Official Review SteamWorld Heist 2 (PS5) - More Mechanical Tactical Magic

Ditching the space exploration of the original, SteamWorld Heist 2 is a swashbuckling tactics adventure that places you in the shoes of Captain Leeway. He takes to the Great Sea with his ragtag group of Steambots to solve the water crisis, deal with the oppressive navy making things worse, and prove he can live up to his legendary name. The game's writing is undoubtedly charming and has you rooting for the crew. This also extends to the various taverns and areas found on the Great Sea, which are filled with fun, humorous characters that never outstay their welcome, and make the world feel lived in.

The gameplay loop breaks down into two sections. There's an overworld in which you traverse the waters in your submarine. This includes battling navy ships (and perhaps even other enemies) as you explore the seas to find missions. While it's cool to find hidden areas and shortcuts, this is probably the weakest part of the game – especially the further you get into the adventure.


The other half, and the main event of the game, are the turn-based battles. These are 2D tactical fights featuring the same things that made the original game so great. This time around, there are six unique classes available, which is good by itself, but where it really shines is the cog system, which allows you to level up in one class and transfer some of the abilities to another, leading to some deadly combos (the Engineer's cover is fantastic for the Sniper, for example). You can also recruit specific Steambots from taverns, who in turn have their own unique abilities to add an extra layer. These are backed up by a unique number of mission types, such as capturing a specific piece of loot in time, beating a boss, or just simply surviving.

SteamWorld Heist 2 does everything the name implies. It has the copious amounts of charm and strong world-building found in the wider series, while building and improving on the excellent gameplay foundation introduced in the original SteamWorld Heist. This seafaring adventure isn't one you should miss if you're after some top-tier tactics, and the improvements over the original make the almost-10-year wait more than worth it.