Another charming Steamworld game. Works surprisingly well on the Switch. General flow of the game is very good but several times I had to look stuff up as some buildings are in separate levels of menus, some not, so it's easy to lose track at times of what you have built. Very light on story as well. But, as usual for Steamworld it's a well made and simple to grasp game.
This review contains spoilers
Warning: Extended paragraphed rant with spoilers for the entire Steamworld series
It took me 4 repeated attempts to play this game with it boring me before completion before I finally finished it.
Thunderful took one long look at the worldbuilding and storytelling of the Steamworld games, then went "yeah let's do dig 2 again" and made the same plot but worse. The characters are flat boring stereotypes that love missing obvious shit, the 4 events of the story barely register as happening given they don't affect anything that's going on, the lore of this game actively makes the pre-existing lore worse, and every plot element feels like a checkbox on a list of things to include by someone not interested in their work (why does the crazy bot sacrifice himself, we learnt nothing about that character, he literally didn't even do anything THEY'RE ON A ROCKET IN SPACE WHILE THE PLANET EXPLODES).
Speaking of not interested in the work, this game reeks of corporate oversight or quick cash scheme (because of/despite the baffling amount of 'content' in there). Even before the game released seeing "NEW Interview with (some director) behind Steamworld Build" featuring the same uninteresting interviewer asking similar non-descriptive questions spammed from every other Steamworld game page on steam almost got me to not buy the game I was already going to buy (because I just really like the Steamworld games). Plus adding on that now the most I've heard about the game is another holiday visual update or minor map addition is all I hear about it, it seems like the marketing for the game was just that in order to increase sales before people actually learn exactly how bad the game is. Now the classic 'Oh my god guys Vectron was evil?!???' is getting stale, especially when executed this blindingly obviously, and the steambot civilisation rarely shown before the planet exploded seems so much worse now (list below). Also, having seen the aristocrat 'character arc' and disinterested design philosophy, it seems like Thunderful wants to use Image & Form to simply maximise profit at the expense of everyone who had worked or is working on this series (I don't wanna stoop to their level and say franchise, it feels wrong).
And this glaring intent is only reinforced by the gameplay, encouraging segregation by class and expendable workers while simplifying every interaction down to either obvious handholding in designing your city or a waiting simulator (the late game balance stinks, the last mission is just wait for rocket fuel to be made which took like 10 minutes on 2x speed). I already don't like city sims, but I do appreciate Thunderful keeping up with Steamworld's lack of trend chasing, but then again it doesn't help this game's lack of vision and interest.
Speaking of vision and interest, the art direction avoids those two words like the plague. Everything is either too cartoony to be recognisable or too one-note to matter. The other Steamworld games have a very muted cartoon high-quality-flash-game style to lean into the grungy post-steampunk aesthetic in these apocalyptic scenarios while contrasting against the clean chromatic modern (pre-spiderverse) digitally animated style of Vectron. Steamworld Quest has a more cartoony artstyle due to it literally being a storybook told to a character's child in universe and the story following a textbook hero's journey. Why is this game following the same apocalyptic scenario as Steamworld Dig 2 with another Vectron bot, but looking more marketable and brand-safe than ever?
And despite these qualities, it's not entirely worthless in all aspects. I had some fun figuring out layouts in the actively jagged and uneven landscape, the mining wasn't terrible (despite the same game series doing better), and there was clearly a lot of effort put in the game which does increase my enjoyment. However I cannot say I'm looking forward to Steamworld Headhunters (if it's even still being made) anymore, as Thunderful has very clearly shown they don't care about making good games in Steamworld, just more product.
List of things this game introduced that makes no sense:
- Why are the steambots on wagons moving home?
- - What happened to their previous home?
- - Why is a piece of Vectron just chilling with them?
- - - It was introduced in Heist that Vectron made it their mission to destroy the steambots, so why let so many create civilisation especially when the core can just escape to the depths and raise another vectron army (or even do so immediately after the bots find the vectron machines in the bottom layer)?
