New SteamWorld Heist details

IGN went hands on with SteamWorld Heist at GDC 2015 this week, and has now posted a preview covering the demo. The site’s article contains plenty of new information about Image & Form’s indie game.

We’ve rounded up the various tidbits below. For the full preview, head on over to IGN.

– Out in August
– Takes place 100 years in the future
– Control a robot squad
– Some bad stuff happens between the events of SteamWorld Dig and Heist that forces the Steambots into space
– Recruit other bots to join your squad mid-mission or inside intergalactic saloons
– Develop a team and choose between multiple classes
– Classes have their own weapons and abilities
– The heists take place from a familiar 2D perspective
– Move the camera with the right stick and take a quick glance of all the enemies in a room
– Move characters with the d-pad
– The turn-based aspect adds a special set of rules
– While you move the cursor, it highlights a path the Steambot will take to its next position
– Gold path means it can still fire its weapon at enemies during the same turn
– Blue path means you’d be open to attack once the turn ends
– Can take cover behind barrels and other structures
– Firing weapons happens in pseudo real-time and requires careful aim and execution
– Can shoot through floors
– It’s also possible to miss shots
– Control Pipper and Sea Brass in the demo
– Piper is the taller of the two
– Piper’s gun is weak, though it has a capable sight that can be used to ricochet bullets off of walls to hit enemies
– Sea Brass can use a hand cannon that dishes out large damage at close range, but requires you to use your own line of sight to area
– Pipper’s peashooter won’t do much damage (even with a headshot), but Sea Brass’ powerful cannon easily takes out enemies
– Recruit another robot during the mission that looks like a robotic fihs
– He fires an Uzi that recoils wildly and affects his aim
– Lots of enemy variation
– These include grunts, snipers, automated turrets, and big burly robot bosses with lots of health
– All missions in the game have a procedurally generated map
– Multiple pathways in the map
– Need to consider which teammates to bring to the battle since characters are class based
– Ex: an engineer robot can repair broken pathways and help your squad reach hidden areas to claim more swag (treasure you’re trying to collect)
– When a teammate dies, it is significant, but not as unfair as permadeath
– Image & Form tried out permadeath, but ultimately wanted a system similar to the one used in SteamWorld Dig
– The robotic fish died during IGN’s demo, but another version of him can be recruited somewhere else in the game
– Recruit allies and mission in intergalactic saloons
– In the final game: recruiting robots to join your squad, space travel between jobs and intergalactic saloons, and upgrading a squad to be stronger and more resilient than your opponents