What genre should SteamWorld do next?
This article reviews SteamWorld Build, examining its strengths and weaknesses within the city-building genre, and offering insights into potential future directions for the SteamWorld series.
Jon’s Goods and Services City Building
SteamWorld Build stands out with its unique premise: a retro-futuristic city-builder where players construct a bustling boomtown inhabited by quirky steam-powered robots, concurrently excavating a mine beneath the surface. This innovative combination offers a refreshing alternative to many formulaic city-building games. The game provides a sense of progression as players not only expand their surface town but also venture deeper into the mines, unlocking new technologies and resources in the process.
- Visual Style: The game effectively utilizes the distinctive aesthetics of the SteamWorld franchise, drawing inspiration from established universes like Warcraft. The style adapts seamlessly to the city-building genre without compromising the characterful charm of the robot population.
- Character Design: The robots retain their endearing, cartoonish personalities, each with a peculiar accent. This unique vocalization and style add significantly to the game’s engaging atmosphere.
- Gameplay Mechanics: The core mechanics of providing services and producing goods for the robotic citizens are familiar in city builders. However, the game excels by incorporating a dual-layered structure involving both above-ground city development and subterranean mine exploration.
The game’s simplicity is a double-edged sword, offering a smooth experience for beginners but potentially limiting the depth for seasoned fans of complex city-building simulations.
Fans familiar with Anno or the older Impressions City Building titles will likely appreciate the familiar structures and mechanisms. The game effectively uses the familiar principles of resource management and service delivery, but differentiates itself through its innovative mine exploration system.
| Aspect | Description |
|---|---|
| Resource Acquisition | Players initially focus on easily-mined resources but progressively require specialized tools to access deeper, more challenging ores. |
| Underground Expansion | The game seamlessly blends above-ground city development with underground mining, requiring players to manage both simultaneously. |
| Resource Dependency | Resources gathered underground eventually become vital for the functioning of the above-ground town. |
The game’s underground layer introduces the aspect of dynamic resource dependencies. This creates a cyclical system where mining activities and above-ground city development become intertwined. The game successfully incorporates defense mechanics, enabling players to protect their mines from threats uncovered during excavation.
Strategic planning isn’t a complex simulation but rather a practical balance between supplying the surface population and extracting resources from the mines. The game’s simplicity allows for a satisfying progression loop, encouraging players to build their community while managing the extraction process.
Upgrades in the game are straightforward, facilitating quick improvements to buildings and production rates. However, these upgrades don’t offer numerous diverse strategic options for players.
The train station serves as a crucial trading hub, supplementing in-game income and providing access to building upgrades. This system smoothly enhances the city development process. The game avoids being overly complex, allowing for an enjoyable, beginner-friendly experience while also providing a slight degree of strategy.
SteamWorld Build offers a relatively short but enjoyable experience (approximately 8 hours). The game’s five maps offer engaging terrain variations, but the core gameplay loop remains consistent, lacking significant strategic depth across runs.
While simple, the game effectively balances simplicity with approachability. The controller support is a welcome change from other city-builders that struggle with this aspect. The game’s random underground layers and the introduction of permanent upgrades for future towns contribute to sustained enjoyment.
In conclusion, SteamWorld Build presents an engaging, fast-paced city-building experience. While its simplicity may hold it back from becoming a deeply strategic or simulation-rich experience, its charm and unique premise recommend it to players seeking a lighthearted and approachable city-building adventure.
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