- Why are there so many steambots to the point they're expendable?
- - It was introduced in the Dig games that there aren't many steambots around, so where did these ones come from?
- Why doesn't anyone just get rid of the Aristocracy? They keep on dying or being denied resources (in story) from this one aristocrat bot being selfish, so why not do something about it in this mostly lawless world?
- What was that ending? Speedrun the last days of the planet before it explodes (seemingly out of nowhere if you haven't played Dig 2) just to immediately have the refugees be transported across the stars without any explanation. Why?
- - If that's supposed to be a cliffhanger, why not hint at Vectron's future plans then?
- - Also, what's the explanation for how this leads to Heist then?
- - - Did this hijacked rocket then become the Royalists despite the Vectron core being a prisoner of the Royalists, unlike how the end of this game presents it?
- - - Are they supposed be somewhere deeper in space than anywhere in Heist, and if so then why was a large portion of Vectron disconnected from their main network and hiding behind the moon?
- - - When did that rocket get the ability to go lightspeed when no other steambot rocket has that an unknown amount of years later in Heist?
- I know I've already said this, but why did crazy bot sacrifice himself?
- - What was his plan?
- - What was his talk of getting hope? In what aspect did you lose hope before now? When was this established cause I think I might've missed it
- - - Furthermore, why didn't the crazy bot regain his memories after first hearing the Old Signal, especially since he was in the civilisation that sent the Old Signal?
- Why can only Astrid hear the Old Signal?
- - Obviously the core was lying about the Old Signal being hereditary given the Old Signal warns you about this core, so why only Astrid?
- - Why don't the other bots hear the Old Signal? All steambots are shown to have the same capabilities with minor modifications, but Jack never mentions giving her a unique antenna for these signals so she mustn't have any capability the other bots don't
I wrote this immediately after finishing the game. And just given by how many weird ass questions I had, I doubt the writing staff cared much about how any of their work made sense for this game. Absolutely dreadful across the board (mostly) and I will be pretending this game does not exist in the future, though I wish I didn't have to
It took me 4 repeated attempts to play this game with it boring me before completion before I finally finished it.
Thunderful took one long look at the worldbuilding and storytelling of the Steamworld games, then went "yeah let's do dig 2 again" and made the same plot but worse. The characters are flat boring stereotypes that love missing obvious shit, the 4 events of the story barely register as happening given they don't affect anything that's going on, the lore of this game actively makes the pre-existing lore worse, and every plot element feels like a checkbox on a list of things to include by someone not interested in their work (why does the crazy bot sacrifice himself, we learnt nothing about that character, he literally didn't even do anything THEY'RE ON A ROCKET IN SPACE WHILE THE PLANET EXPLODES).
Speaking of not interested in the work, this game reeks of corporate oversight or quick cash scheme (because of/despite the baffling amount of 'content' in there). Even before the game released seeing "NEW Interview with (some director) behind Steamworld Build" featuring the same uninteresting interviewer asking similar non-descriptive questions spammed from every other Steamworld game page on steam almost got me to not buy the game I was already going to buy (because I just really like the Steamworld games). Plus adding on that now the most I've heard about the game is another holiday visual update or minor map addition is all I hear about it, it seems like the marketing for the game was just that in order to increase sales before people actually learn exactly how bad the game is. Now the classic 'Oh my god guys Vectron was evil?!???' is getting stale, especially when executed this blindingly obviously, and the steambot civilisation rarely shown before the planet exploded seems so much worse now (list below). Also, having seen the aristocrat 'character arc' and disinterested design philosophy, it seems like Thunderful wants to use Image & Form to simply maximise profit at the expense of everyone who had worked or is working on this series (I don't wanna stoop to their level and say franchise, it feels wrong).
And this glaring intent is only reinforced by the gameplay, encouraging segregation by class and expendable workers while simplifying every interaction down to either obvious handholding in designing your city or a waiting simulator (the late game balance stinks, the last mission is just wait for rocket fuel to be made which took like 10 minutes on 2x speed). I already don't like city sims, but I do appreciate Thunderful keeping up with Steamworld's lack of trend chasing, but then again it doesn't help this game's lack of vision and interest.
