14 DAY TRIAL // SteamWorld Heist is the next chapter in the SteamWorld saga, a follow-up to last year's platformer SteamWorld Dig, only this time presenting itself as a turn-based strategy game.
The title comes from Swedish independent developer Image & Form, and takes place in the same post-apocalyptic robot-inhabited universe that's a mashup of Spaghetti Western and Castlevania, with a touch of steampunk.
What is SteamWorld Heist?
SteamWorld Heist follows "cowbots" cruising around the wide expanse of space in a search for water, a most precious resource.
"Heist isn't a sequel to SteamWorld Dig. It's set in the same world and the cowbots are still the heroes. But a lot has happened to SteamWorld since then, and we want to make a game that is radically different. Partly because we really wanted to make a turn-based strategy game, but also because it felt like a clever move."
"The obvious follow-up would've been Dig 2; we wanted to surprise instead," said Image & Form CEO Brjann Sigurgeirsson.
SteamWorld Dig was a pretty fun game that didn't take itself too seriously, and it seems that the team is taking the same stance with Heist, a game whose events take place a couple hundred years in the future.
Sigurgeirsson describes the game as being about adventure and survival, with players recruiting a team of robots and exploring parts of a destroyed Earth, boarding enemy ships and commanding your crew. The game will also follow a certain storyline, having a clear beginning and end, but allowing gamers the same freedom Dig allowed them.
What can we expect and where?
The developers want to take a bold step forward from the simplistic mechanics of SteamWorld Dig, while maintaining the rusty, steampunk aesthetic, but offering greatly evolved gameplay systems and an entirely different focus.
The video game has so far been slated for release sometime next spring, and for the time being the Nintendo 3DS is the only confirmed platform.
"We really want to put this out on the 3DS, of course... The Nintendo community is just incredible. I mean, they're so diehard and so attached. The basic idea of Nintendo is like a bond between them, and they've taken a liking to us. We put Dig out a year ago and we are still interacting very much with them," the developer states.
Taking into account the fact that SteamWorld Dig debuted on the Nintendo 3DS, then made the jump to PC, PS Vita, PlayStation 4 and Wii U, it's highly likely that SteamWorld Heist will also follow a similar path.
