taking out multiple foes. You can learn skills from the various jobs and then keep them equipped as you transition to other classes to mix and match your abilities. As one example, Thunderful showed us how the Sniper’s “Perfect Aim” skill could be applied to the explosive Boomer class, which would then show you full detail on the area of effect in your rocket rounds.
“Millions of players have gravitated toward SteamWorld Heist’s unique gameplay and art style, and fallen in love with its original story, characters and music,” said franchise director Brjánn Sigurgeirsson, in the announcement. “We’re excited to bring our dedicated fanbase on a new adventure with us in SteamWorld Heist II, where players will experience a hilarious expansion of the original set in the high seas.”
The original SteamWorld Heist has an 86 on GameSpot sister site Metacritic and received an 8/10 in GameSpot’s review. Matt Espineli called it an “absorbing tactical experience with well-crafted mechanics and systems.”
The SteamWorld series has several entries now, but the brand encompasses very different genres like the action-platformer SteamWorld Dig games and the turn-based RPG SteamWorld Quest. SteamWorld Heist will be only the second game to get a direct sequel, after SteamWorld Dig 2. The most recent release in the series, SteamWorld Build, is a city management sim that was released in 2023. Thunderful, meanwhile, was one of many publishers thatrecently announced layoffsto its workforce, citing challenging market conditions.