Speaking of vision and interest, the art direction avoids those two words like the plague. Everything is either too cartoony to be recognisable or too one-note to matter. The other Steamworld games have a very muted cartoon high-quality-flash-game style to lean into the grungy post-steampunk aesthetic in these apocalyptic scenarios while contrasting against the clean chromatic modern (pre-spiderverse) digitally animated style of Vectron. Steamworld Quest has a more cartoony artstyle due to it literally being a storybook told to a character's child in universe and the story following a textbook hero's journey. Why is this game following the same apocalyptic scenario as Steamworld Dig 2 with another Vectron bot, but looking more marketable and brand-safe than ever?
And despite these qualities, it's not entirely worthless in all aspects. I had some fun figuring out layouts in the actively jagged and uneven landscape, the mining wasn't terrible (despite the same game series doing better), and there was clearly a lot of effort put in the game which does increase my enjoyment. However I cannot say I'm looking forward to Steamworld Headhunters (if it's even still being made) anymore, as Thunderful has very clearly shown they don't care about making good games in Steamworld, just more product.
List of things this game introduced that makes no sense:
- Why are the steambots on wagons moving home?
- - What happened to their previous home?
- - Why is a piece of Vectron just chilling with them?
- - - It was introduced in Heist that Vectron made it their mission to destroy the steambots, so why let so many create civilisation especially when the core can just escape to the depths and raise another vectron army (or even do so immediately after the bots find the vectron machines in the bottom layer)?
- Why are there so many steambots to the point they're expendable?
- - It was introduced in the Dig games that there aren't many steambots around, so where did these ones come from?
- Why doesn't anyone just get rid of the Aristocracy? They keep on dying or being denied resources (in story) from this one aristocrat bot being selfish, so why not do something about it in this mostly lawless world?
- What was that ending? Speedrun the last days of the planet before it explodes (seemingly out of nowhere if you haven't played Dig 2) just to immediately have the refugees be transported across the stars without any explanation. Why?
- - If that's supposed to be a cliffhanger, why not hint at Vectron's future plans then?
- - Also, what's the explanation for how this leads to Heist then?
- - - Did this hijacked rocket then become the Royalists despite the Vectron core being a prisoner of the Royalists, unlike how the end of this game presents it?
- - - Are they supposed be somewhere deeper in space than anywhere in Heist, and if so then why was a large portion of Vectron disconnected from their main network and hiding behind the moon?
- - - When did that rocket get the ability to go lightspeed when no other steambot rocket has that an unknown amount of years later in Heist?
- I know I've already said this, but why did crazy bot sacrifice himself?
- - What was his plan?
- - What was his talk of getting hope? In what aspect did you lose hope before now? When was this established cause I think I might've missed it
- - - Furthermore, why didn't the crazy bot regain his memories after first hearing the Old Signal, especially since he was in the civilisation that sent the Old Signal?
- Why can only Astrid hear the Old Signal?
- - Obviously the core was lying about the Old Signal being hereditary given the Old Signal warns you about this core, so why only Astrid?
- - Why don't the other bots hear the Old Signal? All steambots are shown to have the same capabilities with minor modifications, but Jack never mentions giving her a unique antenna for these signals so she mustn't have any capability the other bots don't
I wrote this immediately after finishing the game. And just given by how many weird ass questions I had, I doubt the writing staff cared much about how any of their work made sense for this game. Absolutely dreadful across the board (mostly) and I will be pretending this game does not exist in the future, though I wish I didn't have to
5/10
This just made me want to play Anno.
Pretty short and sweet little city builder. I'm normally not one for city building on account of how I do not have an eye for design in the slightest, but this one was pretty beginner friendly. The swapping between the caves and the city was really fun, and towards the end the caves got pretty fast paced. Only took a few hours to beat so I'd say go for it if you like Steamworld and want a baba binky city builder.
