Since SteamWorld Tower Defence was first released on the Nintendo DSi in 2010, the SteamWorld franchise has been around for almost 14 years. In 2013, SteamWorld Dig was released, and ten years later,SteamWorld Build—the first fully 3D SteamWorld game—is available. In essence, SteamWorld is what happens if the entire planet were a steampunk version of Westworld (1973), with robots powered only by steam residing in a dystopian future society.
In the past, the Dig series’ games were more like platformers and metroidvanias. On the other hand, dungeon exploration and city management are combined in SteamWorld Build.
Although it is purposefully kept to a minimum and serves only to give you extra goals, there is a story that unites the gameplay.
The main goal is to unearth the numerous artefacts of antiquated technology that are buried far beneath the surface in order to reassemble a rocket that can launch you into space.
However, in order to accomplish this, you must not only build your own frontier town but also supply the mine with all the labourers and equipment required to extract and excavate the required amount of material.
Building the town is the first task at hand. To get the settlement going, you’re given a few different starting points and some initial funding. From the first run-down train station, you build homes, farms, timber yards and other structures in a manner reminiscent of an Old West boomtown.
Naturally, since these are steam robots, there are also certain more esoteric requirements, like a repair shop to maintain employee discipline or a cattle farm that produces robotic cattle in some way.
Most basic city tasks require workers, but more complex jobs require engineers, who are upgraded workers, and so on.
When you unlock higher and more specialised tiers, the needs of each class of robot will become more complex, ranging from appropriate food to recreational activities.
It’s time to start mining once your city has a sufficient population and can support itself largely on its own. Here, the gameplay changes to something more akin to Lego Rock Raiders or Dungeon Keeper 2,
and you enter an entirely different underground view. It’s true that the various prerequisites for mining more difficult rock formations reminded me of the game Rock Raider, which not many people seem to play these days.
Build: Train in SteamWorld
I still have a deep affection for steam trains.
There are many resources in the mine, and different mining robots are needed to collect each one.
The construction of specialised machinery required to automatically collect from a scrap vein, for example, or the installation of a water pump (which is necessary to supply the city with purified water by means of a water purifier back on the surface) are tasks best left to mechanics.
Eventually, a lot of this can be automated, making the city function like a well-oiled machine. Since you can only have 50 of the majority of resources at once, you’ll want to use the train station to trade any extras.
A fresh steam locomotive passes through the town every five minutes, providing a chance to trade goods with other parts of the planet and receive money or other resources in exchange.
Therefore, as long as you have a substitute resource to sell, you can always set up a trade to obtain more tools or timber if you’re running low on either. Similar to the train station, you can different upgrades there that can be permanently applied to buildings. These upgrades include things like quicker resource construction, increased tax revenues, and more.
After a while, you find out the mines are not as deserted as you were first told, and you’ll need to hire a security force to protect your buildings and the miners from harm. Additionally, a range of traps and turrets will be available to you,
providing you additional choices for border defence. Even though this might sound difficult, there is a nice, gradual learning curve, and, unless you play on extremely difficult, the whole experience is mostly laid back and soothing. Additionally, it’s not very long—the whole story can be finished in less than ten hours.
The game’s graphics are superb and definitely on par with other isometric management games like Two Point Hospital.
The combination of the Wild West and steampunk robotic aesthetic is always endearing and humorous, and if you look closely at the individual robots running around,
you’ll notice that they’re all delightfully whimsically animated. Additionally, there’s a subtle tilt-shift effect that adds just the right amount of blur to distant objects. Even though there isn’t much of it, the music is good; it’s the kind of twanging guitar that would fit in well with the TV show Firefly.
While some may be annoyed by SteamWorld Build’s mild difficulty and lack of complexity, I personally appreciated the game for saving my time and providing me with an enjoyable, well-paced experience that didn’t drag on for too long.
Although the lack of distinct overarching goals will limit long-term enjoyment until more DLC adds more options, SteamWorld Build is still a beautiful combination of a simplified city-builder and dungeon delver.