3/5 ★ – danielholt's review of SteamWorld Heist II.

Before I begin I should say that I absolutely adored the first game in the Heist pantheon. I should also emphasize that I've enjoyed other games in the wider Steamworld series. That said.... Heist 2 just didn't get its hooks into me. There are some nice improvements over the first game, namely the expanded levelling system which allows players to tinker with their crew, their loadout and mix-and-match as they see fit. The difficulty options are also pretty neat; allowing players to delicately tweak how difficult the game should be to a pretty remarkable level... However. The sequel is a 30-something hour long game, and as much as the combat remains largely the same from the first game, I'm just not sure I want to spend 30 hours doing it. A large part of that increased size comes from the new overworld mechanic they've included in the game. It's not bad par se, but it is boring, and it is repetitive; two things you want to avoid in a long videogame. A combination of 'bigger not meaning better' and a somewhat tedious overworld/resting cycle really took the shine off what are some pretty solid combat encounters. If you enjoyed the first game, there's much to enjoy here, but it's far from a perfect sequel.