The first reviews are coming out for SteamWorld Build!

The next game in the SteamWorld family, this title takes city building and dungeon diving to a new marriage of the concepts. It's looking really nice!

Nintendo Life and Pocket Tactics are the first two who reviewed and rated the Nintendo Switch edition. Both gave it an 8/10. That's about where I expected this to be. PC has it lower at say, 73, but perhaps there's just a lot more experience on that end of this kind of game style. I don't play a lot of these games and it sounds like there's a lot for someone like me to enjoy.

Nintendo Life said:

"the whole game feels like it’s riding a line between management sim and RTS at times"

It's 10% off right now until release on 12/1, and I'm tempted to tackle that despite being busy with both recent Mario games. I'm not yet sure what I'll do but I definitely want to play this game soon!

Anyone else interested in it?

The SteamWorld games I've played have been solid, and I do love me a good management sim, so I'll definitely be checking this out. If it gets a physical release.

Never even heard of this!

Will go look into it, thanks.

I’ve been excited for this, and I see it’s on GamePass, which is awesome for me currently.

I’m an outlier I think, because I actually thought Heist was my favorite Steamworld game. I really liked the Dig games, don’t get me wrong, but it had just been a while since I had played any kind of 2D strategy game that was executed that well.

@PogueSquadron
I think I agree with you, actually. I'm also one of the seemingly few that prefer the original SteamWorld Dig over the sequel, despite being a big fan of Metroidvanias.

@r_hjort

It is my fear that when I start Dig 2 (I have it ready to go, just didn't schedule the time yet) I will also find it lacking compared to Dig 1. Dig 1 was just SO GOOD. It was like perfectly balanced or something. Everything was exactly right. Adding or subtracting would so easily break what they crafted. I'm hopeful, but if Dig 2 turns out lesser as a result of breaking the perfect balance, I won't be super surprised.

Still, going to try to just enjoy the experience!

@J.K. Riki
Agreed, Dig 1 was perfectly balanced. At least from what I remember. It really nailed that one-more-run kind of addictiveness. For better and for worse, Dig 2 doesn't even try to accomplish the same thing. The procedural stuff is gone and the more traditional Metroidvania stuff with hand crafted environments is taking its place. Dig 2 is a great game, and I'm not surprised that people like it so much. You're definitely going to enjoy it.

EDIT: Also, El Huervo's lo-fi chops are on full display in El Machino.

I just didn’t *get* the Dig games like some people did. I found them addicting in that you’d want to go for one more run in the mines over and over, but I didn’t find its progression as satisfying as a more finely designed Metroidvania style game.

Now, Heist was kind of a by the numbers strategy game IML, but it was done really well. I liked the variety in the enemies and everything felt very nicely curated. And it just had a good vibe. All these games do, really. Build seems to hopefully bring their knowledge of making accessible games and combining it with a genre that is normally pretty inaccessible.

Finally got this a couple of days ago, and have started my building. It's good!

I feel like some minor elements were glossed over a little bit in the tutorializing parts early in the game, but now that I've got both a town and a mine system up and running, I think I'm starting to understand the synergies a bit better. Building the town is fairly relaxing and cosy, while building the mine feels kind of adventureous, and I like the contrast between the two modes and how they interact with each other. Haven't encountered any combat yet, but it seems like it's just around the subterranean corner, so I'll dive into it tomorrow.


The buildings look nice, and there's a fair amount of decorative objects to place, but I wish the town felt just a liiiiiittle more alive.

Overall, seems like a really solid management sim with that classic SteamWorld flavor, if a little bit sparse in some presentational ways. Maybe I'm just misremembering the other SteamWorld games being a bit more amusing in terms of visual designs and writing, or maybe I've been spoiled by the Two Point games unrelenting silliness. Either way, liking this a lot so far. Curious to see how much freedom and depth - no pun intended - there will be here.

@r_hjort

Nice to hear your starting impressions. I was overall a big fan of this game and feel it deserves more praise. Despite its flaws it's something I'd like them to explore further.

@DrFinkelstein
Maybe with mouse controls!