Steamworld Build

Game
    Review

Steamworld Build (2023) is a strategy simulation game where you build and manage a city and underground mine with monsters lurking in the deep. You place buildings, fortify defences, lay roads and then direct civilians to do jobs above ground and in the mines below. It stands out for this multi-level gameplay and how your designs on the surface and those underground must complement each other by providing the necessary equipment and items.

A strange (and doomed) alien world is covered by an arid desert and ancient ruins. You manage a small colony of steam-powered robots setting up an outpost over an old mineshaft and start building a rocket to save you from the disaster. You slowly expand your settlement with more robots, delving ever deeper and expanding ever outwards as you slowly acquire the resources and tools you need.

Play is about building infrastructure chains and directing the robots to complete tasks and gather resources. The materials you gather enable you to create more buildings and unlock new robots and so the cycle continues. While it starts simply, soon careful planning of your town's layout is required to maintain efficiency.

As you progress you realise that your robots have complex needs that require further buildings and resources; keeping all your subjects satisfied is another part of the challenge. Below ground, you direct the robots to mine for resources and expand the shafts, building support pillars and machinery to help them. In lower levels, there are monsters you need to protect your workers against by building defences and weapons.

The result is a game where constant evaluation of the situation and evolving of your strategy is essential. Maintaining order, efficiency, and satisfaction on the surface while simultaneously defending against monsters and gathering resources below ground makes for a tough but rewarding and involving challenge.

Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Steamworld Build 5 months ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 6 days ago.