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We love the SteamWorld franchise, especially the Xbox releases of the SteamWorld Dig series. Very soon though we’ll be building like never before, with the newly announced SteamWorld Build.
Mixing Anno and Dungeon Keeper-styled gameplay with a SteamWorld twist, SteamWorld Build from Thunderful and The Station will be looking to expand the minds of Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch and PC players later in 2023; taking a well known genre and dropping in some proper variety.
SteamWorld Build does just that, delivering a multi-level city-building experience that tasks you with constructing a thriving town above ground, while mining resources and dealing with monsters below. It certainly promises to take us places that neither SteamWorld Dig or SteamWorld Dig 2 could do.
Developed for PC and console simultaneously, the teams behind it have ensured that SteamWorld Build will have a UX and UI, as well as gameplay mechanics that work neatly with a controller in hand; replicating the usual mouse and keyboard experience to a tee. It also promises to be on point for both newcomers to the genre as well as those who are well versed with the city building scene, refined further by three difficulty levels.
In SteamWorld Build, you are the architect of a SteamWorld mining town. Break ground and raise houses for your steambot citizens, keep them fed and provide some rootin’-tootin’ entertainment. You’ll also venture into the abandoned mine sitting under your town, rumoured to be filled with ancient tech that holds the key to escaping impending doom. Use the natural resources above ground and the abundant ores buried in the mine to expand your town. Stimulate new residential tiers to join the quest to dig deeper, unearth untold riches and ultimately help them to hightail it off the planet!
“When The Station joined Thunderful in 2020 and told us that they wanted to make a city builder, we thought it offered a great opportunity for SteamWorld and Thunderful to move into another new genre,” said Brjánn Sigurgeirsson. “They know what it means to work on big IPs thanks to their experience developing for LittleBigPlanet, including crossovers with God of War, Dark Souls and many more. After losing plenty of hours getting sucked into the amazing gameplay loop they’ve created between overground city-building and underground mining, I can tell you that I’m really proud of what they’ve managed to do within the SteamWorld universe.”
“Having the opportunity to work on an award-winning franchise that’s loved by fans was a real honour for us,” said Adam Vassee, producer at The Station. “We’ve put a lot of effort into making sure the game retains the charming character of previous entries, but we’re also lucky in that the SteamWorld series is all about trying new things. That’s been liberating in allowing us to put our own twist on SteamWorld and the city builder genre to craft an intuitive Anno meets Dungeon Keeper style system that we think is unlike anything else out there.”
We’re already looking forward to seeing SteamWorld Build rocking up onto Xbox, PlayStation, Switch and PC in 2023, tempted even more by the Steam demo that is available.
Let us know your thoughts – the comments are below the announcement trailer.