Summary
- SteamWorld Build is the latest entry in the franchise, exploring the city building genre, with engaging mechanics and a unique environment, but lacks in-depth analytics.
- The game combines above-ground city management and underground mining, with a complex supply chain system and population-based milestones for progression.
- The game is addictive and rewarding, with varied environments and a charming world, but could benefit from more quality of life features and better organization of buildings.
SteamWorld Build is the latest entry in the SteamWorld franchise, this time exploring the city building genre. The title comes from developer The Station and publisher Thunderful, the latter of which has previously helped produce several other entries in the series alongside releases like Cursed to Golf and Planet of Lana. While the game brings a lot of engaging mechanics to the table in a creative world, a lack of in-depth analytics holds it back from perfection.
Previously, the SteamWorld franchise has ventured into several different gaming arenas from Metroidvanias to deckbuilding, all with one cohesive universe. This is the series' first foray into the city management world, and it certainly does enough to distinguish itself within the genre through its unique environment and satisfying sense of productivity. However, a lack of some of the meaningful tools and quality of life features of other management games like Two Point Hospital are unfortunate blind spots in an otherwise addictive gameplay loop.
The World & Premise Of SteamWorld Build
SteamWorld Build places players on a rapidly deteriorating desert planet inspired by the Wild West. As they expand, relics of old technology will be uncovered - pieces of a rocket ship that, once completed, will allow civilization to escape and build a new life somewhere more hospitable. To progress, certain population-based milestones must be met; in order to entice new citizens to move to the city, certain accommodations like repair shops and general stores will need to be built, all of which tie into an overarching supply chain system.
While building a new society above ground, players will also need to contend with a complex mining system, digging progressively deeper into the earth to reach the different rocket ship pieces. The deeper the mine, the more dangers that appear that must be dealt with, as well as an increasingly large number of resources to be harvested. This brings together the overall gameplay loop: balancing life above and below ground and creating useful synergies between the two while working towards ship completion.
Above Ground Operations
The population-based milestones in SteamWorld Build are based on the different robot types that live above ground, with more being unlocked over time and contributing to the town's labor force in different ways. Each level of resident has their own requirements for happiness: basic workers only require a steady supply of cactus water and coal and sufficient access to a general store and repair shop, but these needs increase with each tier; aristobots don't just need access to things like clean water, but luxuries like hats and a waxing shop as well.
Sustaining the population's happiness is a key part of the city's successful growth - residences cannot be upgraded to a new tier without 100% happiness, and dissatisfied robots also won't provide as much tax revenue. Many of these facilities hinge upon the progressively complex supply chains often seen in management games; for example, a hatmaker can only function with a supply from a glass wool spinner, which in turn is fueled by a sand harvesting plant. This mechanic also expands into the use of warehouses, necessitating a city that's built in a way that allows for both resident happiness and efficient transport between factories.
The other main part of the above-ground economy is done through intermittent train arrivals that occur every five minutes in real time. It's here players can set up trades, either making a profit through selling excess resources or sourcing supplies that may be at a deficit. This is an interesting system that provides an added economic layer to the game, but it can also result in a lot of idle time waiting to progress depending on how badly the city needs the money or supplies in the next shipment.
Life Underground
While city management largely centers on creating sustainable, long-lasting systems, mining is all about expansion and adaptation. Subterranean workers don't have the same happiness requirements as their above-ground counterparts, with their numbers growing naturally whenever players expand their quarters. Just like in the city, each type of bot fulfills a different purpose, like miners clearing new areas, prospectors tapping resource veins, and guards protecting the underground workers from the monsters that lurk in the lower areas of the mine.
Players will have to contend with different types of infrastructure in the mines, managing things like systems to prevent collapses and bridges to new spaces as well as defense systems like turrets. Different colored wires scattered throughout the mines can be followed to unlock new areas and uncover new rocket parts, which creates a slightly predictable but nonetheless satisfying expansion experience. Players will need to manage both the expanding areas of the mine and steady supply chains to the city, as resources like oil and ores can only be found there.
SteamWorld Build's Analytical Shortcomings
Though it's not an absolute requirement, for games like SteamWorld Build, the ability to view different city statistics and facilities is a core feature many players have come to expect. It's not to say that the title offers absolutely no resources when it comes to seeing the city's progress - there's an istration window that lays out each resource produced alongside its supply and demand, but that's largely where these tools end. In many beloved management games, players can easily view things like heat maps of overall citizen happiness, or view all their factories laid out in a management menu.
Features of this sort would be incredibly helpful for a title like this, especially because the complex supply chain and population management systems implemented have such a solid amount of depth to them. As players expand, it can get hard to keep track of things like where all warehouses or certain resource harvesters have been placed, which is further made an issue by the fact many of the buildings - while aesthetically charming - look quite similar. It would be easier to appreciate the creative management mechanics of the game if there were more ways players could see everything laid out at once and in turn more efficiently run their settlement.
Final Thoughts & Review Score
Despite these missing quality of life features, SteamWorld Build still manages to be fairly addicting. Sense of progress is consistent enough even with occasional moments of waiting, and making discoveries feels rewarding enough to keep things engaging. The varied environments found throughout the game all feel uniquely designed, and accompanied by the blend of ambient sounds and satisfying soundtrack, the world as a whole comes off as intriguingly charming. Though it may not feel absolutely complete in its systems, SteamWorld Build is still a worthwhile venture for players looking for a creative new management sim.
Source: SteamWorld Games/YouTube
SteamWorld Build will release December 1 for PlayStation consoles, Xbox consoles, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Screen Rant was provided with a Steam code for the purpose of this review.
