SteamWorld Build review: "An unusual mix but it works really well"

'As above, so below' - or so the old saying goes. It's an accurate description of what your mindset should be playing SteamWorld Build, as you balance the needs of your citizens above ground with the potential dramas lurking in the sub-surface mining levels below. For the series' first foray into city building, it's a confident opening, managing to offer up plenty of complexity on top of a mining adventure that's full of combat and unexpected consequences. It's an unusual mix but works really well for SteamWorld Build.

Fast Facts - SteamWorld Build

Release date: December 1, 2023
Platform(s): PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One
Developer: The Station
Publisher: Thunderful Group

On the surface - literally - you're just building a mining town and it starts gently enough. Homes for workers, a supply chain for getting in wood or growing cactuses, with enough warehouses and roads to keep things moving. Supply chains start simple - perhaps a building or two - but later ramp up to rely more on multiple resources to ensure successful production. It's all well-explained though, with everything you need for a single workflow visually connected on the building menu.

You'll eventually end up with multiple citizen types, starting out with workers and then moving through engineers and artistobots, all the way to scientists. Each one will require more elements to live a happy life, but the game handily groups the buildings you can produce by the type of citizen that needs them. You're never digging through menus to find a certain production line, because either you'll already have it in the works from a lower-ranked citizen or it'll be right there in the appropriate menu. That means SteamWorld Build works well as a first city-builder for those new to the genre, but there's enough complexity that it still works for someone more au fait with them like myself.

Going deeper underground

A lot of that complexity comes when you open up the mines too. Suddenly you have to balance having everything you need on the surface to fuel the mining progress below through four increasingly perilous unlockable shaft floors. Like above, there are various mining roles, but also areas to build like workshops and armories that'll let you start production lines to deliver resources to ground level like glowing spores, certain metals, and even clean water. You'll also need to ensure you're ready for the enemies that lurk in the depths too, deadly creatures that'll pour from the darkness you'll find as you excavate. You'll also have to monitor the stability of your mines. There's nothing worse than leaving your miners to keep digging below while you switch to ground level and hearing a rumble, knowing you've only got a few minutes before terror can strike.

Ensuring that both your mines and your mining town are running well is the key to the juggling act. There's always something to do here, which I find much more satisfying than some city builders where  it's just a case of sitting back and watching the money roll in. The blend of that Dungeon Keeper-esque mining with the city building makes for a compelling gameplay loop.

A new future

I love that there are some lovely touches and plenty of personality to reflect the series' history too, setting SteamWorld Build apart from others in the genre. Here you're building homes for little robots - the steamfolk of the SteamWorld series - rather than humans or any other creatures. Because of that, you'll have to make space to build things like Service Shops and Wash Services to keep off the rust and avoid breakdowns, or Waxing Stations to keep the aristocrat 'bots shining with wealth. Farms produce metal cows that turn into metal burgers and robotic scarecrows stand ground in cactus farms to ensure a plentiful supply for the moonshine makers. Got to keep everyone well-oiled after all, right?

Even the aesthetic items you can place tie into the robotic theme, with tiny robotic dogs within farmyard-esque doghouses among the items at your disposal, along with the more location-appropriate things like cactuses and cow skulls. However, despite the fact there are five different maps to build on, the aesthetics of what you can build don't ever change - it's more about a change of map layout and the existing landmarks you'll see.

Annoyingly, the same can be said for the story too. The game's narrative is one about finding spaceship parts in the mines below in order to escape the desert wasteland that's left of the planet above. It explains why each of the maps is Old West-themed and ever-sandy, but I hoped that each map may present a change in pace or challenge - even just a slight change to the narrative wrapper or dialogue. But, in reality, playing through each one of them is more about a change in aesthetic than tactics, as although each mine level is randomized, the perils and processes are still the same.

There are some elements that haven't been well-realized, like customizable building mods - specifically those for buildings above ground - that let you tweak the production level or other elements, as well as your ability to set up trade routes because your inventory space is just so limited.

But, this is also not a full-priced game and it's otherwise a very well-thought-out take on the city-building genre with plenty of unique SteamWorld elements that make it very easy to recommend. It's approachable, and works equally well played with gamepad or keyboard and mouse, which is also pretty rare for a genre that's usually more aligned with PC. It's also just really fun to create a thriving robotic mining town.