The acclaimed and genre-spanning Steamworld series has never been the kind of game to play it safe. Of the six Steamworld games to either be released/announced since the series’ debut in 2010, only one has been a direct sequel. That game in question being the absolutely fantastic Steamworld Dig 2, one of my favourite Metroidvanias, and a real personal highlight of the series. From the outside, there’s clearly a desire to keep innovating the Steamworld games, a desire that has resulted in a turn-based strategy game, a tower defense game, a rather brilliant deck-builder, and now a hybrid of settlement-building/dungeon crawling with Steamworld Build.
This is another huge leap for the robot-filled universe of Steamworld, and I’d argue a huge risk for a developer and publisher who is more than aware of what games have led their fans to them. I admire this choice though, it represents a desire to be creative and try something new in an industry that is continuing to step away from these ideas. Realistically, Steamworld Dig 3 would be a much easier game to market and sell to an already captive audience, but the decision to opt against this makes me even more excited for Steamworld Build. I’d definitely consider myself a fan of city-building games, although I’ve never found myself committing hours to them the way some people do, which is why I do think the style of Steamworld Build appeals to me. How about we dive into the demo then?
New Moves But Same Old Steamworld
Despite all the gameplay changes, one thing I need to make clear straight away is that if you’re a fan of the Steamworld universe you’ll immediately click with this latest take on the series. A lot has changed, but the charming atmosphere that envelops every Steamworld game is present throughout in the demo. The other point you’ll quickly formulate is how at times Steamworld Build feels like two seperate games, joined together by a few common strands. The town-builder elements on the surface are mirrored by a dungeon crawling experience underground, you can move between both fairly interchangeably and it is a great way to keep both areas fresh during longer playthroughs.
I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s go back to the beginning for just a moment. I get the impression that this demo presents the beginning of the full game, with certain story elements immediately coming forward and establishing themselves. After loading into the game for the first time you’ll be met by a father and daughter pair dreaming of leaving their doomed planet and heading for the stars. They’re accompanied by a rather suspicious robot whose likeness to Glados makes me inclined to believe that this little fella does not have any good intentions. This opening cutscene is short, but it does a brilliant job of establishing not only the stakes, but quickly getting players accustomed to the main players involved in said narrative right off the bat. Small narrative moments are dotted across this demo, but the core focus, as it should be in a demo, is on the gameplay loop itself.
Who Says You Can’t Teach A Robot New Tricks?
To succeed in constructing the rocket that can save robot kind you’ll have to do a lot of building, upgrading and as is Steamworld tradition, digging! Above ground gameplay is an experience akin to many a city-builder, so fans of the genre will likely be able to quickly get to grips with how everything works on the surface. Your first job is to slowly establish a small settlement, whilst providing your robots with the accommodation, shops and services needed to ensure both happiness and survival! It’s all very relaxed, once you build up a population of robots the demo will continue pushing you to expand your town, but there’s no dangers to contend with (yet?) so you can play at your own pace with no concerns.
Most progress in the demo is tracked through small milestones that you’ll need to work towards to progress, although even these are measured by simple factors such as population and resources, so most of this occurs naturally anyway! Everything is well signposted too, so if any facilities, robots or services are having issues you’ll quickly be alerted to said troubles. I’ve always been a huge advocate of more laidback ‘builder’ games, and Build nails this dynamic, mainly because of the dangers that lie under the surface meaning trouble is never too far away. Keeping the townsfolk happy is incredibly easy, each residential building has a selection of meters to fill, doing so will increase resident satisfaction. Each type of citizen has certain needs, and keeping them content is as simple as ensuring they have all of their particular needs in close proximity to their place of residence.
Engineering New Opportunities For Robot Kind
After finding your way through a few milestones you’ll unlock a new citizen type, engineers, and this is where things get a bit more interesting in regards to forming new neighborhoods. Engineers are unique from your other citizens, they require different accommodation and perform different tasks, so at this stage your town will undergo a makeover of sorts. It becomes a balancing act of ensuring you can expand and maintain infrastructure for your new type of citizen, all whilst making sure you don’t compromise what has already been set up for your original Steambots.
Even if you do overstep, errors are very easy to set right, thanks to a combination of fairly forgiving gameplay conditions and an easy to understand UI. Steamworld Build isn’t trying to catch you out, and it makes for an even more enjoyable experience.
At a similar time the train begins to make regular visits to your blossoming settlement, offering the chance to set up resource trading or buy modifiers that will improve the efficiency of your resource production. In the demo the trading system is quite basic albeit functional, but I do hope that this is expanded on as the game opens up more, there’s great opportunities here if they’re pushed further.
In This [Steam]World We Dig!
Unlocking the mine is a huge game changer in the most literal sense. Before this point the focus of Steamworld Build is solely on developing your town, with the mine existing as a curious waypoint on the map, begging to be explored. The trailer for Build shows off some combat encounters down in the mine, unfortunately the demo finishes before you can try this out, but the mine offers up plenty of other mechanics which allow it to differentiate itself from everything above ground.
Instead of laying the foundations of buildings and roads you’ll instead be building living quarters for miner bots. These bots will work hard on excavating a range of different precious materials before sending them back up to the surface, now you see how the relationship between both of the core gameplay types works right? More places to live will see more miners descend into the dark depths, keen to earn their keep despite the danger that lies in the shadows. As the mine grows in size, so to does it become more unstable, which is where pillars come into things.
If your mine is close to collapse you’ll know about it, trust me, at which point you’ll have to find the area of weakness and prop it up. All miner bots deserve to work in safety right? Robot unions are definitely canon to the Steamworld universe IMO. Similar to the surface, progression in the mines will see new types of miner bots become available, such as prospectors and mechanics. Each type require their own living space, and have different parts to play in unlocking the most potential from your mine. Advancements can also come through collaboration with the surface population who are able to supply miners with better tools, such as pickaxes, that allow the excavation of more valuable minerals.
The relationship between surface and mine is well built and works incredibly well once you get to grips with it. Mined resources can be used to improve things in the town itself, which in turn allows new tools to be produced and sent down into the mines. It’s an interesting loop, and one that I can’t wait to explore more once the full game releases later this year. The demo gives just a small taste of this whole experience and I’m already hooked!
Can You [Steamworld] Build Me A Time Machine?
Another heading and another pun I hear you groan… Sorry, I yet again had to! The demo concludes with a lovely tease of the story to come before thanking you for playing and then exiting to the main menu. Ah, what a tease! If this demo is a good indicator of what the full game will look like at launch I for one can not wait! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute I spent with Steamworld Build and I highly recommend checking the demo, especially if you’re a fan of the series and find yourself put off by the genre itself. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this style of game suits the atmosphere of Steamworld, it just works, and some of the smaller details are a real delight to discover, further highlighting the clear love that this entry is being developed with.
I have great admiration in the decision to announce the game with a demo too, it’s certainly a ballsy move, but one that show the faith that is clearly being placed in Steamworld Build, faith that is well rewarded. It’s on the wishlist, and I for one will be counting down the days to release…
Tom's World 
Leave a comment