Brilliant, challenging game that is both simple and complex. Custom difficulty, missions, skill trees, upgrades, weapons and deep tactics fittingly do justice to this charming, lovingly-crafted gem.

Second in the Steamworld Heist franchise, Thunderful – the new studio that took over development for Steamworld Heist II (SHII) does a masterful job of creating a game that is fun, challenging, and funny. I’ve racked up about 22 hours so far, and I imagine returning to it at some point when I’m less busy.

Without further ado:

Tactics and combat lie at the heart of this turn-based game with rogue-lite elements. SHII embodies a map for real-time exploration and naval combat – you pilot a submarine that often engages in underwater and surface battles with other naval vessels.

You can upgrade your submarine, personnel and weapons; the game allows you to boost crew stats with every successful mission, gain new loot, currency, and allows you to discover new stores to buy upgrades from, other than your current base. There are also many points of interest to explore and discover on the world map, new sites to raid and pillage new loot, hire special crew members, or just gain “favour points”.

Once you collect enough favour points (by completing quests/missions or destroying enemy vessels), you can exchange them for the loot of your choice at your current base). Note that you only have 1 item each in this special store, so choose carefully to optimize the precious few points you have.

Along the way, you’ll have to make strategic and tactical decisions. Which area or quest should you do first? Should you hold the more difficult ones for later, or do you need the rewards now? What class should you assign your crew? Should they all be different, or do you prefer to have 2 members of the same class? Each class has its strengths and weaknesses, and note that your crew can attain multiple classes with time.

The game is story-based, but has multiple levels of difficulty. At higher levels, you have underwater enemies as well, and you should know that your submarine cannot stay submerged forever…
Ok, let’s get to the nitty gritty – and there’s lots to like about this game:

+ The gameplay is fun, and multiple skill trees and upgrade paths ensure replayability.
+ The battles and “ricochet” mechanics/physics are spectacular. I’ve often used this to devastating effect, taking out multiple foes at a time
+ The characters are likable, and the gibberish conversations they have are hilarious (almost sounds like Cantonese to me)
+ The in-base soundtrack is oddly appropriate, heartfelt and amusing. There is a Western-tinged, barbershop quartet quality to it
+ The tactical and strategic depth is impressive. There are so many options and upgrade paths to take that no two games (or battles) will be the same
+ Battles are fun, and can be challenging. They also can be timed – i.e. you have a fixed number of turns to complete the battle or you fail the mission
+ Destructible elements in the battle environment is another plus. You can also trigger hotspots to create various effects: falling debris, freezing, etc.
+ There is a multitude of loot, weapons, items, upgrades, which are really fun to try out / collect. Would you prefer a heavily armoured sub or a very fast attack sub? It’s your choice

- There is not much to dislike, apart from a few UI issues – having to skip too many menus to get back to the main screen, the hats (which seem to serve no purpose, other than stylistic ones), and only being able to save your progress at a base (though this is common in other roguelite games). These are minor points and do not take much away from the game

• I know that real-time exploration speeds gameplay up, but I’m not a huge fan of it. If you twitch in the wrong direction, you might end up hitting a mine, or attracting the attention of a battleship, which will inevitably thump you. Still, this is not a deal-breaker.

Steamworld Heist II is a very enjoyable game; they make it fun to blow things up and shoot the bad guys, and it’s far enough removed that you never think of real world consequences. There is a decent storyline, and engaging battles that accompany them. Some might say that the battles become repetitive (you can repeat missions for basic loot even after you’ve cleared them before), but I take them to be proving grounds to level up a crew member, try out new gear / weapons, or experiment with different tactics / crew classes.

And frankly, who doesn’t like being able to pilot a submarine?

8.0/10.0

It's a good game, totally worth buying. And it's often on sale.
You don't need to have played the first game, although it does add a little bit of lore.

The gameplay is turn-based, with side-scrolling. On each turn, you can choose one of these options: 1) Shoot, or 2) move and then shoot, or 3) move twice the distance. Each character on your team has special abilities.

A major new feature is the general skill tree, which unlocks abilities depending on which area you want to specialize in, and if you want, you can specialize in all of them. The passive abilities in each branch are very useful; it's a great addition.

It features a sort of open world that lets you choose which mission to do next. What really limits you is the feeling that certain missions would be too difficult. You can replay each mission as many times as you want.

If you liked the first one, you're going to LOVE this one!

My biggest gripe with the first one was that it was to short.
This game fixes that. It took me around 30h to finish all the missions and explore all of the map, which is like 4 times longer than the first one. The different mix and build you can create and the difficulites gives the game a lot of replayability.

The story won't blow your brains out and is kind of a "feels good" type of story.
The gameplay loop is great and the mission are never boring or repetitive. Each one has some sort of dynamic thats forces you to play a certain way.
There's way more weapons, attachements, perks and hats, which gives the game variety and life.
Some people complain about the overwolrd map or the ship, but I actually enjoyed it. It gives you a little break in between missions.
There are a lot of pop culture references and it always give me a chuckle.
I like the style and personality of each bot. All are unique and interesting to have on board your submarine.
Honneslty I would give this game a 9.5 out of ten as it is unique and clearly made with passion and love. Two thigns modern games sometimes lack. My only "complain" which isn't a negative per say, is that I would love to have more control on the story and some more dramatic moments. It could be cool to decide to side with a faction or not scrapping a boss and rectuiting him in return, etc. I would also like for the differents bots to all have a litle ending a la fallout. A few slide and sentences to explain how they changed and what are they're next goal. i would also love to have more conversation with them, to creat a stonger bond (wich could be good with more risk as in a real possibility of loosing them, but i understand that it doesn't fit the theme and vibe of the game).

In short, if you like turn based combat and a game you can chill to while enjoying a challenge, buy it! Its worth it even at full price. I have no problem seeing me replaying the game in two or three years to relive the expreience a second time. Lets support indie devs who love and make their game with passion and soul.
Thank you Thunderful team!