La idea y la historia del juego no están mal, el problema principal es que para avanzar en la creación de la ciudad y en la historia te obliga a mejorar las casas de los trabajadores pero ya existentes en lugar de crear nuevas casas, y los nuevos trabajadores requieren nuevas tiendas para ser felices, lo que hace necesario relocalizar constantemente las casas y sinceramente me parece algo completamente innecesario que se podían haber ahorrado.
I love the SteamWorld setting, love city builders, and loved Lego Rock Raiders, so I assumed this game would be perfect for me. The aesthetics of the game are great but nothing about the gameplay got its hooks into me like other city builders have.
The above ground gameplay feels a bit weak, with basically no challenge. You need to have different types of workers close to an increasing number of services. That's as complex as it really gets. It really could have done with events effecting the city.
The underground part of the game has a bit more meat to it, combining exploration with factory building. However the late game mostly consists of waves of enemies which pose no threat.
The above ground gameplay feels a bit weak, with basically no challenge. You need to have different types of workers close to an increasing number of services. That's as complex as it really gets. It really could have done with events effecting the city.
The underground part of the game has a bit more meat to it, combining exploration with factory building. However the late game mostly consists of waves of enemies which pose no threat.
esta bien, dentro de todo se vuelve monotono, intentas balancear las necesidades de las clases, los desbloqueos son lineales y se basan en ser la version mejor de algo que ya desbloqueaste. divirtio hasta los aristocratas
The entire SteamWorld franchise is one big flex. Almost every game dabbles in a new genre, bending and contorting it to fit the western robot-punk, vaguely post-apocalyptic aesthetic — but bringing with it some quality of life changes or spins on well-trodden formulas that feel completely unique. It’s never quite as simple as just slapping robots into a game you’ve already played before.
SteamWorld Build plants a flag in the ground of the land of city-builders with the lovely added depth of allowing players to burrow into the caverns beneath to extract the valuable elements and resources needed to continue expanding your soon-to-be metropolis. This feels in the moment like you’re playing multiple games simultaneously: Build your city until the balance of resources starts to skew into the red, then tunnel into the cavernous maw beneath to find new veins of ore to mine. Eventually, you’ll have cleared out as much of the underground as possible which sends you back up to the city to expand its reach and the inhabitants who live there as some will invent new tech for your mine shaft.
In this way, Build creates an impossibly sticky loop. Every action is rewarding, and every action feeds into another future action. As your city and mining operations each grow, they grow the possibility-space one plays within until you find yourself red-eyed and hunched, hungry and unclear of the time. Eventually you’ll need to just smash the eject button and go to bed.
SteamWorld Build plants a flag in the ground of the land of city-builders with the lovely added depth of allowing players to burrow into the caverns beneath to extract the valuable elements and resources needed to continue expanding your soon-to-be metropolis. This feels in the moment like you’re playing multiple games simultaneously: Build your city until the balance of resources starts to skew into the red, then tunnel into the cavernous maw beneath to find new veins of ore to mine. Eventually, you’ll have cleared out as much of the underground as possible which sends you back up to the city to expand its reach and the inhabitants who live there as some will invent new tech for your mine shaft.
In this way, Build creates an impossibly sticky loop. Every action is rewarding, and every action feeds into another future action. As your city and mining operations each grow, they grow the possibility-space one plays within until you find yourself red-eyed and hunched, hungry and unclear of the time. Eventually you’ll need to just smash the eject button and go to bed.
Quase não tenho experiência com esse tipo de jogo então não tenho com o que comparar nem realmente afirmar que é um bom game do gênero mas nos dias em que fiquei jogando, fui completamente ENGOLIDO por esse jogo...era só trabalho e SteamWorld Buid!
Acredito que seja um bom jogo para novatos no gênero e pra quem quer jogar algo um pouco diferente do mainstream.
O jogo está no game pass, caso alguém queira dar uma chance e está com pouca grana...
