Not-So-Great Expectations...but I was Wrong.

Like every other major consumer industry in the Western world, Steam decided to have its own version of the "Black Friday" sale.  The "Autumn Sale" has featured some decent deals and I decided to get in on the reduced price action.  My one major purchase has been a three game (+2 DLC) bundle featuring games from the SteamWorld series (I think it's a series....they all feature robots...so let's just say they're a series).  I played through the relatively short, but still enjoyable SteamWorld Dig and then moved on to SteamWorld Heist.  I'm not really sure what I expected--I had read that Heist was a turn-based strategy (TBS) game but at first glance it just didn't seem like most of the TBS I've played in the past.  I will admit that I walked into it thinking it was probably a laughably easy TBS game that I could dance all over.  Wrong...wrong...wrong... but in a fantastic way.

Piper, Ivanski, and Seabrass.  Part of your robot crew.

The premise of SteamWorld Heist is that you are commanding a band of renegade steambots, known as cowbots--the honest-folk type of robots who farm moisture, the fuel for steambots--who are being attacked and exploited by gangs of ruthless Scrappers and also the diesel driven Royalist forces.  You start off with your own mostly empty ship and just one crewmate.  There's definitely room for more!

Aboard your ship with Piper and the expanded crew.

Unlike many other TBS games, SteamWorld Heist isn't a top down type of game--it reminds me of platformer in just the way the levels are presented.  I walked into the first mission expecting things to be extremely simple and was shocked to find that to be successful you really do need to strategize and plan ahead.  Similar to other TBS games your characters can only move forward so many tiles before you either have to choose to take cover to attack or to sprint forward, giving up your chance to attack on that turn.  There's cover strewn about each mission but one of the more unique features is the vertical way a level can play out.  You are able to shoot through some floor surfaces--this offers the chance to locate yourself above or below your target and still be able to attack them.  This also means that enemies can do the same thing so it's extremely important to think about your own movement--horizontally and vertically.  There's something really satisfying about destroying an enemy, there's a loud metallic clanging noise as the enemy bot breaks apart into a pile of small, but recognizable, lumps of former robot.  It's not so satisfying when those lumps are your own crewmates....

Generally the priorities on each mission are to gather as much "swag" as you can.  Swag is loot that is scattered throughout the mission.  This might sound easy but many missions feature a countdown timer that will up the difficulty as time goes by.  All too often you will find yourself having to choose between trying to grab all the swag while increasingly difficult numbers and types of enemies appear or evacuating before you're completely overwhelmed and destroyed.  If your team is completely destroyed it will cost you half of the resources you currently have to be re-built.  Losing is costly so grabbing that one last bag of swag just might not be worth it.  Once you've evacuated your crew you get to open all the swag that you've just grabbed--each bag contains water or a nice piece of loot.  You can also grab "epic swag" which grants a nice item and reputation.

Completing missions grants players "reputation" in the form of stars.  Finish a mission and complete all the objectives...get all three stars.  Finish a mission and lose a crew member...lost a star.  Cleverly enough rep is used as a sort of checkpoint for progress--you have to earn a certain amount of rep so you can advance to the next part of the story.  Rep is also used to unlock certain rare items available at vendors--you can only purchase those items once you've earned enough rep.  Getting maximum rep on each mission is tough--especially the challenge missions.

But say you fail a mission.  What happens?  First, you have to pay a penalty in water (resources) to have your team rebuilt.  50% of your current water goes toward those costs.  It's generally better to spend water if you have it.  You restart the level and can re-choose the crew members you take along and also re-outfit them.  Here's where things get interesting (and awesome):  many missions are randomly generated.  The layout of the mission you just failed is probably completely different.  This keeps things fresh and throws in another layer of challenge.

As you advance through the game you are able to recruit new crew members.  Some are free and will willingly accompany you for nothing, while others cost water--your main resource as a steambot.  Each crew member has a certain class and features their own set of unique abilities--each can wield a certain set of weapons--assault characters have the ability to do bonus damage when hit, sentries gain a bonus to damage if they don't move for a turn, sharpshooters can wield long-range sniper pistols.  Along with the class skills each character has their own unique story and set of abilities that tie in with their personality.  Piper Faraday, the captain of the ship, can inspire nearby crewmates and increase their damage.  SeaBrass, the salty former sailor, is just grouchy and gets mad whenever he gets damaged...which in turn increases his own damage (payback).  A large part of the fun is mixing and matching your crew members to figure out exactly what combos work the best.  The number of crew members you can take on each mission varies so figuring out the strengths and weaknesses of your crew is vital to your success.

Some of the hats I've collected.

One of the more enjoyable and less serious aspects of SteamWorld Heist is hat collecting.  As you fight enemies you will notice that some are wearing hats.  When those bots are destroyed you can loot their hats and add them to your collection.  There's a hat for every occasion!  You can also purchase different hats from vendors sprinkled throughout the game.  There's an entire DLC that is strictly dedicated to adding hats to the game.  Your crew can also have their own hats shot off which triggers a very dramatic slow-motion moment in the action (not to worry though, once you have a hat it stays in your inventory).

I haven't quite finished SteamWorld Heist yet, but I've been so pleasantly surprised at how good it is.  I would recommend it to any gamer who enjoys TBS games--the serious players can crank up the difficulty and try to challenge themselves with maxing out rep and unlocking all the items and the more casual player can enjoy the challenge of the missions and story without the risks of losing resources when you fail a mission.  The story has been enjoyable, the missions are varied and interesting--survival, beat the countdown timer, boss fights--and there's a certain goofy charm about the cast of misfit robots.

Now I've just got to finish it--I know the last boss fight is gonna be a doozy.  Pick up SteamWorld Heist for PC on Steam:  SteamWorld Heist