Steamworld Build Preview/Demo Impressions
Steamworld Build
Developer: Thunderful Development
Publisher: Thunderful Publishing
Platforms: PC
Release Date: Coming Soon
The Steamworld series is one that’s been around for a while now, mixing a focus on traditional video game concepts (miner, platformer, tactical strategy game) with a wildly imaginative setting, some outside-the-box mechanics, and a level of accessibility that means players can jump right into the action. From the demo, it feels like Steamworld Build, the upcoming city-builder addition to the Steamworld universe, carries on that tradition beautifully. It’s a top-tier city-building experience, with easy to understand supply chains and a learning curve that makes it all seem easy rather than frustrating, the graphics and setting are (as always) fantastic, and it’s got an intriguing built-in narrative that never feels bolted-on, making it feel of a piece with games like IXION and Against the Storm in terms of gameplay and story integration. If the final version is anything like the demo, Steamworld Build will be a welcome edition to the narrative city-builder genre.
Steamworld Build tasks you with, well, building a city. Guided by a mysterious computer core and myths of a rocket buried somewhere underground, you and your settlers start off at a dilapidated train station and set about building yourselves a town. This starts slowly, as you build up your workforce and supply chains, but soon has you fulfilling needs, building networks of roads, and even trading with other towns along the railroad once you fix up the station. Then the game pulls out its twist, and suddenly everything gets a little more complicated.
The initial city-building is relatively simple: Build residences for workers, reach population milestones, unlock buildings, and use those buildings to make your people happier and advance further along supply chains. It’s a pleasing enough interface, with buildings and structures bouncing lightly as you put them down, and all the interactions between buildings clearly signposted the way more city builders should. While there’s not a lot of activity to watch, placing the buildings, watching them bounce, and watching as the city grows with each new interaction is satisfying enough. But once you start repairing the few buildings in the area, suddenly the game opens up in an incredibly beautiful way.
First, you get access to the train station, a place where you can start deliveries and set up trade routes to other towns, selling your surplus items off to balance your economy. Trade between towns isn’t terribly new, but the item-card system, which allows you to purchase upgrades for your buildings and workers based on your resources makes things a little more special. Second, the game opens up the mines.
The mines are practically their own separate game as you mine for resources underground, with its own upgrade tree, buildings, and challenges. Gameplay plays out a little like a combat-free (well, for now, anyway) version of Dungeon Keeper, with you plotting out rooms on the ground, carving out the surrounding area, and setting up reinforcements to keep things from caving in. It adds a new level of challenge and complexity, with you having to manage two sets of resources, but also getting a major boost from your excursions underground, shoring up your existing resource production with underground caches and technology.
Weaving this all together is a fantastic story, as you attempt to excavate rocket parts so you can once again claim your place among the stars, just like the steambots of old. It offers a definite drive as you start to build up the town, giving you a reason to be there other than “build that city.” A lot of this is conveyed by character interactions in between milestones, which never manage to stop the game dead even as they pause the action.
Overall, it’s a fantastic game, and if the demo is any indication of the final product, citybuilder fans can look forward to a bright, beautiful, narratively interesting addition to the canon when it releases.