Acredito que seja um bom jogo para novatos no gênero e pra quem quer jogar algo um pouco diferente do mainstream.
O jogo está no game pass, caso alguém queira dar uma chance e está com pouca grana...
Pleasant game that ended up being a bit too shallow for me. The UI was a bit sparse for me. I wish it had production graphs like Anno's. It reminded me that I love Anno 1800. Got me to pick up Against the Storm, which is shaping up to be a solid contender for 2023
Even though I loved every SteamWorld game so far, this one didn't make the cut.
It's quite incredible that Steamworld Dig 2 and Build are different genres yet manage to capture the same meditative core loop. You can sink 4-5 hours into Build without blinking an eye, and I think because it rights two wrongs of the Two Point series (the last city style builder game I played): you've got always something to do, and you're not punished harshly for mistakes made. The freedom and fleixibilty to move buildings around is greatly appreciated.
Beat the first map in about 10 hours and immediately dived into the next one with my understanding the key to success is communist style block development.
Beat the first map in about 10 hours and immediately dived into the next one with my understanding the key to success is communist style block development.
I finished the first world completely in 10 hours and played an hour on the second map. Before I begin, I must say that I am a huge simp of mining games, especially ones like SteamWorld.
It was nice to play the story, but it has mid-tier gameplay, so I did not play every level. It will get you hooked on itself in the first world and you will see to its ending.
It's likely that we'll get a sequel to this game based on its ending.
It was nice to play the story, but it has mid-tier gameplay, so I did not play every level. It will get you hooked on itself in the first world and you will see to its ending.
It's likely that we'll get a sequel to this game based on its ending.
A weird combination of genres that feels like you're playing two different games that only sometimes interact with each other. The gameplay loop is a lot of fun, enough that when I beat a world I immediately went back to start up another world.
I can't say this game will be everyone's cup of tea, but I've enjoyed my time with it. I do wish it pushed back a little harder on the player. Even on medium difficulty, there wasn't any major demolishing I had to do in the city nor did anything catastrophically collapse in the mine.
I'll still be playing this for a while.
I can't say this game will be everyone's cup of tea, but I've enjoyed my time with it. I do wish it pushed back a little harder on the player. Even on medium difficulty, there wasn't any major demolishing I had to do in the city nor did anything catastrophically collapse in the mine.
I'll still be playing this for a while.
SteamWorld Build is another great installment in the SteamWorld saga that explores a genre untouched by the franchise and once again gives it a totally original spin that expands it a little and also makes it more accessible.
The SteamWorld devs haven't done a bad game ever.
The SteamWorld devs haven't done a bad game ever.
Back in the day when I had a big tower PC on a corner shelving unit in my room, bed to my left and combi VHS TV to my right, I'd have loved this.
I have enjoyed every Steamworld game to date. What they do so well is present a very polished take on an established genre or game concept, and then just let you enjoy the gameplay inside their Steamworld universe. They're never the most advanced or complex games in their respective genres, but it's always a good time with very little friction.
One of my current favorite city builder games. I adore city builders and while I've never played the SteamWorld series, this was a nice introduction, I think.
Getting all of the buildings to work together, synergizing relevant buildings, and minimizing as much space as I can was already quite fun, and then I got into the CAVERNS, which opened up a whole new game. Altogether very engrossing.
Getting all of the buildings to work together, synergizing relevant buildings, and minimizing as much space as I can was already quite fun, and then I got into the CAVERNS, which opened up a whole new game. Altogether very engrossing.
City architects are the real heroes!!!
I started with such grand visions of a beautiful, symmetrical city grid, but it quickly spiralled into chaos as I scrambled for resources. Even this city builder is too taxing for my simple brain.
Anyway, this was really cute and satisfying, and even though they are all in different genres, the Steam World brand continues to be tied together by addictive gameplay loops. Things build up so gradually that you don't even notice just how much plate spinning you're actually doing.
I didn't end up finishing my first town as I felt like I had reached my limit of looking at meters fill up (or empty, usually) but I had a fun time nonetheless.
