Essentially the most endearing side of the SteamWorld collection is how every of its video games pertains to each other regardless of their disparate genres. From tower protection to turn-based RPG, every title gives a novel spin on a particular gameplay expertise whereas adhering to a shared mythos, leading to a enjoyable assortment of video games that coalesce thematically. SteamWorld Construct, Thunderful’s city-builder/RTS hybrid, serves as the newest iteration of this components. Sporting streamlined style mechanics, intuitive controls, and charming visuals, many important elements are in place. Sadly, regardless of a strong basis, SteamWorld Construct struggles to keep up a fascinating expertise all through its marketing campaign.
Like many of the SteamWorld collection, Construct does not immediately connect with any of the earlier video games. As an alternative, it tries to offer a novel perspective on crucial occasions that feed into the collection’ overarching narrative. This acquainted setup works in elements. The plight of a bunch of vacationers settling close to an deserted mine on the behest of a mysterious robotic companion is initially enticing. Followers will particularly benefit from the nods to previous happenings and a few further lore surrounding a longtime planetary risk. That stated, it will not take lengthy for gamers to understand that SteamWorld Construct’s marketing campaign is paper skinny.
Whereas the SteamWorld collection is not identified for its character-driven tales, every new launch gives extra significant causes to dive into its steampunk universe. SteamWorld Construct’s almost nonexistent story is a step backward on this regard. There are not any notable characters, worthwhile encounters, or imaginative occasions to talk of. Basically, the why of all of it does not matter, because the marketing campaign’s few cutscenes provide simply sufficient exposition for it to be thought-about a way to an finish.
Story woes apart, SteamWorld Construct is entertaining. That is partially because of the streamlined strategy to city-building and strong tutorial prompts. There are some style staples, particularly with regards to constructing placement. You may be instructed, for example, to put Foresters (an enormous tree-chopping machine) and lumber mills subsequent to wooded areas to accumulate logs. However many of the finer particulars involving the internal workings of a city/metropolis – tax charges, zoning, inhabitants density in relation to the neighboring buildings – are both dealt with robotically or simplified to a big diploma.
There is not any city decay or hostile environmental points to fret about. So long as your buildings are related to their corresponding amenities and the central practice station by highway, they will operate as anticipated. And because the recreation’s intuitive controls (whether or not utilizing a gamepad or keyboard and mouse) do many of the heavy lifting, almost each motion may be carried out with just some button presses. SteamWorld Construct is extra arcade than sim, providing a welcoming expertise for newcomers.
Regardless of its simplified mechanics, SteamWorld Construct appeals to style vets due to its puzzling play. As an alternative of fixating on each minor element linked to precise city planning, the sport emphasizes retaining your steambots blissful by inserting key buildings. Your staff, who begin economically on the backside of the totem pole, are normally satiated by a normal retailer and repair store. They do not want a lot to remain productive. When you hit sure milestones, normally tied to the city’s variety of employable steambots, you possibly can improve them into engineers. This subsequent tier of residents requires extra service buildings and points of interest to remain in good spirits. Additionally they pay extra in taxes.
Your predominant purpose is to develop your city to the purpose the place its residents can mine particular relics (specifically rocket elements) wanted to flee a seemingly dying planet. This makes the continuous progress of your city vital as every tier of citizen is accountable for particular branches of productiveness. This course of can show tough as the necessities wanted to fulfill all of them are weighed in opposition to your city’s total wants. Creating too many staff means spending much less cash on new development initiatives. Too few, and you will not have sufficient steambots to collect the fundamental supplies (wooden, coal, and so on.) wanted to maintain the city functioning. The identical goes for higher-tiered residents; their bigger monetary contributions are offset by the price of retaining them content material.
Studying to juggle these various factors is important when taking part in SteamWorld Construct early on. A few of it comes right down to correctly positioning sure providers and points of interest. Plopping a normal retailer on the nook of an intersection makes it accessible to extra staff. You can too use stat-boosting objects, tradable sources, improved roads, and extra. Your administration duties double when you acquire entry to the mines. These underground areas function RTS mechanics requiring a extra hands-on strategy. As an alternative of buildings, you place miner, prospector, mechanic, and guard quarters wanted to spawn the corresponding steambots across the map. Apart from the guards and mechanics – who’re there to guard and heal bots/construct machines, respectively – these bots aren’t autonomous. They should be assigned jobs like mining gold deposits, pulling down partitions, inserting turrets to repel pests, and constructing machines to reap vital supplies.
Most of my time taking part in SteamWorld Construct was spent hopping between my city’s floor and subterranean areas. Watching the tiny steambots perform their duties as I slowly upgraded my residential areas was enjoyable. I additionally loved overseeing the developments underground; micromanaging these steambots supplied a pleasant distinction to the above-ground actions.
All of that modified throughout the recreation’s previous few hours because of a mixture of competing programs. To gather the ultimate element wanted to go away the planet, I needed to flip just a few of my bots into scientists and ensure they had been content material for a set length of time. The issue is that this directive has no wiggle room. When the opposite steambots weren’t at one hundred pc, and their collective numbers began to dwindle, the few that remained nonetheless pitched in. That wasn’t the case right here, because it was an all-or-nothing state of affairs.
The opposite subject was that the scientist was the best citizen stage, which means it takes quite a bit to maintain them blissful. Since my city had grown, it was simple for a given useful resource – water, meals, and so on. – to sometimes dip beneath a sure threshold. Throughout these moments, my scientists grew to become sad. I attempted to mitigate a few of this by bettering all my roads, buying and selling for the wanted objects, relocating points of interest, buffing amenities, and so forth. Nothing labored. The one factor I may do was await my steambots to supply sufficient of no matter was lacking to satisfy my scientists’ wants briefly.
Many sim-based video games have this level the place the participant has seemingly optimized themselves right into a nook. Their ultimate goal is inside attain, however as a result of its strict parameters do not enable for various completion choices, they’ll solely wait as the sport performs. That is what occurs with SteamWorld Construct. It is a disgrace, contemplating how pleasing the core gameplay loop initially is. Issues fare a little bit higher as soon as you’ve got completed the marketing campaign, although. Since every of the 5 maps gives rewards like free roads or quicker miners upon completion, beginning a brand new marketing campaign with these unlocked bonuses is feasible. You can too sidestep the story and deal with constructing the most effective city you possibly can, which could be the perfect state of affairs.
SteamWorld Construct is a novel hybrid that entertains for a time. Its early hours are enjoyable, due to how nicely it makes use of simplified style staples to create a extra arcade-friendly gameplay loop, a sentiment bolstered by a strong tutorial and intuitive management scheme. Regrettably, SteamWorld Construct’s marketing campaign overstays its welcome. The lackluster story and inflexible ultimate targets flip what was initially a fascinating expertise right into a tedious grind.