I started with such grand visions of a beautiful, symmetrical city grid, but it quickly spiralled into chaos as I scrambled for resources. Even this city builder is too taxing for my simple brain.
Anyway, this was really cute and satisfying, and even though they are all in different genres, the Steam World brand continues to be tied together by addictive gameplay loops. Things build up so gradually that you don't even notice just how much plate spinning you're actually doing.
I didn't end up finishing my first town as I felt like I had reached my limit of looking at meters fill up (or empty, usually) but I had a fun time nonetheless.
weakest steamworld game sigue siendo cool af
Not sure why, but this didn't hook me. I think it probably just felt a little too tedious going down the building checklist and clearing out the mines.
Simple, chill and polished. I loved that the moment I felt that I had everything together on the top world and just needed to wait for things to complete, I needed to go below ground and manage things there. It kept gameplay varied and interesting.
Would love to see a similar mechanic in a more demanding world.
Would love to see a similar mechanic in a more demanding world.
Actually really fun. Went in with not that much expectation because those type of rts city building games normaly dont meet my expectation but this one was really good. Its fun and easy to understand. Steady but surely progression and offers possibility for more depth and could expand or be more challenging in DLC or a sequel.
Addicting.
These folks set out to make an accessible city builder and the game absolutely nails it. Genre staples are carefully simplified and clearly explained, information is well laid out, and the map ends right when stuff starts getting really unwieldy. It's also fun! Your little guys run in a panic if you delete a road they're walking on. Your miners whistle little ditties and the music is super sick and well-thought out. The interplay between mining and building out your city is super engaging. The combat is not something I dread, a rarity for most games in this genre!
It's not the One True Game that will keep you warm for a thousand years. However it's a perfect intro to the genre, works surprisingly well with a controller, and i went back for a second round.
It's not the One True Game that will keep you warm for a thousand years. However it's a perfect intro to the genre, works surprisingly well with a controller, and i went back for a second round.
This game is a GREAT game. I only gave it 4 1/2 stars because technically it's impossible to lose. I have completed 5 maps and almost completed all achievements at the time of writing this.
SteamWorld build is a city builder and resource management game in which you control the mining and the economy on the surface. It's not overly complicated with the economy. It is the perfect mix. A very relaxing game to play.
SteamWorld build is a city builder and resource management game in which you control the mining and the economy on the surface. It's not overly complicated with the economy. It is the perfect mix. A very relaxing game to play.
I was deeply hooked on this from minute 1. The core loop is really satisfying, and I really liked how the mining aspect fed into the city building aspect. I do have a few issues with it, the biggest one being the alert system. The game tells you about major events happening, like an enemy attacking or an imminent mine collapse, but it doesn't give you any way of knowing where those things are happening. Later in the game when you're juggling 3 mine levels at once it becomes really annoying to have to find those things. Similarly, I really liked how there was a strategy to the city building where certain buildings could be removed and replaced because higher tier citizens didn't need them, but it's basically impossible to find those buildings once the city gets to a certain density. A simple list of buildings with a "locate" button would have done wonders. Apart from that though I really loved this.
O jogo se divide em manejar uma cidade e explorar uma caverna. É interessante e me fez jogar até o fim por alguns dias. Imediatamente comecei outro mapa ao terminar o primeiro, mas os mapas não são diferentes o suficiente, e não há muito desafio, então acabei enjoando. Mas acredito que o jogo funciona perfeitamente, ao menos na primeira jogatina.
Steamworld Build is beautiful and charming, but couldn't quite hook me. The gameplay loop seems to consist of building and harvesting resources so you can build better buildings and harvest better resources. The problem is that there isn't much strategy to building and harvesting. You build where it seems obvious to do so, then do it again. There isn't that sense of long term thinking or engine generation. I didn't feel like I was carefully engineering a well-oiled machine; rather, I was adding on to an agglutinative monstrosity. This isn't a genre I often gravitate to, but I was hoping that Steamworld could make that leap for me.